Though the inside of her dense new book, “A Blessing of Bread” (Artisan, hardcover, $35) is filled with detailed descriptions of how to make various Jewish breads, Milwaukee native Maggie Glezer describes her book as a story of diversity, love and culture.
“It’s not about the technical brilliance of the loaf, but the love that was put into it,” she said in a recent telephone interview.
During a visit to her hometown next week, Glezer will talk about her book on Wednesday, Nov. 24, 1 p.m., at the Rubenstein Pavilion at the Jewish Home and Care Center; and on Friday, Nov. 26, 1 p.m., at Harry W. Schwartz Bookshop in Mequon.
Glezer offers 336 pages of recipes that highlight the different cultures within the Jewish people, and they tell the story of the women who bake the various breads.
Glezer pointed out that the Jewish people include an eclectic collection of subcultures, each with their own ways and traditions. “That was very fascinating to me,” she said.
“Having an inkling of all the other [Jewish] traditions that exist out there made me want to really explore it,” Glezer said about her inspiration for writing the book.
“A Blessing of Bread” clearly accomplishes her initial intentions; exploring the depths of Jewish cooking and savoring tradition among the different Jewish cultures.
Divided into sections by culture (Ashkenazi tradition, Sephardic tradition, North African tradition, Near Eastern tradition and new traditions), the book not only provides recipes, but also an assortment of Jewish folkloric anecdotes and ritualistic explanations.
The book also includes two tables of contents, one separating the recipes by ethnicity and the other by appropriate category (Breads for the Holidays, Flavored Breads, Breads that Make Exceptionally Beautiful Braids, etc.).
Celebrating home
In writing the book, Glezer traveled across the country, from home to home and heritage to heritage, baking with Jewish homemakers and listening to their stories.
“Probably my favorite part of writing this book was listening to the bakers and others talk about their lives,” Glezer wrote in her introduction.
“[I was] always a little nervous, but in almost every instance it was such a delight,” Glezer told The Chronicle.
In the book, Glezer described the matriarchs in the homes she visited. “She was always a strong woman who had faced many hardships yet maintained a rocklike faith and pious observance. She spent her time cooking for her family and telling tales in her infrequent free time.”
And, Glezer said, “It made me appreciate more the role of the mother or grandmother in the family. It’s probably the most important role that women could ever have.”
That, of course, is in conflict with modern ideas of women’s roles. Many women, Glezer said, feel they must have a job outside the home “to prove their worth.”
But, that’s not right for all women, Glezer argued. “It’s very important for some women but, for other women, they find so much in staying home.”
Glezer now lives in Atlanta, Ga., with her husband and two children. But she’s proud of her Milwaukee roots. Her great-grandparents on both sides immigrated to Milwaukee and the family is still based here. “I grew up with all of my extended family, seeing them all of the time,” she said.
And local life has certainly enriched and inspired her, Glezer said. “I guess it was just exposure to so many different traditions and cultures [In Milwaukee]. It’s a small town but there’s so much there.”
Glezer is not new to baking. Author of “Artisan Baking Across America: The Breads, the Bakers, the Best Recipes” (Artisan, 2000).
She is also a contributor of Fine Cooking, The Atlanta Journal Constitution, the Bread Baker’s Guild of America’s newsletter and King Arthur Flour’s The Baking Sheet. She’s a certified American Institute of Baking baker who teaches and writes about bread baking.
Glezer hopes that “A Blessing of Bread” will spark or maintain Jewish tradition in the home.
“I hope that [readers] have an appreciation of the wide variety of Jewish cultures there are out there. I hope that they take up the mitzvah of making challah for the Sabbath. Your children will remember it their whole lives. It’s very meaningful. In a sense it’s a very humbling thing to make something so easy and so simple.”
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