New, Whre do I start?

Welcome to the site, fiveacrefarmgirl! I am also relatively new to baking artisan bread. I would suggest starting with Peter Reinhart's "The Bread Baker's Apprentice." It's a great foundational book that helps you understand how the process works. Also, take advantage of what this site has to offer. Look around and see what's on the forums, as well as the tabs across the top of this page. Lots of wisdom to be gained from others' experience:-)

I suggest you decide what kind of general bread you would like to start with first and then see if you can search here for discussion on that bread. Example, if you wanted to start of with a country French bread with a minimum of ingredients, that would be a good entry into artisan bread. It doesn't have to be a well defined shape and will give you dough handling practice. As another suggested the Bread Bakers Assistant is a good place to find a variety of bread types and methods. You will soon discover that artisan style bread is less to do with recipes and more to do with learning technique. You need to send your fingers to school. You don't need an expensive mixer. You do need a small $24. digital scale which makes it easier to repeat the success others have had with the same recipe. I look forward to seeing your work.

Eric

Hi,

I was introduced to the world of bread baking through King Arthur Flour website.  I baked several of its recipes and have found them to be almost foolproof, delicious and easy to make for a novice baker.  One can also troubleshoot almost instantly with their baker's hotline.  Since discovering the KAF site, I was eventually iniated to another of Peter Reinhart's book entitled Artisan Bread Every Day.  Really good quality breads and not overly intimidating recipes.

Obviously, this site has been excellent at providing all kinds of information, support and encouragement.

Happy baking.