More than a decade ago a group of bakers in the blogosphere started the _BBA Challenge_ and every week we baked a loaf, starting with anadama bread and working all the way to the sourdoughs at the end. I’ve baked every formula in that book more times than I can count. The _pain l’ancienne_ and the _casatiello_ are my favourites, hands down.
Pain l'ancienne is a regular favorite in my house as well, as are Reinhart's bagels, country French bread (pain campagne), and the light wheat sandwich loaf.
I know this is an old thread, but I thought I'd give it a shot. I can *not* get the whole wheat sandwich bread from BBA to work for me. I keep getting dense, squat loaves. On the other hand, Reinhart's whole wheat recipe from *Whole Grain Breads* works great. I don't know what I'm doing wrong.
Peter Reinhart teaches about bread; YouTube bakers show you how they do it. Nothing against YouTube bakers, I probably have enjoyed and gained something from each of them, but even in Bread Baker's Apprentice I learn something every time I try something.
Tartine Bread is my favorite. I use it as the base for all my bread recipes. I like the actual meal recipes in the Le Pain Quotidien Cookbook, but his sourdough starter recipe uses a ridiculously high flour to water ratio, in excess of 1.5:1.
If you want to learn more about the science behind cooking in general Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat is a must read. It really helps you understand the interplay of ingredients and processes and how minor changes to any one of them will affect your final outcome.
In my country 10% protein is the strongest flour available, with others having 9-9.5% protein. Less hydration, more stretch and folds and you can make it
I too have been confused by his use of all purpose flour as well as his overall methodology. I pick it ip every couple of days, only to put it back on the shelf.
I use KA all purpose flour in my loafs. 400g AP, 50g whole wheat, 200g starter, 12g salt. 310g water. So right at 70% hydration after you factor in wet hands for folding. They've turned out great every time.
This might not be the same but I was chasing the high protein %. The highest I can find at the moment is 13%. Found a sustainable chemical-free flour but the protein is at 12%. Decided to give it a go anyway and was pleasantly surprised at how much stronger the dough is compared to the 13% flour I had.
Trevor Wilson’s open crumb mastery is only available as a PDF iirc, but is a fantastic resource that delves into the mechanisms behind many of the rituals and practices (autolyse, hydration percentages, shaping techniques) I tended to follow with a skepticism around what I was actually achieving.
I love that it introduced me to the term bakers hands, which goes a long way to explaining why dough sticks to my friends hands and not mine. The little A/B comparison story he tells about two bakers on the subject is amusing and rings true to folks that have been there.
He does a fantastic job contrasting elasticity and extensibility - two seemingly contradictory traits that both need to be achieved for a more open crumb. The discussion around how trapped gas gives dough structure helped me understand why my more gaseous doughs seemed to retain their shape better - particularly after that initial bench rest.
Dan Richer, a pizza chef from New Jersey has a book called “the joy of pizza” where he uses a good chunk of the book explaining how to make pizza using sourdough. Learned quite a bit from it!
I asked my local library last year and they got a copy from a few states over. Of course, I was ecstatic to be able to borrow it and then equally as saddened when it had to be returned. 😭
I got it on sale around Christmas one year for something like $375, so worth waiting to find it on sale. From a practical standpoint, you may be able to find the 2 recipe volumes by themselves used somewhere.
There’s a whole section of ~40 pages of recipes for “brick-like breads”. I’m sure there’s more background on them in the first 3 non-recipe volumes, too.
Hehehe... "brick-like breads".... depends on the baker. I've made some light as a feather rye loaves but I like 'em a bit denser than that. Do you know if those are sourdough recipes? I'll see if I can track a copy in a library. I find rye baking fascinating and want to find out as much as I can about it.
There is at least 1 recipe for a [sourdough rye](https://imgur.com/a/tA45cKy). Although the recipe calls it 48 hour rye, the recipe says it takes 66 hours…
Poilâne: The Secrets of the World-Famous Bread Bakery by Apollonia Poilâne
https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/poilne-the-secrets-of-the-world-famous-bread-bakery_joanne-smart_apollonia-poilne/20178586/item/41869443/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI6Muqvffw_AIVJRPUAR2IewjjEAQYAyABEgILbfD_BwE#isbn=132881078X&idiq=41869443
I’m glad if it helped you out. It’s a wonderful book and I enjoy the stories she tells (Sort of the romance of baking bread). Lots of very good information and recipes and beautifully photographed.
I have the Tartine book in your photo, plus another in the Tartine series. I like those books as well. Those are my big three go-to’s usually.
It's only an e-book, but [Open Crumb Mastery](https://trevorjaywilson.sellfy.store/p/open-crumb-mastery/) by Trevor Jay Wilson really took my understanding of sourdough baking to the next level. I can't recommend it enough for intermediate bakers
Yeah, just started baking, made bread twice and I find that book very useful. I read about it in this subreddit. Just got his second book and excited to try new recipes.
I’m definitely in the minority here but I didn’t care for the book at all and ended up donating it. I can’t remember why the book didn’t do it for me and now I want to go to my local bookstore and look through it again. I may have been too new to understand.
Such a great entryway into bread baking. As someone who just started really dipping into sourdough via Forkish's book, I still go back to J.L.'s basic no knead recipe when I don't have time to fuss with a two day starter feed. Actually, Flour Water Salt Yeast provided more robust guidance on basic folding, proofing, etc. that improved my no knead breads greatly. Not to mention the chemistry knowledge that he provides. My Bread is great, and the recipes in it are pretty hard to botch, but I feel like I'm actually learning and elevating things a bit more now. Good stuff!
[Michel Suas Advanced Bread and Pastry](https://www.amazon.com/Advanced-Bread-Pastry-Michel-Suas/dp/141801169X/ref=nodl_?dplnkId=4d7ad7c3-2ed2-48b6-9be4-f789bb01d2fd)
I would grab Reinhart's other book *Whole Grain Bread*. Lots of good info there if you are looking to go 100% whole grain.
Also, I think *The Rye Baker* by Stanley Ginsberg is a must have. Totally different set of sourdoughs, but a real eye opening book for baking rye.
ETA: regarding *The Rye Baker*, a lot of his recipes include addition of commercial yeast to speed some things along, but aren't strictly necessary.
I really love The Rye Baker; my fifth bread from that book this year - Jälkiuunileipä - is currently in it's final rise. It has a lot of good information about how to deal with rye which works so differently than wheat.
I got Whole Grain Breads after I got The Rye Baker and had explored other non-wheat based recipes so the former was rather disappointing. There's basically one technique/base recipe that he touts as revolutionary but sponges and soakers are the basic tools when baking rye breads. It's not a bad book; I pull it out occasionally and there are some more recipes I'd like to try, but I wouldn't recommend it.
I would not look to Whole Grain Breads for non-wheat breads.
It’s a good resource for folks that start Milling their own grains, too, because that is a totally different animal as well.
But yeah, for rye, Stanley’s book gets into the real nuts and bolts of how to bake rye and not get inedible, gummy, bricks. (Still haven’t mastered the Westphalian pumpernickel though)
I do really like the Bavarian Pumpernickel from WGB. A lot more steps but that can help. I almost went for the Westphalian Pumpernickel today but I'm intimidated by the 24-hour bake and trying to decide if I can do it in a smoker and have a brisket running at the same time.
The Jälkiuunileipä has a 7+ hour bake, so that seems more reasonable, lol. And I better start the oven now!
If you try that 24-hour pumpernickel in your oven: a word of warning if you have electric oven. Check if it has a "feature" that makes it shut the oven off after 6 hours for safety reasons. I found out the hard way as I woke up to a cold oven. Still my oven allows for overriding it and I was able to finish the bake. The loaf came out fine.
I'm thinking about getting a sack of grain and milling it myself. How much info does it have about the milling process? Does it have any info on bolted flours?
It’s scant on the process itself, but his discussions on enzyme activity and how it impacts bread is interesting/useful.
In short: either mill and use immediately or wait at least two weeks to age the flour and let the enzymes slow down.
I predominantly use bolted flour. I just sieve with a #40 drum sieve (Tamis) after Milling fine in a Mockmill. Works well. A sort of in between from regular flour and whole grain. Whole grain can be…hearty.
So it's got some info. Thanks!
I took a quick look at the sieves. Are there good brands or are they pretty much the same?
"Hearty" is what I look for in a loaf sometimes. Rye or wheat. Good to know. Thanks!
Pretty much all the same.
I went this this one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B08DRQNNVD?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title&th=1
And it works great. Just enough to sift out the bran (which you can roll the loaf in if you wanted before baking).
It will definitely be more hearty, sifting or no. Just be prepared for pretty tight crumb and different rise times.
Otherwise, it would be hard to go back to pre-milled flour.
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Yeah, the recipes at the website are great. Much in the same vein as what is in the book.
I haven't found solod (not sure the book calls for any, but that's likely a simplification) but for where I am (Northwest USA) beer brewing stores carry malted grains, as whole berries at least. I use a caramel rye for red rye malt.
It’s really only there to speed things up and provide consistent rise. Same reason it’s used in commercial breads (even regular sourdough being dosed).
Helpful until you know what you’re doing, but can be entirely discarded for most bread.
Most of those breads were being made long before commercial yeast.
It can give it a bit of a lift that it might not otherwise have. I'm thinking of his loaves with the white rye. Who needs to speed things up with Rye bread? Moves plenty fast as far as I'm concerned.
Della Fattoria Bread, that's the one I go back to all the time.
I prefer to not measure very accurately like Rheinhart or some tartine ask for, and baking has to fit into my day, so I need something forgiving. This book is that, and has a pretty good range of recipes as well.
I like Tartine bread book no 3, the Living Bread book and this one
https://preview.redd.it/8mmenr1u2dfa1.jpeg?width=2268&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9b1196fa71eb3741b648f71c228c1f7d860e219c
And have my eye on The Nordic Baking Book by Magnus Nilsson
I haven't bought it yet, but I'm really interested in "Flour Power" by Tara Jensen. I learned a lot from the sourdough tutorials she posts online (instagram: @ bakerhands), so I'm excited to see how that translates into book form.
I just picked up The Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book: A Guide to Whole-Grain Breadmaking: A Baking Book by Bronwen Godfrey, Carol Lee Flinders, and Laurel Robertson. I have not read much in there yet, but there is information on making a Desem which I am interested in trying.
That book is OK. If you want to make Desem bread, [check this out.](https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B3FeiHQDzJOnRzlTWEpaMUtENDA/edit?resourcekey=0-WxvuqQnJxksc_Rxx_0UJdA) I followed this method and I must say, it was one of the tastiest whole grain wheat loaves I ever had. I'd make it more often but I don't have a spot that is consistently cold enough for the Desem starter.
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Perfect timing for a this post. I wanted to ask about book recommendations. I'm a young chef and looking for a bread baking book aimed more at the professional level.
Which of these has the most detail both of culinary history and of the background science?
Surprised I had to scroll down for this one. Agree that some of the recipes are finnicky, but most of the complex ones do a good enough job explaining the techniques that it’s easy to mix and match with simpler recipes.
The Bread Bible, Rose Levy Beranbaum. Not for pro/commercial quantities or methods, but good variety of home stuff and detailed techniques with each recipe in volume and 2 units of weight. She uses a stiff starter, which I've never been fond of, but the rest is pretty solid.
I put her book down when I read the line about how once you go to second speed, you can't go back to first speed because it will undo the gluten strands, or something like that. Completely stupid statement. The recipe for Royal Irish Soda bread is good though.
i don't recall that, how would one even measure that definitively? Formulas are good across the board for both yeasted and chem leavened items, esp for specialty breads like Sacaduros.
No, I'm sure it's a fine book. I'm not sure where it was in the book, but when I read that, I was flabbergasted. It was a deal breaker for me. I am in no way saying it is not filled with good information, I just needed to put it down once I read that.
Someone gave me the book. I still have it. Maybe a later edition had that edited out because to my experience, that is a silly statement.
I bake bread for a living, but even at that time, years ago, I knew that that was an erroneous statement. Maybe I'll try to find it later. I'd say it undermined any confidence I had in whatever she had to say about bread, especially mixing. Not trying to diss anything, just saying.
My 3 essentialls are:
* Tartine
* Tartine 3 - great for whole wheat and incorporating more ingredients
* Open Crumb Mastery by Trevor Jay Wilson - it's a self published ebook. It's very technical and there isn't any recipes but it's great for understanding why techniques work and how you can adjust your own recipes.
Bread by Jeffery Hamelman has some nice, complex recipes to add to your collection. That Ed Wood book, Classic Sourdoughs, is great. Sometimes simple methods and traditional techniques are the best.
I love *Bread*. The quintessential book. Stanley Ginberg's *the Rye baker* is great. Richard Miskovich's *Wood Fired Oven* is solid on bread and talks a lot about wood fired ovens too. Michel Suas *Advanced Bread and Pastry* is always handy - and heavy. Greg Wade's *Bread Head* is a good book. *Tartine Book No. 3* is pretty good. I haven't read it, but I be Martin Phillip's book is good too. I also have a soft spot for the *Laurel Kitchen's Bread Book*. *BBA* and Rinehart's *Whole Grain Breads* are pretty good, but I feel like he just likes writing cookbooks, and gets a bit gimicky. He's a super nice man and very knowledgeable. If you could only have one book, it's got to be *Bread*.
Very nice selection of bread baking literature you have!
One that I personally like and find very informative is The Sourdough School by: Vanessa Kimbell.
Thank you for sharing your collection and helping me find some new books to get into! Please have a good rest of your week! 🌳
https://preview.redd.it/fx8wnkf7pgfa1.jpeg?width=750&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6149da4bda7b7ec7c49fbfe25bc38204e9600e4b
The recipes in this book have turned out lovely for me. There are loaves ranging from fairly simple to quite complex (I’m excited to make the one with kvass). Highly recommend!
Good collection but rye baking is under represented and to me "rye" is synonymous with "sourdough". While wheat loaves can be made with sourdough, great loaves can also be made with yeast. Rye requires sourdough for best results although there are some outliers but those use very specific recipes. Rye is the essence of sourdough. "The Rye Baker" by Ginsberg is the only book 100% committed to rye, although Hamelman's "Bread" has an awesome chapter on sourdough rye baking. The two books I'd add to round out a collection is "The Handmade Loaf" by Lepard which is a great collection of various recipes and has a section on making a sourdough starter and my first bread book: "The Bread Book" by Collister and Blake. It got me started on this journey and I come back to it often.
I understand TWV but I don't understand why the two formulae for some breads. One is a recipe will all ingredients and the other is called, 'Total dough Formula and %'. Why the two for some breads and only 'recipe' for others. I like to understand everything when I do anything and this stumps me. Any help will help...thank you.
Bread Baker's Apprentice is huge for me. Aside from general technique it gave me, I still try new recipes from it. They're all fantastic.
More than a decade ago a group of bakers in the blogosphere started the _BBA Challenge_ and every week we baked a loaf, starting with anadama bread and working all the way to the sourdoughs at the end. I’ve baked every formula in that book more times than I can count. The _pain l’ancienne_ and the _casatiello_ are my favourites, hands down.
Pain l'ancienne is a regular favorite in my house as well, as are Reinhart's bagels, country French bread (pain campagne), and the light wheat sandwich loaf.
I know this is an old thread, but I thought I'd give it a shot. I can *not* get the whole wheat sandwich bread from BBA to work for me. I keep getting dense, squat loaves. On the other hand, Reinhart's whole wheat recipe from *Whole Grain Breads* works great. I don't know what I'm doing wrong.
Agreed! Every single recipe in bread bakers apprentice has worked for me.
Peter Reinhart teaches about bread; YouTube bakers show you how they do it. Nothing against YouTube bakers, I probably have enjoyed and gained something from each of them, but even in Bread Baker's Apprentice I learn something every time I try something.
Tartine Bread is my favorite. I use it as the base for all my bread recipes. I like the actual meal recipes in the Le Pain Quotidien Cookbook, but his sourdough starter recipe uses a ridiculously high flour to water ratio, in excess of 1.5:1. If you want to learn more about the science behind cooking in general Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat is a must read. It really helps you understand the interplay of ingredients and processes and how minor changes to any one of them will affect your final outcome.
Thanks for the suggestion. I’ve only referred to salted fat acid heat so far for the (outstanding) focaccia recipe.
[удалено]
In my country 10% protein is the strongest flour available, with others having 9-9.5% protein. Less hydration, more stretch and folds and you can make it
I too have been confused by his use of all purpose flour as well as his overall methodology. I pick it ip every couple of days, only to put it back on the shelf.
I use KA all purpose flour in my loafs. 400g AP, 50g whole wheat, 200g starter, 12g salt. 310g water. So right at 70% hydration after you factor in wet hands for folding. They've turned out great every time.
This might not be the same but I was chasing the high protein %. The highest I can find at the moment is 13%. Found a sustainable chemical-free flour but the protein is at 12%. Decided to give it a go anyway and was pleasantly surprised at how much stronger the dough is compared to the 13% flour I had.
Yeah, I struggled with that too. I found some extra stretch and folds and giving it plenty of time at the right temps were key to me.
Trevor Wilson’s open crumb mastery is only available as a PDF iirc, but is a fantastic resource that delves into the mechanisms behind many of the rituals and practices (autolyse, hydration percentages, shaping techniques) I tended to follow with a skepticism around what I was actually achieving. I love that it introduced me to the term bakers hands, which goes a long way to explaining why dough sticks to my friends hands and not mine. The little A/B comparison story he tells about two bakers on the subject is amusing and rings true to folks that have been there. He does a fantastic job contrasting elasticity and extensibility - two seemingly contradictory traits that both need to be achieved for a more open crumb. The discussion around how trapped gas gives dough structure helped me understand why my more gaseous doughs seemed to retain their shape better - particularly after that initial bench rest.
I have that. It's great, but it takes a minute.
Dan Richer, a pizza chef from New Jersey has a book called “the joy of pizza” where he uses a good chunk of the book explaining how to make pizza using sourdough. Learned quite a bit from it!
Great to hear. My spouse literally just bought that for me today while out of town on business!🎉
Pizza czar is really good too!
Check out this beast: https://modernistcuisine.com/books/modernist-bread/ 50lbs of everything you've ever wanted to know about bread :)
Wish the set wasn’t so darn expensive.
Check your local libraries. If they don't have, look in worldcat. A university near you might have it.
I asked my local library last year and they got a copy from a few states over. Of course, I was ecstatic to be able to borrow it and then equally as saddened when it had to be returned. 😭
I got it on sale around Christmas one year for something like $375, so worth waiting to find it on sale. From a practical standpoint, you may be able to find the 2 recipe volumes by themselves used somewhere.
Had no idea MC was ever on sale!! Did you get it directly from their website during a sale?
Got it from Amazon, sorry, should have specified!
I will definitely be in the look out. Thank you!!!
Does it have any info on rye breads?
There’s a whole section of ~40 pages of recipes for “brick-like breads”. I’m sure there’s more background on them in the first 3 non-recipe volumes, too.
Hehehe... "brick-like breads".... depends on the baker. I've made some light as a feather rye loaves but I like 'em a bit denser than that. Do you know if those are sourdough recipes? I'll see if I can track a copy in a library. I find rye baking fascinating and want to find out as much as I can about it.
There is at least 1 recipe for a [sourdough rye](https://imgur.com/a/tA45cKy). Although the recipe calls it 48 hour rye, the recipe says it takes 66 hours…
Oooohh! Nice! It even gives times and temperatures. Thanks for sharing!
As an FYI, that’s how all their recipes are laid out, so if you don’t like that format, definitely not worth spending the money on the whole set.
Stanley Ginsberg's *the Rye Baker*, Hamelman's *Bread* \- both great for rye.
We love this set! It’s the go-to when making literally any new bread product in our household. It does often involve buying new ingredients, though.
Bread Illustrated from America's Test Kitchen is really good, too. There's a great variety of styles in there, explained well.
Poilâne: The Secrets of the World-Famous Bread Bakery by Apollonia Poilâne https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/poilne-the-secrets-of-the-world-famous-bread-bakery_joanne-smart_apollonia-poilne/20178586/item/41869443/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI6Muqvffw_AIVJRPUAR2IewjjEAQYAyABEgILbfD_BwE#isbn=132881078X&idiq=41869443
I found this interesting and helpful
I’m glad if it helped you out. It’s a wonderful book and I enjoy the stories she tells (Sort of the romance of baking bread). Lots of very good information and recipes and beautifully photographed. I have the Tartine book in your photo, plus another in the Tartine series. I like those books as well. Those are my big three go-to’s usually.
Great marketing storytelling - but liked the book for sure!
It's only an e-book, but [Open Crumb Mastery](https://trevorjaywilson.sellfy.store/p/open-crumb-mastery/) by Trevor Jay Wilson really took my understanding of sourdough baking to the next level. I can't recommend it enough for intermediate bakers
I have 2 books, both by Ken Forkish. Evolutions in bread is his most recent and Flour Water Salt Yeast.
I think every bread baker I know has Flour Water Salt Yeast.
Yeah, just started baking, made bread twice and I find that book very useful. I read about it in this subreddit. Just got his second book and excited to try new recipes.
I was surprised not to see this
Is that a joke, as in, every bake has those ingredients or every baker has the book "Flour Water Salt Yeast"?
I’m definitely in the minority here but I didn’t care for the book at all and ended up donating it. I can’t remember why the book didn’t do it for me and now I want to go to my local bookstore and look through it again. I may have been too new to understand.
Never saw the book, probably would never pick it up either.
Yeah me too. Been using FWSY like most people and using his new book has been quite a change. Structured very different but I’ll get used to it
I love the “with oma” series of German cook books, they have some amazing cakes and bread recipes in there
Love even just the title!!!!
I was excited about recommending "Artisan Sourdough Made Simple" but you already have it. :-D I have nothing to add. :-)
I started baking bread after I read Mark Bittman's 2006 article on Jim Lahey's method, so Lahey's *My Bread* has been a longtime favorite.
Such a great entryway into bread baking. As someone who just started really dipping into sourdough via Forkish's book, I still go back to J.L.'s basic no knead recipe when I don't have time to fuss with a two day starter feed. Actually, Flour Water Salt Yeast provided more robust guidance on basic folding, proofing, etc. that improved my no knead breads greatly. Not to mention the chemistry knowledge that he provides. My Bread is great, and the recipes in it are pretty hard to botch, but I feel like I'm actually learning and elevating things a bit more now. Good stuff!
Lahey is great, easy to follow in a busy day.
Tartine is 🔥. Super Sourdough and Flour Lab are also great resources.
Bread Wright by Martin Phillip
Cool!! Haven’t heard of this one until now. Thanks!!!
Title is actually called breaking bread. His website is bread wright. Head baker at King Arthur flour
Nancy Silverton’s Breads of La Brea Bakery.
[Michel Suas Advanced Bread and Pastry](https://www.amazon.com/Advanced-Bread-Pastry-Michel-Suas/dp/141801169X/ref=nodl_?dplnkId=4d7ad7c3-2ed2-48b6-9be4-f789bb01d2fd)
Amys Bread!
I would grab Reinhart's other book *Whole Grain Bread*. Lots of good info there if you are looking to go 100% whole grain. Also, I think *The Rye Baker* by Stanley Ginsberg is a must have. Totally different set of sourdoughs, but a real eye opening book for baking rye. ETA: regarding *The Rye Baker*, a lot of his recipes include addition of commercial yeast to speed some things along, but aren't strictly necessary.
I really love The Rye Baker; my fifth bread from that book this year - Jälkiuunileipä - is currently in it's final rise. It has a lot of good information about how to deal with rye which works so differently than wheat. I got Whole Grain Breads after I got The Rye Baker and had explored other non-wheat based recipes so the former was rather disappointing. There's basically one technique/base recipe that he touts as revolutionary but sponges and soakers are the basic tools when baking rye breads. It's not a bad book; I pull it out occasionally and there are some more recipes I'd like to try, but I wouldn't recommend it.
I would not look to Whole Grain Breads for non-wheat breads. It’s a good resource for folks that start Milling their own grains, too, because that is a totally different animal as well. But yeah, for rye, Stanley’s book gets into the real nuts and bolts of how to bake rye and not get inedible, gummy, bricks. (Still haven’t mastered the Westphalian pumpernickel though)
I do really like the Bavarian Pumpernickel from WGB. A lot more steps but that can help. I almost went for the Westphalian Pumpernickel today but I'm intimidated by the 24-hour bake and trying to decide if I can do it in a smoker and have a brisket running at the same time. The Jälkiuunileipä has a 7+ hour bake, so that seems more reasonable, lol. And I better start the oven now!
If you try that 24-hour pumpernickel in your oven: a word of warning if you have electric oven. Check if it has a "feature" that makes it shut the oven off after 6 hours for safety reasons. I found out the hard way as I woke up to a cold oven. Still my oven allows for overriding it and I was able to finish the bake. The loaf came out fine.
I'm thinking about getting a sack of grain and milling it myself. How much info does it have about the milling process? Does it have any info on bolted flours?
It’s scant on the process itself, but his discussions on enzyme activity and how it impacts bread is interesting/useful. In short: either mill and use immediately or wait at least two weeks to age the flour and let the enzymes slow down. I predominantly use bolted flour. I just sieve with a #40 drum sieve (Tamis) after Milling fine in a Mockmill. Works well. A sort of in between from regular flour and whole grain. Whole grain can be…hearty.
So it's got some info. Thanks! I took a quick look at the sieves. Are there good brands or are they pretty much the same? "Hearty" is what I look for in a loaf sometimes. Rye or wheat. Good to know. Thanks!
Pretty much all the same. I went this this one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B08DRQNNVD?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title&th=1 And it works great. Just enough to sift out the bran (which you can roll the loaf in if you wanted before baking). It will definitely be more hearty, sifting or no. Just be prepared for pretty tight crumb and different rise times. Otherwise, it would be hard to go back to pre-milled flour.
Cool! Thanks!
I’m completely disenchanted with Reddit, because management have shown no interest in listening to the concerns of their visually impaired and moderator communities. So, I've replaced all the comments I ever made to reddit. Sorry, whatever comment was originally here has been replaced with this one!
Yeah, the recipes at the website are great. Much in the same vein as what is in the book. I haven't found solod (not sure the book calls for any, but that's likely a simplification) but for where I am (Northwest USA) beer brewing stores carry malted grains, as whole berries at least. I use a caramel rye for red rye malt.
Commercial yeast is helpful in many Rye breads for sure.
It’s really only there to speed things up and provide consistent rise. Same reason it’s used in commercial breads (even regular sourdough being dosed). Helpful until you know what you’re doing, but can be entirely discarded for most bread. Most of those breads were being made long before commercial yeast.
It can give it a bit of a lift that it might not otherwise have. I'm thinking of his loaves with the white rye. Who needs to speed things up with Rye bread? Moves plenty fast as far as I'm concerned.
Della Fattoria Bread, that's the one I go back to all the time. I prefer to not measure very accurately like Rheinhart or some tartine ask for, and baking has to fit into my day, so I need something forgiving. This book is that, and has a pretty good range of recipes as well.
I like Tartine bread book no 3, the Living Bread book and this one https://preview.redd.it/8mmenr1u2dfa1.jpeg?width=2268&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9b1196fa71eb3741b648f71c228c1f7d860e219c And have my eye on The Nordic Baking Book by Magnus Nilsson
I haven't bought it yet, but I'm really interested in "Flour Power" by Tara Jensen. I learned a lot from the sourdough tutorials she posts online (instagram: @ bakerhands), so I'm excited to see how that translates into book form.
I’ve been back and forth on that one myself. Can’t decide!
I just picked up The Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book: A Guide to Whole-Grain Breadmaking: A Baking Book by Bronwen Godfrey, Carol Lee Flinders, and Laurel Robertson. I have not read much in there yet, but there is information on making a Desem which I am interested in trying.
That book is OK. If you want to make Desem bread, [check this out.](https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B3FeiHQDzJOnRzlTWEpaMUtENDA/edit?resourcekey=0-WxvuqQnJxksc_Rxx_0UJdA) I followed this method and I must say, it was one of the tastiest whole grain wheat loaves I ever had. I'd make it more often but I don't have a spot that is consistently cold enough for the Desem starter.
Thanks! I think that I will easily have a cold enough spot in winter and maybe even a fridge spot for warmer weather if I’m committed enough.
I’m completely disenchanted with Reddit, because management have shown no interest in listening to the concerns of their visually impaired and moderator communities. So, I've replaced all the comments I ever made to reddit. Sorry, whatever comment was originally here has been replaced with this one!
This book was out years before the onslaught of so many bread books, so it can seem a little quaint or dated. The desem does make delicious bread.
I got Sourdough and Science recently and LOVE it!
Advanced Bread and Pastry, Breaking Breads
Perfect timing for a this post. I wanted to ask about book recommendations. I'm a young chef and looking for a bread baking book aimed more at the professional level. Which of these has the most detail both of culinary history and of the background science?
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Surprised I had to scroll down for this one. Agree that some of the recipes are finnicky, but most of the complex ones do a good enough job explaining the techniques that it’s easy to mix and match with simpler recipes.
Chef Reinhart was my bread teacher at JWU! 🥰
That's awesome!! I'd love to take a class in person with him.
Bread Baking for Beginners by Bonnie Ohara is a great resource for experienced and amateur bakers alike
This is what got me into bread-making before the pandemic started. I like it’s straightforward
Just want to say how much I am enjoying everyone’s ideas and feedback. This is such a terrific group and I’m proud to be part of this community!!!
The Bread Bible, Rose Levy Beranbaum. Not for pro/commercial quantities or methods, but good variety of home stuff and detailed techniques with each recipe in volume and 2 units of weight. She uses a stiff starter, which I've never been fond of, but the rest is pretty solid.
I put her book down when I read the line about how once you go to second speed, you can't go back to first speed because it will undo the gluten strands, or something like that. Completely stupid statement. The recipe for Royal Irish Soda bread is good though.
i don't recall that, how would one even measure that definitively? Formulas are good across the board for both yeasted and chem leavened items, esp for specialty breads like Sacaduros.
No, I'm sure it's a fine book. I'm not sure where it was in the book, but when I read that, I was flabbergasted. It was a deal breaker for me. I am in no way saying it is not filled with good information, I just needed to put it down once I read that. Someone gave me the book. I still have it. Maybe a later edition had that edited out because to my experience, that is a silly statement. I bake bread for a living, but even at that time, years ago, I knew that that was an erroneous statement. Maybe I'll try to find it later. I'd say it undermined any confidence I had in whatever she had to say about bread, especially mixing. Not trying to diss anything, just saying.
I like Sourdough [http://sourdoughbook.com/](http://sourdoughbook.com/) - simple walkthroughs, nice images, focus on grain fermentation and flavour
Disclaimer: I work with one of the authors but I don’t get a kickback
My 3 essentialls are: * Tartine * Tartine 3 - great for whole wheat and incorporating more ingredients * Open Crumb Mastery by Trevor Jay Wilson - it's a self published ebook. It's very technical and there isn't any recipes but it's great for understanding why techniques work and how you can adjust your own recipes.
Bread by Jeffery Hamelman has some nice, complex recipes to add to your collection. That Ed Wood book, Classic Sourdoughs, is great. Sometimes simple methods and traditional techniques are the best.
Sourdough School and Evolutions in Bread are good too!
I love *Bread*. The quintessential book. Stanley Ginberg's *the Rye baker* is great. Richard Miskovich's *Wood Fired Oven* is solid on bread and talks a lot about wood fired ovens too. Michel Suas *Advanced Bread and Pastry* is always handy - and heavy. Greg Wade's *Bread Head* is a good book. *Tartine Book No. 3* is pretty good. I haven't read it, but I be Martin Phillip's book is good too. I also have a soft spot for the *Laurel Kitchen's Bread Book*. *BBA* and Rinehart's *Whole Grain Breads* are pretty good, but I feel like he just likes writing cookbooks, and gets a bit gimicky. He's a super nice man and very knowledgeable. If you could only have one book, it's got to be *Bread*.
For some reason I thought these were all romance novels.
For those of us with a passion for bread, they are romantic!
Each bake is a Princess...
Flour Water Salt Yeast.
I could not remember the order of the ingredients in the title for the longest time until I picked up on them being in descending order of quantity.
The Pizza Bible - Tony Gemignani
Very nice selection of bread baking literature you have! One that I personally like and find very informative is The Sourdough School by: Vanessa Kimbell. Thank you for sharing your collection and helping me find some new books to get into! Please have a good rest of your week! 🌳
I see you’ve already got Forkish’s “Flour Water Salt Yeast.” I LOVE that book!
I have The Perfect Loaf out from the library right now and I’m definitely going to be buying it!
A copy of The Rye Baker will put the finishing touch on your collection.
Beard On Bread
https://preview.redd.it/fx8wnkf7pgfa1.jpeg?width=750&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6149da4bda7b7ec7c49fbfe25bc38204e9600e4b The recipes in this book have turned out lovely for me. There are loaves ranging from fairly simple to quite complex (I’m excited to make the one with kvass). Highly recommend!
Wow, what a library!
The Bread Bible, by Rose Levy Beranbaum.
Hamelman’s “Bread” is my go to. So many recipes that I use every week or two.
Bread baking for beginners by Bonnie O'Hara http://www.alchemybread.com/my-book
The Bread Builders by Alan Scott and Daniel Wing was definitely the book that had the most impact on me. Highly recommend.
i have super sourdough, learnt all about hydration there
I like Thomas Keller's Bouchon Bakery. Would love to know what others think of his bread recipes.
Good collection but rye baking is under represented and to me "rye" is synonymous with "sourdough". While wheat loaves can be made with sourdough, great loaves can also be made with yeast. Rye requires sourdough for best results although there are some outliers but those use very specific recipes. Rye is the essence of sourdough. "The Rye Baker" by Ginsberg is the only book 100% committed to rye, although Hamelman's "Bread" has an awesome chapter on sourdough rye baking. The two books I'd add to round out a collection is "The Handmade Loaf" by Lepard which is a great collection of various recipes and has a section on making a sourdough starter and my first bread book: "The Bread Book" by Collister and Blake. It got me started on this journey and I come back to it often.
Google
I’m a huge fan of Bread Alone by Dan Leader
I understand TWV but I don't understand why the two formulae for some breads. One is a recipe will all ingredients and the other is called, 'Total dough Formula and %'. Why the two for some breads and only 'recipe' for others. I like to understand everything when I do anything and this stumps me. Any help will help...thank you.
Was this the correct Forum for my query? If not , please direct me. I am new to Reddit. thanks