Remember not so long ago, I mentioned I am going to spend winter 2010 reading through NPR’s suggested summer 2010 reads? Well I did get started on it. There were 15 recommendations and my first choice was – 52 loaves – One Man’s Relentless Pursuit of Truth, Meaning, and a Perfect Crust by William Alexander. Given my latest obsession with baking it really was not a big surprise that I picked this book first.

The book is a narrative by the author as he tries to bake the perfect loaf of bread in the course of a year. He bakes a loaf every weekend and he goes to extremes (like growing his own wheat) to get the perfect loaf with air pockets and just the basic ingredients (flour, yeast and water). His adventures lead him through flour mills, yeast manufactures, Morocco, a ritzy bread course in Paris and then a monastery in France.

William Alexander is a typical suburban middle aged dad, an IT director and someone obsessed with bread. I am really not the obsessive kind, I am more fickle. Will I be able to such a project is something that crossed my mind a millions of times as I read this book. I am really sacred of the commitment but it seems like a good way to put myself to task. With the new year creeping up and new plans to be made, I might just take the plunge so to speak. But then I am the person who says, if this does not work let us move on to Plan B. I usually have a Plan C too.

Coming back to the book, this baking obsession of William Alexander is clearly a sign of mid-life crisis (scary!) but his journey is quite fascinating atleast the first few months. Mid-way the book lost stream mainly with too much trivial and uninteresting facts. The book picks up again as the author travels beyond the US in search of the perfect loaf.

He discovers/bakes the perfect loaf in an abbey in France and in the process of the 52 loaves he rediscovers himself. The journey is fascinating – the culture, the history, the self-discovery all make the journey a good read. One of the characters that touched me in this book is the young baker monk at the abbey. Especially his profound thanks for the Christmas gift from the author touched me in a strange way. In its own way, it made me appreciate my life, and the things I take for granted more. A lot more.

A good read if you want to pick up something different. It does get a little boring midway but if you hang in there – the end is great!