Instructions: Bread in its most fundamental form is two simple ingredients, yet the creation of an unforgettable loaf of bread is nothing short of alchemy in the hands of a master bread maker. The deliberate shape and color of an average supermarket loaf of bread sits in impotent contrast to the rough, chocolate-beige hues of a handmade artisanal loaf. Which one will you choose to bring home?

"There are things that alert the buyer as to whether a loaf of bread is good or not, above and beyond whether it is manufactured or hand-made," says Steve Sullivan, of the legendary Acme Bread Company in Berkeley, California. "The signals are complex and varied: Is there a bloom or gleam

[which is the result] of adequate fermentation? Are there cuts and scoring that birthed through the crust? Is there a laciness of structure that peeks through?"

Two loaves of bread made from similar ingredients can be so profoundly different because there is barely a trace of kindred technique in their creation.

Some grocery store bakeries allow for an overnight fermentation that adds to the complexity of their sourdough and French breads. Unlike traditional bakers, most supermarket bakeries use all packaged yeast, and a bagged powder starter that they add to the flour.

Artisanal bakers do not use just one yeast. Yeast is naturally present in the air. The artisanal baker allows this wild yeast time to mature, which leads us to a bakers most important tool, patience. Naturally occurring yeast is slower-acting, and this is what gives artisanal bread its complexity.

Traditional breads begin with a starter. A starter is a homemade leavening agent. Grapes are used frequently because they provide ready food for wild yeast. The grapes are covered with water and left to ferment; then strained and fed flour three to four times a day for about nine to 14 days. Then the starter is ready to be used to make dough.

It is tough to even trust the word artisan as a description of a style of baking. Many supermarkets are using the term on in-house bakery items that have all manufactured ingredients, but were actually hand-formed. I use artisan here to refer to naturally leavened bread.

Time and patience are the magicians that reveal the true nature and potential of a handmade product. One can see, taste, and smell the difference between an insipid loaf of bread and a wholesome loaf of bread.

"A lot of things I watch for I think most people instinctively recognize," says Sullivan.

Take a slice of each loaf, and hold it to the light. The color of the mass-produced slice is a uniform beige because it was bleached and over-mixed.

The artisanal crumb is a bubbly collage of divots and canyons that were formed by the gas released during fermentation.

Smell it. The artisanal slice smells like wheat. It has the fermented aromatics of a natural leaven. The manufactured slice has a neutral fragrance of sugar and chemical overtones.

Look at the crust. Thick and tri-colored, artisanal bread has a rich browned appearance, then a pale slash of tan where the loaf "bloomed" during baking. Supermarket bread can be undercooked, thus the pale brown uniformity of the crust. Enough sugar was added to make the crust brown easily at lower temperatures.

Bite into the manufactured slice. Your teeth snap together as they crush the fragile crumb. The dough has a melt-in-your-mouth quality. The hearty crust and chewy crumb of the artisanal bread engages the mouth and tongue in an exploration of the senses. Natural fermentation is acidic, so the flavor explodes with robust earthiness.

Days of the village baker are being resurrected all over the country in bakeries and restaurants. Artisanal bread baking is going through a welcome revival, due in part to The Bread Bakers Guild of America, which also helped to create an artisanal baking school at the Dunwoody Institute of Baking in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

"The great thing about bread is if you dont like it, youre out two bucks! Unlike a bottle of French Bordeaux and youre out a couple hundred," remarked a charter member of The Bread Bakers Guild of America.

Exploring the resurrected traditional breads is worth the risk. One place to look for a listing of artisanal bakeries is in the back of the book, "Crust and Crumb," by Peter Reinhart. There are many artisanal baking books published that provide in-depth instruction on how to create these celebrated loaves at home.

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