June 21, 2015 - 3:06pm
Hi from Mark. Lancashire UK
Just a quick note to say Hi. Have only baked 4 loaves so far and I am bursting with questions. This community appears both friendly and knowledgable. I will be reading lots more on the site as well as the books I have.
Regards
Mark
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Quite a few here from the UK too - I'm doing the microbakery thing down in Devon!
Keep baking!
-Gordon
Also from the UK here - bread newbie from deepest, darkest Cambridgeshire. Have learnt loads on here *and* found some really fabby recipes.
Hi Mark
Welcome from Yorkshire! I have been baking bread seriously for a year, and got out a lot out of this site. If I could figure out how to blog and post photos I'd show you more, but photos are all on fbook as it's so much easier! What books have you bought? I"ve used four the most - 1. Richard bertinet's 'dough' and 'crust'; 2. Dan Lepard's 'the handmade loaf'; 3. Tartine book 1; 4. Forkish's flour yeast water salt. Got a lot out of all of them, and have dabbled in recipes online including here. Got a lot more to try!
Thanks for the tips on books. I only have the River Cottage bread book and although it has got me interested I am finding it a bit lacking and realise there is even more of a science than this book suggests. I have posted about a problem with my first loaf attempts and people have suggested maybe less bulk rise and proofing. One suggestion was for folding rather needing with a suggestion of Peter Reinhart as a good author.
Many thank so far. A really friendly online community.
Mark
Dan Lepards The Handmade Loaf is a very good read to get you going. Ignore the science because there are simply too many ways to do it and its not really that relevant right now - just concentrate on basic ingredients and technique. You'll find lots of Dans stuff online - e.g. in the Guardian. Hollywoods stuff is OK too (100 Great Breads) - some good recipe ideas, as is Richard Bertiniets Dough. If you want to get more into the health side of things and why commercial bread is wrong then get Andrew Whitleys Bread Matters book.
And check the real bread campaign website - worth a read at some point. Not many recipes but lots more about real bread and why the mass produces commercial bread is wrong.
But don't spent too much time reading - make bread :-)
-Gordon
Are for the most part a fair bit older and perhaps a bit more basic, but they got me started on a raft of simple and effective recipes; Sonia Allison's Bread Book, Home Baking by Elizabeth Pomeroy and The Best of Sainsbury's Baking. The first is very basic, the latter two are my go-to books for all sorts of breads and cakes.
I've recently purchased (like all my others, in a charity shop) Bread - From Chiabatta to Rye by Linda Collister, which has some very nice and very do-able recipes for a relative novice like myself. I made the Pain de Campagne out of that previous week, and ended up with a very tasty loaf. Plan on tackling some of the other ones in there too, like the German beer bread...