Since I had no time, I wasn't able to try anything, yet. But I find the book very well made, the recipes interesting, and I'm looking forward to bake some breads from it when I'm back from my family visit in Hamburg.
...I'm a little baffled by those comments. Since we - artisan bakers - are committed to using methods and skills that are thousands of years old, isn't everything we do outdated? That's the point of it.
This is a book for the home artisan baker by one of the most influential bakers of our time. There are no idiosyncratic or sloppy interpretations of, say, the baker's percentage, to confuse the inexperienced (and experienced). Every single recipe is in both metric and cups. Every single recipe is beautifully laid out and explained. Every single recipe uses sourdough. And it's in English.
So far, I've only baked the sourdough baguettes (three batches) and, in my opinion, they are easily as good as any of the long-ferment baguette recipes you can find on this forum or on KAF's site. Kamut and Seaweed Rolls are next (heh, kamut khorosan... now that's an outdated flour for you, by about six millennia), then the Cuttlefish Ink Bread, then the Ekmek.
instead of the dry yeast! In the beginning of the book I think he says if using dry use half but I am not sure if I understood that clearly, usually you cut fresh yeast by a third. Any advice? He uses tiny amounts of fresh bakers yeast!
I've just started making bread at home and this was exactly the first book I bought.
As a total beginner, I can say that the book is geared for someone with simple equipment/ingredients. Regular oven, off-the-shelf flours. The only thing is that every recipe calls for liquid levain, but the process is well explained in the book anyway.
I'm happy with the results so far, not perfect yet, but I'm just a beginner.
What I think could be more developed is the aspects of fermentation, temperatures, duration. How exactly the levain and fresh yeast interact, and the effects that room temperature will have on the recipes.
Also, most recipes are relatively "quick". Meaning, a boule with levain is made in around 5 hours. No recipe until now requires very long fermentation, refrigerator, overnight, etc.
We made the vienna bread recipe last week. It was nice. We are making the classic brioche now. Will bake soon.
Nope
I think the recipe I have from KAF is about the same.
I think I'll take a pass. He should have published it 10-15 years ago. Now the market is oversaturated.
Since I had no time, I wasn't able to try anything, yet. But I find the book very well made, the recipes interesting, and I'm looking forward to bake some breads from it when I'm back from my family visit in Hamburg.
Karin
I have a French edition, it's nice but I cannot call it spectacular... have to agree with "outdated" review above.
Thanks for the feedback all
Chris
...I'm a little baffled by those comments. Since we - artisan bakers - are committed to using methods and skills that are thousands of years old, isn't everything we do outdated? That's the point of it.
This is a book for the home artisan baker by one of the most influential bakers of our time. There are no idiosyncratic or sloppy interpretations of, say, the baker's percentage, to confuse the inexperienced (and experienced). Every single recipe is in both metric and cups. Every single recipe is beautifully laid out and explained. Every single recipe uses sourdough. And it's in English.
So far, I've only baked the sourdough baguettes (three batches) and, in my opinion, they are easily as good as any of the long-ferment baguette recipes you can find on this forum or on KAF's site. Kamut and Seaweed Rolls are next (heh, kamut khorosan... now that's an outdated flour for you, by about six millennia), then the Cuttlefish Ink Bread, then the Ekmek.
I'm not big on bread books, but this is a keeper.
instead of the dry yeast! In the beginning of the book I think he says if using dry use half but I am not sure if I understood that clearly, usually you cut fresh yeast by a third. Any advice? He uses tiny amounts of fresh bakers yeast!
The first few builds should give you a better idea of how much "you" want to use.
For me, I tend to minimize and only use what yeast I need to to get the job done.
Best
Chris
I've just started making bread at home and this was exactly the first book I bought.
As a total beginner, I can say that the book is geared for someone with simple equipment/ingredients. Regular oven, off-the-shelf flours. The only thing is that every recipe calls for liquid levain, but the process is well explained in the book anyway.
I'm happy with the results so far, not perfect yet, but I'm just a beginner.
What I think could be more developed is the aspects of fermentation, temperatures, duration. How exactly the levain and fresh yeast interact, and the effects that room temperature will have on the recipes.
Also, most recipes are relatively "quick". Meaning, a boule with levain is made in around 5 hours. No recipe until now requires very long fermentation, refrigerator, overnight, etc.