Breaking Bread: A Baker's Journey Home in 75 Recipes

Martin Philip left a finance career in New York City to work as an entry-level baker at King Arthur Flour in rural Vermont, eventually becoming head bread baker. Breaking Bread combines seventy-five original recipes with personal narratives about Philip's journey in baking and life. The book draws on Philip's experiences, from childhood memories of butter biscuits, pecan pie, and whiskey bread pudding in the Ozarks to his work creating French baguettes, focaccias, bagels, muffins, cinnamon buns, and ginger scones. Philip explores baking as a practice that transforms simple ingredients—flour, salt, water, and yeast—into finished loaves, and reflects on what the craft teaches about living fully and connecting with others through food.