September 1, 2021 - 12:48pm
What's on your bookshelf?
Spontaneous cognition led me to think why not share a picture of my bookshelf?!
Here is my under-desk bookshelf..
My interests and endeavours; catering / cooking, pastry / patisserie, wine and other topics...
I guess if I were on twitter / popular social media I would hashtag this or something. Perhaps this will "trend"..
Either way, I actively encourage those interested to share a snap of their books..
Share
List of books for which I have the Kindle, or Kindle+hardcopy:
https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/61370/my-breadpizza-library-kindle-and-hard-copy
List of hardcopy only:
https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/61371/my-breadpizza-library-2-hard-copy-only
I kind-of knew you'd be first to get onboard with this and as I predicted you'd be text-list only.
Still, I am very grateful for your contribution.
Thanks
Upper left stack is pizza. The other 3 stacks are bread. The Tassajara Bread Book is a 14th printing (1974) of the 1st edition, 1970; and is likely the most valuable of the collection. I forget where I picked it up, but it was likely in the pre-Internet days. Going price is $75+ last I checked online.
These are bread/pizza only. Other cookbooks are still unpacked from the last move. :-)
For full size images click here: https://www.thefreshloaf.com/files/u151432/7C042A47-DB70-4C2F-8E17-71F6CE152EDC.jpeg
and here: https://www.thefreshloaf.com/files/u151432/22905C8E-0208-4907-AFEB-86BD22A7086E.jpeg
Legend!
Snap, for a couple of entries.
cheers.
Basically I go to my overloaded looseleaf binder filled with formulas from here and there. In there I have a dozen or two from Bread, a few from FWSY, and maybe one from BBA.
Thanks Alan,
No harm in keeping a concise library, it's great you can elaborate from those few sources and create your own expansive catalogue.
Hear hear. Admirable.
Wow that’s a lotta books!! I’ve a bunch of digital books though. Do they count?
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While I love and look and feel of books, I find using my Kindle convenient these days as I have it also on my laptop and iPad. Also, I have very few cooking/bake books and I’m a King and Tolkien fan. 😆
My uncle happens to be a big Stephen King fan. You have to hand it to him (King) he has written many a great novel. Unfortunately for me I never been able to read fiction, something about my mind, the way it operates limits my reading abilities.
The digital books count although I guess I was going for a visual thing here and part of that intent was to see what other book interests fellow bakers have, needless to say I am more than happy with your contribution.
Many thanks,
Michael
I’ve stepped up my reading during the latest COVID lockdown. I can’t believe I’ve read all these in a week! I didn't know we had blue kangaroos.
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Sorry for the lack of clarity and redundancies. Thought there might be a few some would find interesting. Used to be in great order, if you can believe it. Some stuff sprinkled in, here and there. Read everything by John Fowles, if you couldn't tell. Other stuff is literature, heavy W. European history, comparative W. European politics/political economy/national political development, international relations and foreign policy, sociology, zen practice, zen history, hitsuzendo and shodo (zen and Japanese calligraphy), budo or martial arts, budo and zen relationship.
At Ollie's Bargain Outlet today. $6.99 for a like-new remaindered copy of Poilâne. The photography is gorgeous.
My bread baking bookshelf is completely e-book and looks like this.
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In the kitchen:
Note the repaired spine on "Bread" where it got set alight on the gas stove! And the very well used copy of "Good Housekeeping" with missing spine.
Front room:
A couple of classics (the bottom two!):
And the oldest one I have - it's a digital copy, available to all of you copyright free!
Lance
Quick one - is Gino's Veg Italia! any good? My partner is partial to a little bit of Gino. I'm a little hesitant as the guy has, like 50,000 cook books but if it's good, it's not overly expensive.
Thanks,
dan.
I think it's OK - I've only cooked a couple of recipes from it, but they seem quite well thought out and there are a good number of originals I haven't seen elsewhere.
If it's not too pricey, I'd give it a try.
Lance
Thanks - much appreciated.
Some fantastic books, Lance!
Just from a first look - if interested, Ken Hom is the first chef covered in the book Great Kitchens: At Home with America's Top Chefs, a book I really enjoy. It splits its attention between his home in France (SW, Lot, maybe? Can't recall) and I think the Bay Area. Been quite awhile. But it beautifully shows his proclivity for having all his chef's tools out. He finds them beautiful in and of themselves. That, and how much he loved having a commercial DW in his kitchen, lol. His home(s) are really beautiful. The whole book is gorgeous, if the kitchens are out of reach (to this humble former chef, anyway).
Secondly, I love Gianaclis Caldwell and have all her books. She is a superlative cheesemaker and farmer, and just a wonderful person to boot. We exchanged a bit in prep for this book - she wondered if I might lend some thoughts on the hard alpine section (I demurred. I feel like an eternal beginner in all things and felt she might ask others). But her kindness reached far, for me - she is the person who brought home to me the likely impossibility of my realizing and running a dream of a traditional French alpine creamery, very old-school, etc. Even back then my body was starting to rebel and she spoke very plainly, and therefore compassionately. Much worse now physically and I'm grateful to her still for her generosity and candor.
Be assured I'm going to spend some time combing your selection. An undoubtedly adding many of them to my mountainous cart already.
Thanks Paul, I got the cheesemaking book during my foray into mozzarella making last year. Certainly not the easiest cheese to make, if you prefer the cultured product.
One thing that worries me with all recipe books, including bread ones, is the question "how many recipes have I made from this book?"
I bet the answer for most people and most books is less than 20%. Still, I guess if you get enjoyment and knowledge from that 20%, then that's good enough.
Lance
Um. Guilty. I'm an incorrigible collector. Although I will say in my defense that if I'm forgetful of things in some areas, I have a nearly photographic memory for others - and passages from so many in my library will always come in handy at some point, usually as a jumping off point for further research or development in the kitchen. Every time I've gotten rid of any book (in any subject), it's inevitable I will recall something from it that makes me rue getting rid of it.
Mozzarella - yes, a different and potentially really difficult beast. FYI, if you're into mozzarellas or pasta filatas generally, Paul Kindstedt has what I think is a good book in American Farmstead Cheese. There's some discussion sprinkled here and there on various markers to shoot for when making various styles of cheese, and in terms of pasta filata, the role of vat pH, calcium retention and cross-linking, and ultimately plasticity (critical for all "pulled" cheeses, obviously) are dealt with in various parts of the book.
(case in point re remembering little odds and ends from various cooking-related books).
I soon realised that I needed either a lot of experience or a spear tip pH probe. It was an easy choice to make, especially as a pH meter is useful in breadmaking.
Lance
Cool. Cedar Grove, which is near to us, makes the real deal, with water buffalo milk.
Thanks all for taking part in this fleeting social activity. Don't get much time these days, so apologies for not being very present but here's a quick round up.
@Gavin - Back to basics hey, haha!
@Paul - Wow, that's a very extensive collection spanning many shelves, thanks for sharing all those pictures.
@Benny - An all digital signature selection, very modern compared to the rest of us, nice!
@Lance - Thanks for contributing, lots of great and rare-find books there!
Cheers,
Michael
Thanks for the thread Michael - it's been fun to see what people are into, and to pick up lots of titles to check out!