Thank you for visiting the Bread Simplified pre-launch page!
Coming this Fall 2026!
Bread Simplified
Great Bread Made Simple for Busy Lives
By Paul Xavier
About the book » » »
Bread Simplified
Bread Simplified is the baking cheat sheet you've been waiting for — written not by a chef, but by an engineer with a love for bread and a passion for optimizing process. This is not about dumbing it down — it's about raising up only those steps essential for great bread. Whether you're a complete beginner intimidated by your first loaf or an experienced baker looking for a fresh idea, this book lifts bread making to its beautiful essentials: Mix. Shape. Bake.
With hundreds of test loaves behind him, Paul has methodically eliminated jargon and overhead, leaving only what matters. From foolproof no-knead yeast breads to naturally leavened sourdoughs to indulgent enriched loaves, every recipe is built on the same foundational process. No stand mixer. No kneading. No marathon baking. Just honest ingredients, clear instructions, and breads so good your friends will think you're hiding a secret. You're not — you're just following the process.
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Bread Simplified will launch in the fall of 2026 in time for the Holiday Season.
The following is preliminary pricing:
Hardcover: USD $49.99 (available exclusively on this site)
Paperback: USD $39.99 (available exclusively on Amazon)
Ebook: USD $9.99 (available on all platforms, including this site)
About those buns » » »
Paul’s Hot Buns.
If you landed here by clicking or typing www.PaulsHotBuns.com — welcome. You have not been misled! If you’re confused, go ahead and click that link!
Paul's Hot Buns are exactly what you think they are. However, they are also the result of a recipe for dangerously addictive dinner rolls. This started as a simple and humble recipe for bread rolls, but then I leavened them with natural starter instead of yeast. I removed the kneading. I added cold fermentation. I tweaked the milk, eggs, and olive oil. I added a drop (50g!) of honey. Golden and glossy on the outside, pillowy and enriched on the inside, these indulgent pull-apart dinner rolls will have your guests talking about your hot buns all evening.
Like every recipe in Bread Simplified, they follow the same no-knead three-step foundational process. No stand mixer. No complicated shaping technique. Just great ingredients, a little patience, and the discipline to follow the process.
Paul's Hot Buns is one of 30+ recipes waiting for you inside.
Inside the book » » »
What’s Inside …?
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Ingredients and Tools
Common Recipe Format
The Jim Lahey Special
Dessert for Breakfast
The Smoking Piglet
A Bouquet of Flours
The Nut-orious F.I.G
You Had Me at Garlic!
A Slow Rise in Tuscany
Chippy’s Granola Dream
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Irish Soda Bread (Ireland)
No-Knead Focaccia (Italy)
Same-Day No-Knead Bread
Anytime No-Knead Bread
Chouriço Rolls (Portugal)
No-Knead Baguettes (France)
No-Knead Ciabatta (Italy)
Corn Bread (Portugal)
Papos Secos (Portugal)
Pizza Napoletana (Italy)
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Creating a Sourdough Starter
Using Your Sourdough Starter
The Classic No-Knead Sourdough
12/12/12 No-Knead Sourdough
Sir Wheaty McWheatface
Red Hot Cheesy Peppers
Mother Pucker, That’s Tart!
MAG & SAM – A Love Story
Large Country Sourdough
The Sourdough Bread Factory
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The Mediterranean Sourdough
Turmeric Garden Sourdough
Sourdough Sandwich Bread
Paul’s No-Knead Hot Buns
Parmesan Breadsticks (USA)
English Muffins (UK/USA)
Ube Bread (Philippines)
Pão de Deus (Portugal)
Orange Chocolate Brioche
Massa Sovada (Portugal)
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So Many Breads, So Little Time
One Last Recipe - Martini
Acknowledgements
Index
Introduction
You should not be reading this Introduction. Instead, you should be baking a delicious loaf of bread. Yes, right now! That’s why you bought this book, isn’t it? You’re a busy person, with plenty of other hobbies. You just need clear and concise instructions on how to culinarily impress your friends without the backstory of the recipe or the sensei-level experience of a dough-whisperer. Go on, get over to the first chapter and follow the Basic No-Knead Bread recipe. This Introduction can wait. Anyway, introductions are often just a forum for authors to pontificate, and I promise not to disappoint. If you are still reading, either the bread is in the oven or you're the kind of person that reads the manual before assembling the furniture. Either way, welcome.
Pontification Mode: ON.
I am an engineer by education and training. It is in my nature to take things apart, to study the components, and to understand their function. Sometimes, I take parts out, or I … … …
About the author » » »
Paul Xavier.
I’m a bit of a lazy baker.
As a result, I will not use two mixing bowls if I can get away with one. I will not fold dough four times if three times will suffice. I will not use a blender because I don’t want to clean it. I will not preheat an oven one minute longer than necessary. I will question every step of the baking process to eliminate toil and to reduce cost or effort. That is the optimization mentality of a trained engineer.
Today, baking bread is ‘just’ a wonderful project for me, but growing up in a Portuguese household, bread was much more. It was a fundamental part of life - always on the table, always present at every meal, as essential as olive oil and domestic wine. Not a side dish, but a staple to anchor the meal. Today I bake with a respect for what bread was to me growing up.
My training and my culture collided somewhere around Loaf #17. Hundreds of loaves later, I have tracked every ingredient, every process tweak, and every flavor outcome. The result is this book - optimized and practical, a guide to making breads that you can proudly brag about.
Great Bread Made Simple for Busy Lives
Chubby Bear Press.
About the publisher » » »
Chubby Bear Press was founded for one reason — to bring Bread Simplified to the world. One publisher, one mission, one book — for now. At the moment, we are not driven to build a catalog but we may publish deliberately and selectively in the future. And yes, we sometimes refer to Paul as “we”.
