July 8, 2009 - 9:59am
Great Bread Books
David G recently asked for recommendations on the one bread book if you could only have one. Certainly an interesting question but one with severe limits.
A list of great bread books for any reason seems a worthy follow up and I should like to mention:
Artisan Baking by Maggie Glezer and The Italian Baker by Carol Field
While not all fulfilling or the final word in bread baking these are two fantastic books that I would highly recommend to anyone baking bread.
Jeff
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My bread baking was helped enormously by Peter Reinhart's BBA, and Laurel's Bread Book (whole grains). They pushed me to really improve. I will definitely look into the two you mentioned Jeff. Thanks
Italian Baker is a fine book, but I would be hard pressed to call it a bread book. It has a limited number of bread recipes, really just 50 pages of that book is devoted to classic Italian breads. Some procedures look contrived or simplified and great many recipes in it have been superceded by recipes in later books by other authors.
In defense of the Italian Baker and at the same time my reasons for mentioning the book in the first place....I have found that her recipes and techniques work. Simple enough but certainly not true of all books using recipes. The recipes are not overly complicated and most bakers with moderate experience can produce very nice bread following her instructions.
I wonder if we are refering to the same book as the book I own is over 400 pages long with more than the first 300 pages devoted to Italian breads.
Jeff
...and I'd like to recommend submitters include why they like their particular recommendation in specifics, e.g., pros and cons, subjects emphasized, ommissions, weight or volume use in recipes, yea or nay formulae format, readability, pictures (both instructional and eye candy--I love the eye candy, it sets a goal to shoot for.), uniqueness,i.e., things you've never seen in other bread making books: in short, a review.
David G.
Since Dan DiMuzio is too humble to mention, I have a book called "Bread Baking: An Artisan's Perspective" on my book wishlist (I'm assuming you are one and the same person).
Regardless, if you check it out on amazon.com, it looks like a fantastic read - I can't wait to dive into it.
And Carol Field's "Italian Baker" is one of my most cherished books, along with another of her books called "Celebrating Italy".
Lastly, "Bread Science" by Emily Buehler is another favorite.
peace&love!
karladiane
I agree that Dan's book is excellent. He devotes a chapter to each part of the bread making process (e.g., fermentation, proofing, baking) where he goes into the specific process in great depth. Dan's book is new but definitely destined to be one of the industry standards in years to come. It's not big on formulas, but it does cover all the basics and includes guidance on variations. It also has a lot a detailed photos on shaping and scoring bread among other things. I continue to be impressed by Dan's book.
--Pamela
Actually what might be nice is some sort of grid of basic and advanced topics, and a sorta checklist of what books cover which topics, if that is possible.
So far, I /think/ I have pretty good coverage with Hamelman and the two Reinhart books (BBA and WholeGrain)