Nancy Silverton was 18 years old and studying liberal arts at California State University at Sonoma when she started cooking in a vegetarian kitchen in her dorm room . When she realized it was her passion, she apprenticed in a small California restaurant and went to Le Cordon Bleu in London. She returned to Los Angeles and became an assistant pastry chef at a restaurant called Michaels in Santa Monica, California. At Michaels, she knew her passion was baking and returned to Notre Culinary Institute in France to improve her baking skills. Returning to America, she began working for Wolfgang Puck where she was pastry chef at Spago. She stayed there for about seven years and met her ex-husband, Mark Peel, who was a line cook. During this period, according to the LA Times, "it's hard to imagine how bad the bread scene was in Los Angeles before Brea's Bakery opened." There was already a bread revolution, as Steve Sullivan's Acme Bakery had been baking breads with natural sourdough since 1983. But in the South, Pioneer Boulangerine's chewy, overly sour products were the best available. (Author Russ Parsons 01/29/2014)Silverton didn't really understand why it was so difficult to find anything other than commercial yeast for sourdough breads. So she embarked on the adventure to try to make it her own. She realized she would have to make the bread all the time to perfect it, and in her book Breads from La Brea Bakery she states: "At the time, few Los Angeles restaurants cared much about bread that they served. Pale buns with styrofoam-like interiors, heated to hide their lack of flavor, passed for bread even in the most famous places. (Silverton, p. xxii)When Silverton decided to open a restaurant, she didn't want to serve bad bread and... middle of paper ......e the first 5 minutes. Avoid opening the door for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, check the baguettes and turn them if necessary to ensure even cooking. Continue cooking for another 10 to 15 minutes, for a total of 30 to 35 minutes. Remove the baguettes to a cooking rack. They should have a golden crust and a porous interior. (Silverton, Pains de la Brea Bakery 1996, p. 62-67) Works Cited Pains de la Boulangerie La Brea 1996 p. 62-67 Barcode12301 The World's Best Party Chef http://www.starchefs.com/chefs/nsilverton/ nsilverton.shtmlNancy Silverton looks back on 25 years of La Brea Bakeryhttp://www.latimes.com/food/dailydish/ la-dd-calcook-nancy-silverton-looks-back-at-25-years-of-la-brea-bakery-20140128,0,3246342.story#axzz2ysyYcz7xPizzeria Mozzahttp://www.osteriamozza.com/la/team .cfmCulinaryEdhttp://www.culinaryed.com/artical/nancy-silverton.html