Judith Fertig no knead bread book????
Does anyone else think the instructions for the liquid in this book are confusing? I have tried the cracked wheat recipe twice and thought I had made an error the first time. I put the entire 3 cups of water into the recipe and it was soup. If I put in only 1 3/4 cups it is still a mess to work with.
I think in the instructions she is saying to put in the amount of water to moisten the flour not the amount called for in the ingredients list. Doesn't it seem like she should not have that huge amount of water listed in the ingredients when it is not needed? For inexperienced bakers, it seems like that is what should be listed in the ingredient list not that huge amount with no side note beside it.
I have baked for years and I didn't catch what the recipe was. No one needs the measured amount in the list. Instead they need to use their discretion on what a moistened, raggedy dough is.
The book states to add the water and stir until moistened not, add water until moistened.
Anyone else think this is a problem with this book?
It's an open secret that many cooksbooks are created without anyone ever trying the recipes, even the author.
I'm not familiar with Judith Fertig in particular so I don't know her authoring practices but just a cursory search on amazon indicates that she has authored many cookbooks on barbecue, bread, desserts, regional American cooking, etc. From the titles, several of these have a few hundred recipes each, e.g. 200 no-knead bread recipes, 250 bread machine recipes, 400 "prairie home cooking," 150 prairie breads (whatever those are), 500 Mexican recipes, 300 grilled and smoked fish recipes, 300 barbecues, 500 misc. fish, 400 American desserts, 500 cupcakes ... and more. You get the idea. There is little likelihood that all these recipes were tested by anyone. This does not mean that her cookbooks are therefore all bad or useless but like many they are to be taken with a grain of salt.
Heidi (librarian-dyed-in-the-wool)
HeidiH clearly understands how instructional books (cookbooks and other "how to" publications) come to market filled with errors or ideas that just don't work. One more point to always consider is that the proof readers don't always catch those little errors that sometimes frustrate the cook. I've known some people who, new to cooking, have considered themselves failures because a recipe in print by a well known author didn't work for them.
"This does not mean that her cookbooks are therefore all bad or useless but like many they are to be taken with a grain of salt.".
Love the metaphore
bread in question?
Thanks,
anna
Drop the "mL" measurement (it doesn't exist) and use weights in grams. Scales are the way to go and much easier to use. Volume measurements have inaccuracy factors built in. I would not purchase a book written in ml.
Well, what is "ml" anyway? Is it milileters? Thanks! P.S. Does "oz" have the same accuracy in baking as grams?
mL is milliliters. The degree of accuracy when it comes to measuring in oz or grams depends on your scale. Most scales on the American mass market seem to measure in 1 gram increments and 1/8 oz increments. In this case, the gram measurements will allow for greater accuracy (since 1/8 oz ~ 3.54 grams).
when all caps are used. mL is a typo
Either mL or ml is acceptable as a symbol for "milliliter." I am accustomed to using "mL" because it has been the standard notation used in my scientific training. In my experience, "mL" is more commonly used than "ml," but both are correct. I suspect it's for consistency reasons, as "liter" is typically symbolized with a capital L.
Here is a link on official SI unit symbols.
http://lamar.colostate.edu/~hillger/correct.htm
addendum: "ML" would definitely be incorrect. Lower case SI prefixes cannot be capitalized. ML would translate to "megaliter," or a million liters.
another addendum: Just learned something new from Wikipedia. I was wondering why I'd seen "mL" so much more often than "ml," and it turns out it's because I live in the United States:
So that's what went on after I left the country! Lol! and further down on wiki... (how much of wiki is true?)
Lol Maybe whatever ends up on wikipedia becomes the truth?? I've seen some questionable things on wikipedia. It's disturbing that the scientific community can't agree on a single international system. If they can't get that done, how long is it going to take them to accomplish something that actually matters?
Thanks for the explanation regarding oz and grams. I did not know that info. Always eyeopeners around! Jean
I just purchased this book as I'm a big fan of no knead and also have the other 2 popular books for this method. I agree about the suggestion of adding grams and not ml and I agree with another review about mentioning on every page about Canadian flour. I am making half recipe tonite of your hamburger rolls using milk. All my hamburger recipes are similar to my dinner roll recipes using egg. I haven't tried no knead hamburger roll method either. Your method is very similar to Artisan Bread in 5 which I got to like a lot. I started way before with Lahey's no knead method, 4 yrs now.