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Bespoke baking, craft stories

Welcome.

Hi y’all. Some of you know me — many of you don’t.

My name is Martin Philip. For two decades I have baked, taught, talked, thought, and written about baking. I’ve pulled millions of baked goods out of ovens, I wrote a celebrated cookbook, and have used baking as a means of connection with both loved ones and strangers.

And yet here’s the thing: I don’t consider myself a baker.

Yes, baking is the work I do, but, like many of you that make things, there is something deeper — beneath, beyond, and overhead — let’s call it Craft.

Whether it’s my mother’s hands at a quilt, my dad’s voice, finding the right words when we need them, or my wife making music from clusters of notes — “craft” is the transformation of raw to whole. Craft connects who we are with what we do. This newsletter is my version of that intersection: A collection of words, recipes, and method that mixes what I am with how I make things. It is me.

Welcome to the Sassafras Curio.

What’s inside?

At least twice monthly you’ll hear from me with:

Recipes. Sour cherry and almond brioche focaccia; crispy sourdough waffles; braised kale with creamy polenta; an olive oil, cornmeal, orange, and rose breakfast cake; butter beans with home-cured venison ham; bicolor pain de mie with blue pea flower powder; smoked salt and corn grit crusted ciabatta, and on, and on, and on.

Essays. In my book, I package recipes with words, as I’ll do here. From the small circle of my family and home to the broader ways that eating connects us all, these essays will move beyond the kitchen. I’ll share work from my biscuit, bicycle, and banjo adventure in rural Arkansas (“The Baker Maker Roadshow”) as well as pieces on parenting three teenagers when pancakes speak louder than words (“Breakfast Song”) and new work which honors the ways in which food is the best language we have (“Love on a plate”).

Method. Some of my writing will open points of curiosity that have both niche and broad appeal. From the tools that I use (as few as possible) to coloring doughs, stenciling loaves, or using new ingredients, let’s make things that are artful and edible. Here I’ll discuss the how.

So, sign up below. Unsubscribe at any time, and thanks for coming along.

Sincerely,

Martin

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