James MacGuire sourdough article

when it arrived in my mailbox, ignoring the rest of that issue. At least to start with. It was a fairly straightforward recipe, but with very little wiggle room. Do it exactly the way he writes, MacGuire seems to say, and you'll get a great loaf every time. I didn't actually try the recipe though, as I am pretty happy with my basic breads.

Art of Eating is one of the best things I read.

Jeremy

having obtained it through my local library's intra-library service.

My copy of the MacGuire article is nine pages long; the tenth page is titled How to Buy and Store Pain au Levain by Edward Behr.  But no recipe.  Looking at it now, I see that while there is no missing text in the article,  page 21 of the magazine is missing and am guessing that page contained the recipe.   I also noted that the referenced blogger who had published MacGuire's formula had to remove it after being contacted by Mr. Behr.  

Mr. MacGuire does offer a thorough discussion of levains and their maintenance.  He goes on to note that every time he's been given a culture (even one that was supposedly over 100 years old), no matter its origin, on his regimen of feedings those cultures produce bread that tastes exactly like his own.

He has a nice discussion about the Poilâne Bakery and how their famous miche is made, but what I found most interesting was his comment that "Maybe because North America is no longer the bread desert it was, in Paris I was less appreciative than I used to be.  I wanted to like the loaves I tasted, but none struck me as especially delicious."  

He goes on to write of his certainty that the root of good flavor is in the levain and long fermentation.  

Happily, Mr. MacGuire did find his heart's desire in a cooperative bakery, Paine Virgule, outside Nantes.

It's a very good read, Leucadian, and contains much, much more.  Check with your local library if you don't want to purchase the back issue.  They should be able to either make a copy of the article, or obtain the entire issue for you.

Mr. Behr has reconsidered and is now allowing Clotilde to post her version of James MacGuire’s pain au levain recipe.  All passionate bread bakers looking to improve their skills would be well served by supporting Mr. Behr’s and Mr. MacGuire’s efforts by purchasing a back issue of their own.

SteveB

www.breadcetera.com

If you think about it, authors and publishers earn their living (in whole or in part) through the publication and sale of their work.  People buy the magazines/books, etc. and royalties are paid to those who earned them.

I personally see nothing objectionable about Mr. Behr, or any author/publisher, protecting those earnings through copyright enforcement.

In Mr. Behr's case, his magazine carries no advertising so I imagine he has to rely solely on subscription sales to meet his expenses, including paying his featured authors.

It was unfortunate that the blogger at C&Z didn't ask permission before putting Mr. MacGuire's formula on her blog.  She may have been able to work something out and create a win-win situation by doing a bit of free advertising for the Art of Eating publication in exchange for using the formula.

Like you, I had contemplated subscribing - but I really need to examine a full issue before doing so.  Guess it's time to contact my librarian again.