Hi All,
I hope you're all well. I recently got the... err....let's say... "impetus" to read large swaths of my unread (or at least, not recently read) bread baking library. So for the last couple of months, I've been reading, baking, tinkering, and baking some more.
Now, I'm a firm believer that bread bakers (like many food mavens) have certain "book collecting"... or dare I say "hoarding" tendencies. It's understandable, I mean, I'm always hoping for some nugget of bread baking wisdom will be found to justify buying another book. At the beginning, that works to at least some degree then inevitably, the rewards start dropping off... until you start buying more advanced books... which are much more expensive.
I was chatting with a local bread-baking friend and I asked them how much of their bread library has been read, used, and was found to be particularly useful in some way....
She made some non-committal noises.. then said....
"I have about 60 books or so... I've actively read maybe 2-3 in the last few years, and referenced maybe another 4-5".
When I thought about how I'd answer the question... I realised that I'd read half of my 22 book "bread library" from cover to cover, and the rest really were recipe books that I'd peruse occasionally.
I didn't like that realisation. It seems so wasteful, and I don't want to see myself as some sort of poser who merely holds books on the shelf for looks... or a narrow minded baker who's stuck in a rut of the same recipe over and over.
How did this happen?
In fairness, many books rehash the same information, since they're aimed at beginners... or at least, a wide audience which of course, includes the aforementioned beginners. That said, there really are different styles, percentages, temps, warm proofing vs cool (retard) proofing, milling your own flours vs. store bought, glutenous vs gluten-free, and it really is interesting to compare and contrast them.
But that needed a lot of baking...
So I did. I think I've baked more bread in the past 3 months than I have in the past year before it. The image above is just a select few of them.
So while I'm doing this, what is your "go to" bread baking book, and why do you think you keep coming back to it instead of any of the others you may have?
Kind Regards,
Ham.
Never hurts to use your head - well - it shouldn't hurt. Enjoy!
To your question, the paper book I come back to most is Local Breads by Daniel Leader. There are errors in a few of the formulas, but I like the variety and that most start with sourdough. I am down to just four paper books though, after downsizing. I also like Baking Artisan Bread by Ciril Hitz, I think there are only 10 formulas, but lots of variations for each formula, and I like that approach. For e-books my favorite is Tartine Bread. Similar to Hitz's book, not a lot of formulas, just get good at the ones that are there and it may be all you need.
You didn't mention any favorites of your own though Ham. In fact, you didn't actually mention any specific books at all. After all the baking a few certainly have risen to the top? Or have been dropped off at goodwill...
I started my baking journey over 30 years ago and started buying every bread book I could find. My favorites were from Peter Reinhardt, Bread Bakers Apprentice and a few of his newer ones. Eventually I started developing my own formulas and also baked many from fellow TFL members, My wife is the cake and cookie baker and loves to collect dessert books and cook books in general. We have so many books I would need to live 10 lives to make every recipe 😂.
Now I mostly bake my own creations and once in a while recipes I find online.
I shouldn't add this - but - I've never had a bread book. Enjoy!