In this episode, we’re exploring the intersection of bread and art, and the idea of bread as art. From Renaissance paintings of The Last Supper (complete with pretzels) and still lifes from the Dutch Golden Age to scoring videos on Instagram—th

Episode 15: Deck the Challahs

Dec 12th, 2018 43m 27s

It’s a season of celebration, and no matter what you’re celebrating, that usually means baking. Sweet or savory, traditional or cutting-edge, more people fire up their ovens during the holiday season than any other time of the year. In this epi

Episode 14: Emboiled in Lyes

Dec 5th, 2018 41m 22s

We're going down the rabbit hole of breads with holes! From the New York vs Montreal bagel debate—and the power of water and lye—to the twists and turns of pretzel history, focusing on the presence of negative space is a positive thing.We'll e

Episode 13: Breads Across America

Nov 28th, 2018 38m 45s

We're hopping in our Winne-bread-go and hitting the road—to explore the state of regional breads in America! We'll travel to New Orleans for a Po'boy, New England for Anadama, and to Appalachia for Salt Rising Bread, all in search of an answer

Episode 12: Flatter, Better, Faster, Stronger

Nov 14th, 2018 44m 58s

Flatbreads and quick breads may seem like strange oven-fellows, but hear us out. In the Venn Diagram of bread baking, they both fall in the overlap of “speed” and “differently leavened.” So we're firing up the tonir, the tandoor, the griddle, t

Episode 11: Something in the Air

Nov 7th, 2018 43m 12s

Bread has been paired with other fermentations for millennia—with beer in Russian literature, wine in religious texts, and cheese in sandwiches around the world every day. What is it about bread that makes it a natural ally to these fermented p

Episode 10: The Grain Revolution

Oct 31st, 2018 42m 46s

Industrialization, and the semi-dwarf wheat developed during the Green Revolution, created a disconnect between farming and flour. But now, consumers are rejecting these commodities and rediscovering the foods, flavors, and farmers around us.

Episode 9: Mother, May I?

Oct 24th, 2018 42m 26s

Welcome to Season Two of Modernist BreadCrumbs!It seems only natural—and appropriately poetic—to start this season talking about starters. They’re the inception of the loaf, the first step. You don’t need a starter to make bread, but the story

Bonus

Season 2 Trailer

Sep 5th, 2018 1m 36s

Modernist Cuisine founder Nathan Myhrvold and head chef Francisco Migoya are back with Jordan Werner Barry and Michael Harlan Turkell for season two of Modernist BreadCrumbs, a special series taking a new look at one of the oldest staples of th

Episode 8: Breadbox

Dec 13th, 2017 1h 28m

This is Episode Eight of Modernist BreadCrumbs: “Breadbox.”Bread is immeasurable, no longer bound by precepts. The new dictum of baking bread is built on shapes and sizes we haven’t even dreamt of. This episode, the proverbial breadbox of the

Episode 7: Thermal Mass

Nov 29th, 2017 1h 3m

This is Episode Seven of Modernist BreadCrumbs: "Thermal Mass," on baking and ovens.We’ll discuss “thermal mass," or the ability to absorb and hold heat, in two-parts: within bread itself, and the ovens it's baked in. It’s a complex physicoche

Episode 6: Balls & Sticks

Nov 22nd, 2017 53m 18s

This is Episode Six of Modernist BreadCrumbs: “Balls & Sticks,” on shapes, scoring, and semiotics.Balls & sticks. You’ll hear this idiom over and over in this episode, as if we’re talking in circles. The two shapes' repetitive figures have bee

Episode 5: Against the Grain

Nov 15th, 2017 55m 20s

This is Episode Five of Modernist BreadCrumbs: “Against the Grain,” on politics.How does bread play a part in politics you ask? Withholding grain has been part of party lines as well as a catalyst of war. Though the fight still continues to br

Episode 4: Milling About

Nov 1st, 2017 52m 7s

This is Episode Four of Modernist BreadCrumbs: “Milling About,” History Part II, Pre-Industrialization.When we look back on how modern baking came to be, it’s the same old story of craft informing art, and how the artisanal approach was replic

Episode 3: On the Rise

Oct 25th, 2017 56m 27s

This is Episode Three of Modernist BreadCrumbs: “On the Rise,” on yeast, leavening, and fermentation.Here, we observe a microscopic single-celled organism from the fungi kingdom, and its full effect on bread: yeast. How can something so small

Episode 2: The Great Civilizations of Grain

Oct 18th, 2017 1h 12m

This is Episode Two of Modernist BreadCrumbs: “The Great Civilizations of Grain,” on grains, flour, and milling.In this episode, we look inside with a kernel of knowledge, sprout ancient grains, and take a journey through wheat’s history. We c

Bonus

Modernist BreadCrumbs Live: Nathan Myhrvold in Conversation with Michael Harlan Turkell

Oct 11th, 2017 58m 14s

Nathan Myhrvold and Michael Harlan Turkell kick off Modernist BreadCrumbs, their new podcast series on Heritage Radio Network, with a special conversation about the future of bread. Myhrvold will share insights from his new 5-volume book Modern

Episode 1: Pre-ferment

Oct 4th, 2017 59m 2s

This is Episode One of Modernist BreadCrumbs: "Pre-ferment," on the history of bread.Modernist BreadCrumbs is a special collaborative podcast series with Heritage Radio Network and Modernist Cuisine, that takes a fresh look at one of the oldes