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]

A major contributor to this article appears to have a close connection with its subject. (November 2021)

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]

Publications

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

References