The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Confessions of a newb: the right way to get started with artisan bread

BreadBabies's picture
BreadBabies

Confessions of a newb: the right way to get started with artisan bread

So, you've seen some sexy artisan bread pics...maybe on Instagram or Pinterest and you realize the loaves were all made by ordinary folks. You think, "Hey, that looks good. I want to make some bread, too." Here's my perspective on how you can get started with the least amount of pain. I'll tell you right now, it's not how I got started, which is why I know exactly what I'm talking about. I flew too close to the sun too fast, and it cost me quite a bit of angst, flour, and sanity. Here's the easier way for those interested in the hearth-style/artisan breads.

1. Make Jim Lahey's bread.  Method and recipe found here: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/11376-no-knead-bread

Start with this recipe because it requires very little knowledge, no buying of cookbooks, zero dough babysitting, and pretty much no specialty equipment (unless you don't have a Dutch oven). As simple as that is, it's still better than 99% of bread you can buy at a store.

Once you've made this bread, one of two things will happen. 1) Your bread-making soul will be fulfilled and you'll be happy to continue making this very easy and decent recipe for the rest of your days. Your friends will coo and bask in your baking glory, and you'll enjoy a life of lovely bread without the indentured servitude that comes with more involved methods. You will live happily ever after. Amen. 2) This will create an itch. You'll start to get curious about bread. Although this bread is tasty, you'll wonder how you can make it more complex, how you can add and alter things. You'll decide this is a hobby you want to dive into a little bit further and invest some time and research.

2. Read Flour, Water, Salt, Yeast by Ken Forkish. (You can get this from some libraries. I got mine at a discount used on Amazon.) I have consumed many bread books, but this is the one I recommend for taking the next step. That's because Forkish is writing for the home baker and he gives you a lot of fundamental information that will help you with your baking without going into too much detail.  (You probably aren't interested on reading a treatise about the 20 different styles of commercial dough mixers at this point.) There are many other fine books out there (I didn't start with this one though I wish I had). But this one has the right level of detail and his recipes are charted beautifully. If you don't yet have one, get a digital scale that weighs in grams. You're also ready for your first bread-equipment investment (it's a small one): get a bench scraper.

You might ask yourself, do I need a book at all? I have the vast knowledge of the internet. To that, I would answer a resounding yes. Blogs and community information is great and I use it all the time (I mean, look where I am writing this)! But in the beginning, the authority of a professional baker writing for the home baker is helpful and more efficient/effective than searching the internet for nuggets of information. Can it be done without books? Absolutely. But this book helped me sift through the information and develop a systematic understanding.

3. (optional). If you're getting into this thing, now's the time you may want to invest in some additional equipment, which is all very cost effective. This includes a lame and a banneton.  These items are really nice, particularly for beautifying your loaves. Just be sure your banneton size fits your cooking vessel. Neither the lame nor banneton is absolutely necessary. You can use a bowl instead of a banneton (which you've probably been doing up to now) and a sharp knife or razor in lieu of a lame. Or you can continue to go au natural as suggested by both Lahey and Forkish and just let the bread split however it wants. The only absolutely necessary tool is a bench scraper.

4. Here is where things get interesting. If you've made it this far and you're interested in more knowledge, consider picking up Hamelman's Bread: A Baker's Book of Te ecchniques and Recipes. He will take you into even further detail about the bread baking process and offer lots of recipes for classic breads, like brioche. He also gives you some really great information on how to work with other flours like rye. If you're willing to read this one, you've graduated from hobbyist to enthusiast. Congratulations! Another book that you might consider because it goes more broadly than artisan breads and because it offers you some good information about transforming recipes and making them modular is Barenbaum's Bread Bible. I have that one, but I have to admit, I've yet to use it. I do enjoy that she helps you categorize the different types of bread, which my analytical nature really enjoys. However, I've yet to put information from that book into practice.

There are many other great texts that get mentioned on this site a lot. I'd be very interested to hear what other books folks have found useful. Reinhart's Artisan Bread Every Day gets frequent mention, but I haven't read it so cannot comment.

Please add your knowledge to this list.  Thanks!

P.S. I started with Tartine. This was very aggravating for me. It wasn't until I read FWSY that I was able to make a gorgeous Tartine loaf. The principles explained in that book helped me to troubleshoot and understand where I was going wrong. Tartine does also have some fundamental information, but it wasn't quite enough to get me over the hump. Tartine loaves are lovely, so not a knock on the book, just my ability to use it as a newbie.

Subjects: Best artisan bread books. Which bread books to buy. How to start making bread.

Comments

bshuval's picture
bshuval

The first bread I made was from "Laurel Kitchen's Bread Book", a book all about whole-wheat breads. I still remember how, even though I had a perfectly fine stand-mixer, I decided I'd knead the dough by hand. I was a complete newb, and that kneading took a long time (Laurel prescribes a 20-minute knead!) It's a fine book, although many of the recipes are very American (contain a small amount of sweetener, which I find unnecessary). Still, it has some good recipes (the cottage herb loaf makes a surprisingly light and tasty bread). 

I then bought Peter Reinhart's "The Bread Baker's Apprentice", which I highly recommend. (Now, in the 15th anniversary edition, it also thankfully includes weights in grams. Hurray!). Reinhart has a definite sweet tooth, so I usually cut the sugar in his breads by half or more. His Struan bread, one of his signatures, (here called "multigrain bread extraordinaire") contains both brown sugar and honey, together amounting to 18.5% of the flour weight. I completely eliminated these, and the resulting bread is still great (though not as sweet).

One of my favorite books is "Amy's Bread" by Amy Scherber and Toy Kim Dupree. It is a fantastic book, with a wonderful range of breads. Every bread I've tried from this one had been a great success. The book contains a variety of recipes for both sourdough and non-sourdough breads. Most breads require a preferment of some sort. (I own both the original book and the revised edition. The revised book is substantially different than the original; the book had been completely rewritten. The revised edition is much better, in my opinion, although there are a couple of breads that I liked in the original edition that have been left out). 

Josey Baker's "Josey Baker Bread" is another book written for the beginner. The book guides you on how to make hearth breads, beginning with a simple yeasted bread, up to sourdoughs. The tone of the book is very welcoming, and the recipes are very clear. They are also forgiving in the sense that each recipe has options on the timing required to make it. 

Richard Bertinet's book "Dough" is another fantastic book. Bertinet introduces a hand-kneading methods that's easy, fun, and lets you knead even the wettest of doughs. The book comes with a DVD in which Bertinet demonstrates the method. The book contains five "basic" doughs: white, brown, rye, olive, and sweet; from each one, Bertinet makes a variety of different breads. I really like Bertinet's approach, and his breads are excellent. The flavor options of each bread are really good, too. Bertinet published a second book, Crust, which contains more complicated breads. Notably, he includes a recipe for a hand-kneaded brioche. It's the first brioche I made (chronicled on TFL, as I initially forgot to mix in the sugar and asked for help from the TFL community. I kneaded it in later and salvaged it), and still my go-to brioche recipe. I highly recommend kneading a brioche by hand at least once. 

Other books I recommend are Emmanuel Hadjianderou's "How to Make Bread" and the companion volume "How to Make Sourdough". All his recipes are for a single, rather small loaf. He also advocates mixing by hand, although his version of kneading is "knead for 10 seconds, wait 10 minutes, knead for 10 seconds, repeat", similar to Dan Lepard's method (Hadjianderou allows us to knead in the bowl whereas Lepard instructs to knead the dough on an oiled work-surface). Hadjinaderou also includes a fine selection of rye breads. 

My final recommendation in Andrew Whitley's book "Bread Matters". Whitley was trained in Russia, and his breads are excellent. He has a very lax approach to sourdough bread making. In fact, his Russian rye sourdoughs are some of the easiest and least fussy rye breads I've seen. 

BreadBabies's picture
BreadBabies

Some great-sounding titles. Some I haven't yet investigated. I'll be sure to inquire! Thanks. Love the knowledge-sharing of this community!

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

Welcome to TFL!

It's always interesting to read about how home bakers got to where they are happy with their breads. There are so many paths - probably no two are exactly alike. Some of these variations are the result of chance, but many more reflect the baker's personality and learning style. At the extremes are those who approach baking as an engineering task, requiring (and expecting) precision in procedures. At the other extreme, are those who abhor measurement. They believe you can do everything by "feel." Often, they defend this by citing a grandmother who was a wonderful baker and never measured anything. (Of course, it took her a few decades to start producing the good stuff, but never mind.)

I started baking bread from Julia Child, ca. 1974. By time FWSY was published, Hamelman's "Bread" was my go to baking book. These days, my favorite breads use Forkish's techniques, except for rye breads and baguettes. But, between Child and Hamelman, the biggest help was The Fresh Loaf. This community provides the kind of interactive help and problem solving no book can. It's where you can turn when you did everything the book said to do, but the bread didn't turn out as expected. 

So, again, welcome! I hope you spend many happy hours browsing old postings, learning and getting inspired. And I look forward to hearing more about your baking and seeing your bread photos.

Happy baking!

David

BreadBabies's picture
BreadBabies

It's exciting to be here. I figured I couldn't keep inundating the people on my fb page with all my bread babies. I had to seek out other passionate folks who love this stuff!

RoundhayBaker's picture
RoundhayBaker

...I wonder how many first time bakers have beed driven away from baking bread at home by those books' over-complexity and lack of understanding of the needs of home bakers. 

Anyhow, thanks for this excellent post. I'll be pointing newbies to it when they ask how to get started (and how not to).

For me, the simplest advice is to pick one bread recipe, keep making it until you perfect the techniques needed to produce a satisfying loaf, and then-but only then-move on to the next challenge.

A lot of new bakers find their first loaf disappointing, shift immediately to another loaf, find that disappointing too, and then move on again in the endless pursuit of loaves like those featured on the covers of bread-making books (I've always liked the fact that Hamelman doesn't have a photo on its cover of a flawless artisinal super-loaf). You can, of course, pick up the techniques you need this way, but it's a much rockier road to follow. 

BreadBabies's picture
BreadBabies

I think you're probably right. After my 5th Tartine loaf, I was ready to throw in the towel. They all tasted good but they didn't look right and they were flat as pancakes. Naturally, I took to the internet to help me diagnose my issues. Tales of similar problems abound. I credit this site for saving me. Looking around here I realized I wasn't alone in my failures and ultimately, the recommendations of the community to users who had similar issues helped me discover FWSY and the resources that would send me on the easier path.

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

earlier in 1973:-)  I don't own any bread books except Clayton's The Complete Book Of Bread published in 1973.  With a book like that title who needs another one:-)  I have already paid for all the the other books though and have read them.  They are all in the library.  No need to buy them again.  I have also picked up all my current baking equipment with the exception of a scale and an instant read thermometer at Goodwill and I have several of everything that I paid no more than a buck each for - a dozen baskets and half dozen DO's, 2 baking stones, all kinds of pans.  I probably have $30 invest in it all now and the scale and thermometer was another $30.

The best resource by far has been The Fresh Loaf - the place where anything worth knowing about bread can be found with a cadre of folks to help you master it fast - it only took me 44 years so far and I'm always almost there:-) And, TFL is totally free too!  The best bargain of all - Way to go Floyd!

I am always amazed.  What took me forever to do, we see happen here every week with folks who have been baking for only a month or three.  It doesn't happen anywhere else.....

Happy baking 

BreadBabies's picture
BreadBabies

Agree! The folks on this website helped me to find the right resources and the camaraderie was very encouraging. I hope by posting my experience on this website that someone else searching The Fresh Loaf for help will find it!

Lazy Loafer's picture
Lazy Loafer

I second the motion(s) regarding both FWSY and Hadjiandreou's "How to Make Sourdough". I also like Daniel Leader's "Local Breads", both for the recipes and for the stories about traditional bakers in different parts of Europe.

There are also a lot of good websites to follow (like The Rye Baker, Weekend Bakery, Bread Magazine, Sourdough, and even King Arthur Flour.

One can certainly spend a lot of time not only baking bread, but reading about it!

BreadBabies's picture
BreadBabies

There's some really great content. My husband, who is from Germany, would love me to up my rye game! So, that one is very exciting. (He also happens to be half French and was a schoolboy in France. So, I've really got my work cut out for me...baguettes, brioche, croissants, and trying to make them all taste like home.)

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

You can add Stan Ginsberg's "The Rye Baker" to your book list. His "Berliner Landbrot" should make your husband happy, and it's way easier to handle than most 90% rye breads.

David

BreadBabies's picture
BreadBabies

Per your recommendation, I acquired and read this book. Rye is a huge challenge for me, mostly because I do not have a solid surface countertop to work on. The gelatinous mass is such a challenge. I sometimes don't know if I've overproofed it and the the glutin structure has broken down, or if it's just its normal, gelatinous monstrosity because it's, well, rye.

leslieruf's picture
leslieruf

I have been watching some episodes of the great british bake off and now I want to start making some of the delicious sweet breads ..... along with all the other Sd ones I want to do,  I don't know where to start.. LOL.....

Happy baking all

Leslie

BreadBabies's picture
BreadBabies

I've been a complete addict for the past few months. (Not sure where you're from but in the states it's on PBS.) It's funny cause I have to constantly search the internet to figure out what the American version of some of the ingredients are, i.e. caster sugar, icing sugar, strong flour, double cream!  So nice to watch a show with the contestants are pleasant to one another and the judges can be kind.  Are you watching the Master Class?  Start with something that looks great from the master class.

leslieruf's picture
leslieruf

I'm a kiwi so very familar with most of the UK ingedients (or our version of them).  Life is just a bit frantic at the moment so I don't have much free time, but as autumn kicks in I should be able to bake some more. and yes we arevgetting quite addicted.

happy baking

leslie

MichaelLily's picture
MichaelLily

I was a devotee of Jeff Varasano's pizza recipe.  I started on bread with Tartine, which made a lot of sense after Varasano.  Artisan Breads Everyday was a very easy to follow book, but the bread wasn't all that great.

Filomatic's picture
Filomatic

I am a huge fan of books, but I don't rely on them entirely by any means.  Truth be told I probably learned more about SD here, or perhaps my sweet spot is toggling between books and other sourcing.  I love the concept of a book, and the fact that there is so much reference available in it.  Books are also deficient and sometimes mistaken, or too complicated.  I love that I worked through several BBA recipes before Bob here recommended Hamelman, which worked so well for me and is so beautifully written and organized.

I love Tartine and Tartine III, despite the recipes being hard and time consuming. Tartine is a beautiful story, and there are many useful lessons there apart from the recipes themselves.  Living close to the store, it has always been a special place for me.  Tartine III provides so much inspiration for incorporating new ingredients in techniques.

And I couldn't call my baking life complete without The Rye Baker.  I haven't even baked a recipe yet, but it is an enchanting book, and I'm filled with excitement about the new techniques found there.