Behind the Cookbook: Baking Artisan Bread and Baking Artisan Pastries and Breads

Ciril Hitz is one of the leading figures in artisan bread. Fellow baker Peter Reinhart, himself the author of several important works on this subject—and who previously taught alongside Hitz at Johnson & Wales University—calls him “a master craftsman and a true artisan”.

In this piece for our Behind the Cookbook series, the author describes how and why he wrote these books, and highlights a number of bread and pastry recipes that offer a good starting point for anyone looking to improve their bread baking skills.

Newsletter: 🎊Ramadan recipes + fresh new ideas for vegetarians, lobster lovers, and real bread fans 🍞

Lifetime resident of Indiana, photographer and food writer Shelly Westerhausen Worcel has been vegetarian since the age of twelve. She charts her kitchen adventures in her blog Vegetarian Ventures, and in her books—such as Every Season is Soup Season. Newly added to ckbk, Vegetarian Heartland: Recipes for Life’s Adventures, a love letter to the Midwest, and an invitation to cook and eat vegetarian food along with her.

ckbk newsletterckbkFebruary 19, 2026Bread, Real Bread, Purple Sprouting Broccoli

Newsletter: 🌱 Vegan Hong Kong cooking + 25 years of bread machine brilliance 🍞

We are delighted to bring you Christine Wong’s recently published book The Vibrant Hong Kong Table: 88 Iconic Vegan Recipes From Dim Sum To Late-Night Snacks—a flavor-packed collection of dishes that pay homage to the culinary traditions of the chef’s city of origin, updated for a plant-based diet.

ckbk newsletterckbkAugust 7, 2025Gadgets, Bread

Author profile: Michael Kalanty, author of How to Bake Sourdough Bread

Michael Kalanty taught breadmaking for many years and has published two in depth educational texts on the fundamentals of bread baking. He recently worked with ckbk to release a new and updated edition of his second book, under the title How to Bake Sourdough Bread. We spoke to him about his baking and his books.

Author ProfileckbkFebruary 20, 2025Michael Kalanty, How to Bake Sourdough Bread, Sourdough, Bread

An introduction to... Bread

In this third installment of our series on cooking fundamentals, Cat Black moves on to look at bread, a food that is both utterly familiar and yet endlessly diverse.

Discover ckbkSusan LowNovember 11, 2024Bread, Baking, An introduction to..., Cat Black

Newsletter: Celebrating Madhur Jaffrey + take the ckbk survey for a chance to win a Japanese knife set

Take a minute to share your feedback in our ckbk user survey. Your response will help us to improve ckbk, and all responses will be entered in a draw for a chance to win an amazing set of three Japanese kitchen knives!

ckbk newsletterckbkOctober 14, 2023Bread, Chestnut, Survey

How learning to bake changed my life

British baker and baking teacher Danielle Ellis tells how the baguettes she devoured on childhood trips to France laid the groundwork for training as a baker in Normandy – and eventually led to her swapping a career in marketing for one as a professional baker and teacher.

Learning With Experts: A delicious way to learn

Learning With Experts is the ultimate online classroom for people who are keen to sharpen their skills in a number of life-enhancing subjects, including gardening, photography, floristry – and food & drink. Find out about some of the courses on offer in this guest post from Learning With Experts, and see how this hands-on skills training can help you get the most from ckbk’s huge range of cookbooks.

TechniquesckbkSeptember 3, 2020Chefs, Bread, Chocolate, India, France, Baking, Learning With Experts, Promotion

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