June 19, 2013 - 11:25am
Good beginner book for teaching class
What book is recommended for beginners? I am teaching a basic bread course and looking for a book that I use to base my lectures from. Needs to explain the basics simply and easy enough for folks who have no prior knowledge of bread making or how the ingredients work.
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The Bread Baker's Apprentice is great for beginners, but it doesn't really deal extensively with sourdough. I say it's good because it doesn't really focus on one type of bread - there's a lot of formulas for a lot of different breads (though maybe not all of the formulas are the best you could find (ciabatta, I'm looking at you), they work well enough).
The BBA is a brilliant book but I think that it may be a little too in depth for all but the most motivated beginners. It does take you on a journey from the beginning to more technical stuff but it can be complex and requires some dedication.
Pocket Book of Bread, by Floyd Mann?
Paul
I think the Bread Baker's Apprentice is a great book, and it taught me most of what I know about baking. However, I do know some people are turned off by Peter Reinhart's use of overnight fermentation. A lot of people just want a simple white loaf that's done in a matter of hours. However, there's no way to mimic the exceptional flavor that comes with slow fermentation.
My text book for class is:Professional Baking, Sixth Edition by Wayne Gisslen (ISBN: 978-1-118-08374-1)
My teacher also recommended: Advanced Bread and Pastry, A Professional Approach by Michael Saus
Bread Baking - An Artisan's Perspective by Daniel DiMuzio fits all of your 'needs' as explained above.
Good Luck,
Janet
Chera, what do you want to teach them? How long will your course be? What to you hope that your students will be able to do by the end of the course?
I'm a training designer by trade and think that the answers to those Q's may help guide you towards a suitable text.
It's a 16 week (once a week) class at community college.
Need to cover:
Flour - types, strenths, milling
Yeast - how to use, what is it, different types and how to convert from one to other
Basic Ingredients - how do they support/affect one another and product
Mixing Methods - will make basic soft & hard roll, French bread, donuts, bagels, pretzels, pullman loaf,
Bakers Percentage
Ounces, Grams, converting to and from..
I do like Michael Suas Professional Bread and Pastry but too intense for this class. It's mostly students who have little to no experience and some are there because they want to learn about pastry arts, others have to be there because it's requiered for their culinary degree, and others are home bakers wanting to learn how to make bread.
I will look at DiMuzio's Bread Baking textbook, and several of the others. Looking for something not too "wordy" and easy for them to understand but with a little more "meat" than just a book with recipes...
Thank you everyone!