https://gourmetgastronomer.com/ Recently updated entries from the Gourmet Gastronomer encyclopedia. https://gourmetgastronomer.com/atlas/giustos/ https://gourmetgastronomer.com/atlas/giustos/ A South San Francisco grain processor and wholesaler, dating itself to 1940, that supplies flours and other bakery ingredients to Western bakers. Wed, 26 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://gourmetgastronomer.com/baking/desired-dough-temperature/ https://gourmetgastronomer.com/baking/desired-dough-temperature/ The target temperature of dough at the end of mixing, used so fermentation and the bakery schedule stay inside a planned window. Wed, 26 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://gourmetgastronomer.com/baking/sourdough/bulk-fermentation/ https://gourmetgastronomer.com/baking/sourdough/bulk-fermentation/ The first rise of mixed dough, when yeast and bacteria produce gas, acid, and flavor before the loaf is shaped. Wed, 26 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://gourmetgastronomer.com/ingredients/wheat-flour/ https://gourmetgastronomer.com/ingredients/wheat-flour/ The milled endosperm of wheat, and the ordinary structure-building ingredient in bread, pastry, and many sauces. Wed, 26 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://gourmetgastronomer.com/recipes/country-loaf/ https://gourmetgastronomer.com/recipes/country-loaf/ A straightforward sourdough country loaf in baker’s percentages, written as a practice formula rather than a copy of any bakery’s published recipe. Wed, 26 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://gourmetgastronomer.com/science/milling/ https://gourmetgastronomer.com/science/milling/ The mechanical separation of a wheat kernel into flour streams, bran, and germ — a process that decides what bakers later call “flour.” Wed, 26 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://gourmetgastronomer.com/atlas/ https://gourmetgastronomer.com/atlas/ Places in the San Francisco and Bay Area food world, connected to the crafts and ingredients in the encyclopedia. Tue, 25 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://gourmetgastronomer.com/atlas/acme-bread/ https://gourmetgastronomer.com/atlas/acme-bread/ A Berkeley bakery founded in 1983 to supply restaurants with long-fermented hearth bread, later also baking at the San Francisco Ferry Building. Tue, 25 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://gourmetgastronomer.com/atlas/arizmendi-bakery/ https://gourmetgastronomer.com/atlas/arizmendi-bakery/ A worker-owned cooperative bakery in San Francisco’s Inner Sunset, part of a Bay Area network that began from Cheese Board recipes and know-how. Tue, 25 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://gourmetgastronomer.com/atlas/boudin-bakery/ https://gourmetgastronomer.com/atlas/boudin-bakery/ A San Francisco bakery dating its sour French bread to 1849, still operating in the city, and the usual public face of “San Francisco sourdough.” Tue, 25 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://gourmetgastronomer.com/atlas/cheese-board-collective/ https://gourmetgastronomer.com/atlas/cheese-board-collective/ A Berkeley worker-owned cheese shop, bakery, and pizzeria, operating as a collective since 1971, and a parent of the Arizmendi bakery network. Tue, 25 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://gourmetgastronomer.com/atlas/cowgirl-creamery/ https://gourmetgastronomer.com/atlas/cowgirl-creamery/ A North Bay cheesemaker whose public home is now presented as Sonoma County work; its Ferry Building shop closed in 2021. Tue, 25 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://gourmetgastronomer.com/atlas/ferry-building/ https://gourmetgastronomer.com/atlas/ferry-building/ San Francisco’s Ferry Building Marketplace, a historic waterfront hall of food merchants at the foot of Market Street. Tue, 25 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://gourmetgastronomer.com/atlas/marin-county/ https://gourmetgastronomer.com/atlas/marin-county/ A North Bay county whose coastal dairies feed San Francisco’s cheese imagination more than its vineyard fame. Tue, 25 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://gourmetgastronomer.com/atlas/napa-valley/ https://gourmetgastronomer.com/atlas/napa-valley/ California’s first American Viticultural Area (1981): a small, fog-and-hill grape-growing valley north of San Pablo Bay, not a list of tasting rooms. Tue, 25 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://gourmetgastronomer.com/atlas/point-reyes-farmstead/ https://gourmetgastronomer.com/atlas/point-reyes-farmstead/ A West Marin dairy that became a creamery in 2000, still making Original Blue on the Tomales Bay farm while running a second plant in Petaluma. Tue, 25 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://gourmetgastronomer.com/atlas/san-francisco/ https://gourmetgastronomer.com/atlas/san-francisco/ A city whose bakeries, markets, and immigrant kitchens make it a defining setting for Gourmet Gastronomer. Tue, 25 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://gourmetgastronomer.com/atlas/sonoma-county/ https://gourmetgastronomer.com/atlas/sonoma-county/ A North Bay county of fog-cooled vineyards, dairy plants, and towns that supply wine and cheese to the Bay Area. Tue, 25 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://gourmetgastronomer.com/atlas/tartine-bakery/ https://gourmetgastronomer.com/atlas/tartine-bakery/ A San Francisco bakery on Guerrero Street, known publicly for bread and pastry, used here as an atlas node rather than a review. Tue, 25 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://gourmetgastronomer.com/baking/ https://gourmetgastronomer.com/baking/ The craft of transforming dough and batter with heat, from bread and pastry to the professional bakery. Tue, 25 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://gourmetgastronomer.com/baking/sourdough/ https://gourmetgastronomer.com/baking/sourdough/ Bread leavened by a culture of wild yeast and lactic acid bacteria rather than commercial baker’s yeast. Tue, 25 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://gourmetgastronomer.com/baking/sourdough/bake/ https://gourmetgastronomer.com/baking/sourdough/bake/ The oven stage, when heat sets crust and crumb, gelatinizes starch, and turns a proofed dough into bread. Tue, 25 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://gourmetgastronomer.com/baking/sourdough/dough-development/ https://gourmetgastronomer.com/baking/sourdough/dough-development/ The gaining of dough strength and extensibility through mixing, rest, and folds as gluten networks organize. Tue, 25 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://gourmetgastronomer.com/baking/sourdough/final-proof/ https://gourmetgastronomer.com/baking/sourdough/final-proof/ The last rise of a shaped loaf, when the dough relaxes and gains the gas it will carry into the oven. Tue, 25 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://gourmetgastronomer.com/baking/sourdough/levain/ https://gourmetgastronomer.com/baking/sourdough/levain/ A preferment built from starter, flour, and water for a particular dough, mixed and fermented on a schedule. Tue, 25 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://gourmetgastronomer.com/baking/sourdough/mixing/ https://gourmetgastronomer.com/baking/sourdough/mixing/ Combining flour, water, salt, and leaven so that gluten can form and fermentation can begin evenly. Tue, 25 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://gourmetgastronomer.com/baking/sourdough/san-francisco-sourdough/ https://gourmetgastronomer.com/baking/sourdough/san-francisco-sourdough/ A civic bread story, a commercial bakery style, and a laboratory isolation — three layers that are easy to mash into one myth. Tue, 25 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://gourmetgastronomer.com/baking/sourdough/scoring/ https://gourmetgastronomer.com/baking/sourdough/scoring/ Cutting the surface of a proofed loaf so that oven spring opens along an intended line rather than at a random burst. Tue, 25 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://gourmetgastronomer.com/baking/sourdough/shaping/ https://gourmetgastronomer.com/baking/sourdough/shaping/ Organizing fermented dough into a taut loaf so that it can rise upward in the proof and the oven. Tue, 25 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://gourmetgastronomer.com/baking/sourdough/starter/ https://gourmetgastronomer.com/baking/sourdough/starter/ A maintained culture of flour and water that hosts wild yeast and lactic acid bacteria for leavening bread. Tue, 25 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT