Charlie van Over

Charlie van Over is an American restaurateur and food writer and baker who is an authority on the subject of baking bread.^[5][6][7][8] His book The Best Bread Ever won the James Beard Foundation Award for the baking and dessert category in 1998.^{[3][9][4][10]} He pioneered a radical and efficient breadmaking method using a food processor for 45 seconds to avoid the drudgery of preparing bread by kneading it by hand.^[11] He got the idea at a party for the Cuisinart inventor Carl Sontheimer, and after experimenting for several years, he developed his breadmaking technique.^[11][12] He was instrumental in inspiring the culinary guru Nathan Myhrvold to devote a sustained multi-year investigation into the subject of baking bread, which resulted in Myhrvold's best-selling book Modernist Bread.^[13] Van Over patented a kitchen implement called the Bâtard Folding Picnic Knife^[1] as well as an oven stone for baking bread.^[8] He collaborated with his friend and fellow chef Jacques Pépin on recipes and techniques.^[11][14][15] With his wife and fellow restaurateur Priscilla Martel, he opened Restaurant du Village in the town of Chester, Connecticut,^[16][17] which helped make the town "a destination" according to The New York Times.^[1] He resides in Chester, Connecticut.^[3]

A baguette is the simplest bread in the world to make. But it’s by far the hardest to make great. If you can make a great baguette, you can make any great bread.

— Charlie van Over in Mint magazine, 2016^[18]

Publications[]

• The Best Bread Ever, Broadway Books, November 3, 1997, ISBN 978-0767900324, Charlie van Over with Priscilla Martel

References[]