The Cheese Board: Collective Works: Bread, Pastry, Cheese, Pizza
How Gourmet singled out the baguettes for praise is impossible to know since there are probably as many Cheese Board favorites as there are zealous Cheese Board fans. What about the buttery, sweet, cornmeal scones dotted with dried cherries? What about sourdough bread rolls with gruyere and asiago baked right in for an unbelievable crusty, tangy, cheesy goodness? And the pizza! There'll be a line down the block at lunchtime.
When the Cheese Board first opened in 1967, no one had any idea what this tiny shop - and their quiet Berkeley neighborhood - would become. Wanting to be located nearby, Alice Waters opened Chez Panisse across the street. It wasn't long before the area was known as "The Gourmet Ghetto" - one of the country's most vibrant food neighborhoods and the epicenter of California's culinary revolution. Meanwhile, the store itself became a collective cheeseshop, bakery, and pizzeria wholly owned by its workers. Even today it is run without formal hierachy, every member is paid the same hourly wage, and decisions are made by consensus. For over 30 years the Cheese Board has not only survived but thrived, launching a network of worker cooperatives all over the San Francisco Bay Area - a remarkable anomaly in American business.
Unlike any other cookbook, The Cheese Board: Collective Works has been created from 35 years of collective baking experience. Members pool their knowledge and the recipes grow and change, profiting from the group's participation. For the first time ever, all the classics are here - including banana mocha chocolate chipmuffins, killer granola, and zampanos, many of which have a cult following. There is also an extensive cheese primer with instructions on how to choose, store, and ripen cheese, and how to create unique cheese plates like the Stinky-Cheese Plate, California Goat Cheese Plate, Super Bowl Cheese Plate, Camping Cheese, and Intimate Picnic Plate.
Known and loved by locals and visitors alike, the Cheese Board has never wavered from its original vision of a democratic workplace and a belief in good, honest food. Thankfully, The Cheese Board: Collective Works is as rich and varied as the institution that inspired it.
Paperback: 272 pages (2003)
Publisher: Ten Speed Press; ISBN: 1580084192 Purchasing Info
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