January 14, 2010 - 5:39pm
Which is the one BEST Bread Book for recipes/formulas. Not a technique book or how to but the actual formulas for great bread.
Which one book, has the most, the tastiest recipes ? Instructions on bread baking 101 not necessary, if it has that's ok but not essential by any means.
Comments
I think most of us that have been here a while have come to the conclusion that it is the technique and not the recipe that makes a great bread. Without the understanding of the former, the latter is of little value.
Eric
Eric has stated the truth, so there's nothing else to add except that "taste" is a very subjective topic. What one may consider "tasty," another may consider horrid.
You have to know what pleases your own palate, so browse around the recipes and blogs, and pick a few to try.
Also, although I have a few excellent bread baking books (Hamelman, Reinhart, Glezer, Lepard) and another not so excellent, I mostly find myself baking the recipes of my favourite home bakers on this and my other bread forums (mostly Sourdough Companion and Wild Yeast). I have now baked scores of different breads and still have a long queue in my must-try list. This is because new ones that look fantastic are constantly popping up and joining the queue - and of course, when I discover a particulary yummy one, I bake it again and again.
I love my books and you certainly get a lot out of them that you don't get off forums, but for recipes, this and other forums are a constant source of amazing new breads to try. You're already just where you need to be!
Cheers
Ross
When I am experimenting at home. I take the bread entry from a table on page 527 of Harold McGee's On Food and Cooking.
It's a basic formula but it helps give you ball park %'s of various ingredients. I like to see how breads turn out by tuning the %'s to what I am thinking of making.
Flour 100%
Water 65% (I wouldn't go much lower than this as the crumb is too dry and tight for my taste i am usually bringing the % up)
Fat or oil 3%
Milk Solids 3%
Sugar 5%
Salt 2%
Yeast varies too much to put a % here but he goes on to say later. "...the standard proportion for cake yeast is 0.5%-4% of the flour weight... for dried yeast, approximatley half these numbers"
I usually use this when I have ingredients for bread but not all of the specific ones in some recipes. I've made a lot of different kinds of breads with this formula as a starting point. I don't always add fat or oil, milk, or sugar. Salt and yeast are always included :-P
Tom Georgalas
What exactly do you want? If you have the technique you probably know some formula's so why need a book? By surfing the web you can find loads of good bread formula's. Make no mistak, a recipe is a recipe. Environment, flour type, yeast, etc. all will make differences.
What exactly do you want? If you have the technique you probably know some formula's so why need a book? By surfing the web you can find loads of good bread formula's. Make no mistak, a recipe is a recipe. Environment, flour type, yeast, etc. all will make differences."
I do understand that there is a base formula or perhaps a few, and its just tweaking it that makes a diff. As a new baker, I want to read what the pros do, with the different additions. I do have all the books I need, RLB Bread Bible, PR Artisan Breads Everyday, RB Dough, DL Local Breads, JJ Book of Bread, as well as other cookbooks which have bread recipes in them.
I think I'm set. Thanks all for pointing out that once one has the basics, its all personal taste.
Coincidentally, I just put up an entry on the book I think has some of the best and varied formulas: Hamelman's "Bread." See my post here titled "Desert Island Bread Book."
I bought Bread, and I am putting my peel down. "No more bread books" :)
Got it