Bread Baking Basics

Introduction: Start Today Chapter 1: Equipment and Ingredients Chapter 2: To Begin, You Must Start (How to make your own starter) -Essay: Wait! Are you a Scientist? (notes on confidence and trying new things) Chapter 3: Make the Bread (step-by-step instructions) - All Mixed Up (ingredients) - Get Baked (instructions of baking) -Essay: True Abundance (notes on living an abundant life) Chapter 4: Sour Do's and Don'ts Chapter 5: Toasts to the Mosts (a series of healthy toast ideas, from peanut butter with honey and fresh berries to avocado toast with arugula, pine nuts and everything bagel spice) -Essay: Eat your Greens and Beans (notes on healthy eating with local, seasonal ingredients) Chapter 5: Salad Envy (a few salad recipes such as a mix veggie with green goddess dressing and homemade croutons, a tomato watermelon bread salad, and shredded beet and goat cheese salad with sourdough crackers) -Essay: Feed and Water your Brain (notes on drinking water and exercise) Chapter 6: Pizza Party (a few healthyish pizza recipes using the same dough, such as caramelized onion with potatoes, pine nuts, and blue cheese, and one with shredded carrots, hot peppers and pickled red onions) -Essay: Everything in Moderation (notes on pizza eating) Chapter 7: Practice Makes Perfect (What to do when things go wrong, what to do when they go right, and where to go next) -Essay: Stretch & Fold (notes on comparing yoga stretching with dough stretching) Glossary

Born and raised in Ohio, Gregory Berger moved West, first to Chicago then to San Francisco, before settling in Sacramento. He owns a design studio in Sacramento called Pomegranate Design that focuses on graphic design for non-profits and the restaurant industry. After reading a book about sourdough bread, he took up baking as a hobby. Since then, baking has become a passion and a side hustle. He has won blue ribbons for the past 4 years for his breads at the California State Fair, has created bread recipes for some of Sacramento's top restaurants, and has baked buns and rolls for charity events like the Sacramento Burger Battle and the Sacramento Sausage Fest.