
Soup is the easiest of meals to prepare and one of the most important: This fancy-looking soup is simply celery root cooked with onion and milk, pureed, strained, and poured over some diced celery root for garnish. Photo by Donna Turner Ruhlman.

Soup is the easiest of meals to prepare and one of the most important: This fancy-looking soup is simply celery root cooked with onion and milk, pureed, strained, and poured over some diced celery root for garnish. Photo by Donna Turner Ruhlman.
Donna and I met Carri Thurman, who owns and runs Two Sisters Bakery in Homer, Alaska, a year ago fall when she came to introduce herself bearing bread from On the Rise Bakery and some of her own Lilac Jelly. The day was exquisite fall and the jelly inspired a great still life from Donna. And it was a pleasure to meet a fellow blogger and frequent commentor on this site. Naturally, this professional baker was first on the request list for a guest blog during bread baking month. Herewith, Carri Thurman, and a ciabatta recipe that interests me in two specific ways. First, it requires a kind of starter or what some people refer to as a preferment: a little bit of ...