Tartine Bakery is the perfect illustration of the Yogi Berra aphorism: nobody goes there anymore, it’s too crowded. We live walking distance from the 18th and Guerrero shop, yet we shun the place many a week-end morning, not feeling up to standing in that long line, no matter how good the frangipane croissant or the banana cream pie. (Also, we slightly resent them for creating a smaller portion of the yummy bread pudding topped with seasonal fruits, instead of the earlier one-size-fits-all. We now have pangs of guilt ordering the large one, the only one we ever want, but now made unreasonable by the smaller one).

Of course, the answer to these lines is to do it at home, with the help of the Tartine Cookbook, by Elisabeth M. Prueitt and Chad Robertson. The book is edited by Chronicle Books, but not even Laurel Wellman can make fun of this book: it is necessary, it is useful and it is beautifully photographed (by France Ruffenach).