Over the course of a year, Robert Penn learns how to plant, harvest, thresh and mill his own wheat, in order to bake bread for his family. In returning to this pre-industrial practice, he tells the fascinating story of our relationship with bread: from the domestication of wheat in the Fertile Crescent at the dawn of civilization, to the rise of mass-produced loaves and the resurgence in homebaking today. Gathering knowledge and wisdom from experts around the world – farmers on the banks of the Nile, harvesters in the American Midwest and Parisian boulangers – Penn reconnects the joy of making and eating bread with a deep appreciation for the skill and patience required to cultivate its key ingredient.

This book is a celebration of the millennia-old craft of breadmaking, and how it is woven into the story of humanity.