Trying to bake 500 different breads

An audacious, delicious goal. Plus, three years of Good Book Good Bread!

An exciting new project + marking three years of books and bread!

I started Good Book Good Bread three years ago. From my little cabin engulfed by western red cedars and ferns outside of Squamish, BC, I baked, I read, and I typed. I started this Substack because I was feeling creatively uninspired and wanted to do something just for myself, that allowed me to go on at length about my two favourite things.

Fast forward to 2025, and I’ve moved to another mountain town, gotten married, lost my job, gotten a new job, welcomed a second husky mix into our family (Bruce bear), undertaken a canoeing expedition of the Columbia River (and dealt with a truly humbling case of giardia).

Amidst all of these changes, writing this newsletter every few weeks has been a delightful and nourishing constant. I wanted to take a little pause this issue and share the five most-read Good Book Good Bread issues to date. I’ve included them below. I’d love to hear your thoughts about the books and breads featured in them. What did you love? What wasn’t for you? What other breads should I bake? What books have you recently read that I should check out?

But first:

I’ve always been drawn to adventures and goals focused on a certain number. When I was 33, I ran on 33 new trails. This year, my 35th on this planet, I decided I’d swim in 35 bodies of water (I’m on #9, my birthday is in June, and most of the water bodies I haven’t swam in around Revelstoke are frozen, so I think I’m going to have a busy spring lol).

In this numerical spirit, I’ve recently launched my new YouTube channel, 500 Breads, where I will be chronicling my experience of baking 500 different kinds of bread! This should keep me busy for the next decade or so :)

While writing has always been my first love, for a long time I have wanted to start a bread baking YouTube channel. My ideal way to relax is to curl up on the couch and fall down a YouTube rabbit hole of bakers shaping loaves, breads springing to life in the oven, and bronze crusts crackling when cut into. I wanted to be a part of it.

Twice a month I’ll be uploading a video where I bake a bread start to finish. Sometimes I’ll bake a recipe from my one of my favourite cookbook authors (see Smitten Kitchen’s everything bagel drop biscuits here, and Claire Saffitz’s focaccia here). And other times, I’ll be baking a recipe I developed (see easy pizza dough topped with caramelized onion, goat cheese & sesame seeds here).

It would mean *so* much to me to have you check out 500 Breads and subscribe.

I’m so excited to keep writing this newsletter, to produce recipes and videos, and continue to interact with the awesome community here. Thanks for being part of it!

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Most Read Good Book Good Bread Issues!

1. Demon Copperhead & berry-filled sourdough discard muffins

   Barbara Kingsolver’s beautiful story of a boy coming of age in the hills of Appalachia, and a tangy muffin studded with raspberries and blueberries, capped off with a crisp, sugary top.
   
   

   

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2. Cinnamon Pull-Apart Bread & The God of the Woods

   A mouthwatering twisted loaf that tastes like cinnamon buns, and Liz Moore’s thriller set at an Adirondack summer camp about family secrets that can no longer remain hidden.

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3. The Great Alone & English Muffins

   Kristin Hannah’s 2018 epic about a young woman grappling with extreme family dysfunction in a remote Alaskan cabin, and perfect, craggy english muffins.

   

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   4. Pull apart garlic bread and Butter

   Asako Yuzuki’s riveting fictional story of a Japanese journalist investigating a female serial killer, and unexpectedly discovering the joy of food along the way.

   

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   5. Everything Biscuits & When We Sold God’s Eye

   Alex Cuadros’ fascinating non-fiction exploration of how resource extraction has impacted the Cinta Larga, an Indigenous tribe deep in the Amazon, and a salty, cream cheese-filled drop biscuit.

   
   

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   Thanks for reading! I’ll be back in two weeks with another book review and a new bread to share. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy 500 Breads!