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Bread: A Baker's Book of Techniques and Recipes
The warm, complex aroma of a fresh-baked loaf of bread can be utterly tantalizing; the first bite, a revelation. In A Baker's Book of Techniques and Recipes , award-winning master baker Jeffrey Hamelman presents the definitive, one-stop reference on the art and science of bread baking - a kitchen essential for seasoned home bakers and professionals alike. Hamelman, a professional baker for nearly three decades, was a member of the United States national baking team that won first place in the 1996 Coupe du Monde de la Boulangerie, the bread-baking World Cup. Here, he shares this experience, putting world-class artisanal loaves within reach of any serious baker. Opening with a comprehensive overview of the foundations - essential ingredients; hand techniques for kneading, scoring, and shaping; the basic process from mixing through baking - he lucidly guides bakers through all elements of this richly rewarding craft. Bread contains 118 detailed, step-by-step recipes for an array of versatile sourdough ryes; breads made with pre-ferments; and simple, straight dough loaves. Recipes for brioche, focaccia, pizza dough, flat breads, and other traditional baking staples augment the diverse collection of flavors, tastes, and textures represented within these pages. From the delicate flavor and aroma of classic French baguettes to the mellow smoothness of Roasted Garlic Levain, a bread for every season and every palate is here. Each recipe clearly outlines the key stages, with easy-to-use charts that list ingredients in both American and metric measures, quantities appropriate for home baking, and baker's percentages. Hundreds of drawings vividly illustrate techniques, and 35 handsome color photographs display finished breads. Sidebars accompany each recipe and section with valuable tips, from the subtle art of tasting and evaluating breads to the perfect fare to complement Vollkornbrot. A complete chapter on decorative breads - with instructions on techniques as well as a wide variety of exquisite patterns - will inspire magnificent display creations. Laced throughout the book, Hamelman's personal narratives offer a compelling portrait of a lifelong love affair with bread and vividly communicate this passion. For bakers seeking to finesse this time-honored craft or simply to learn the tricks of the trade from a real master, Bread is a resource to be consulted time and time again.
415 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 2004
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1,846 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 68 reviews
March 27, 2020
Książka dobra jak chleb.
Chleb towarzyszył człowiekowi od czasów rewolucji neolitycznej, był pokarmem codziennym, powszechnym, egalitarnym, pańsko-chłopskim. Aż do XX w. cieszył się słuszną renomą. Niestety jego chwała dzisiaj przeminęła. Na początku ludzie przestali go piec, a zaczęli kupować. Potem został zbezczeszczony dodatkiem drożdzy, by obecnie dogorywać na półkach marketu po upieczeniu uprzednio rozmrożonego surowego ciasta.
Tej sromocie i hańbie sprzeciwił się Jeffrey Hamelman, wynosząc ponownie chleb na jego właściwe miejsce, tj. na piedestał. Jego książka kolejnymi przepisami składa hołd każdemu bochenkowi. Nie ukrywam, że Hamelman kieruje swoje dzieło raczej do piekarzy, przepisy podają proporcje na 20-30 bochenków. Jednak i zwykły domowy piekarz jak ja znajdzie tam sporo wskazówek i rad przede wszystkim o sztuce składania chleba.
"Chleb" to nie tylko przepisy. To również solidna garść faktów około chlebowych. To z tej książki dowiedziałam się o sporyszu, który bytując powszechnie na zbożach sprowadzał na ludzi śmierć (40 tys ludzi w Akwitanii w roku pańskim 994 r.) lub halucynacje (w tym zbiorowe). Średniowieczne cuda przestają być otoczone aurą niesamowitości.
Polecam. Jako miłośnik własnego chleba na zakwasie mogę powiedzieć jedno - warto piec, jak naucza tego Hamelman.
Ps. Jako protip od siebie dodam, że warto wyrabiać chleb mokrymi dłońmi.
Chleb towarzyszył człowiekowi od czasów rewolucji neolitycznej, był pokarmem codziennym, powszechnym, egalitarnym, pańsko-chłopskim. Aż do XX w. cieszył się słuszną renomą. Niestety jego chwała dzisiaj przeminęła. Na początku ludzie przestali go piec, a zaczęli kupować. Potem został zbezczeszczony dodatkiem drożdzy, by obecnie dogorywać na półkach marketu po upieczeniu uprzednio rozmrożonego surowego ciasta.
Tej sromocie i hańbie sprzeciwił się Jeffrey Hamelman, wynosząc ponownie chleb na jego właściwe miejsce, tj. na piedestał. Jego książka kolejnymi przepisami składa hołd każdemu bochenkowi. Nie ukrywam, że Hamelman kieruje swoje dzieło raczej do piekarzy, przepisy podają proporcje na 20-30 bochenków. Jednak i zwykły domowy piekarz jak ja znajdzie tam sporo wskazówek i rad przede wszystkim o sztuce składania chleba.
"Chleb" to nie tylko przepisy. To również solidna garść faktów około chlebowych. To z tej książki dowiedziałam się o sporyszu, który bytując powszechnie na zbożach sprowadzał na ludzi śmierć (40 tys ludzi w Akwitanii w roku pańskim 994 r.) lub halucynacje (w tym zbiorowe). Średniowieczne cuda przestają być otoczone aurą niesamowitości.
Polecam. Jako miłośnik własnego chleba na zakwasie mogę powiedzieć jedno - warto piec, jak naucza tego Hamelman.
Ps. Jako protip od siebie dodam, że warto wyrabiać chleb mokrymi dłońmi.
August 29, 2017
This book is often referred to as the "bible" of bread-baking, and it is written by the head baker at King Arthur Flour, but I found it lacking in many ways. The recipes are all sized for commercial kitchens (22 or so loaves at a time). The column formatted for the home baker is in imperial units (pounds and ounces) instead of metric. Very annoying. Additionally, the beginning of the book (covering ingredients, techniques, etc) was much lighter on the science and in depth "why"s of baking than most of my other bread books. I'm sure his recipes are fantastic, but this book just didn't live up to my expectations.
May 14, 2013
Frustrated trying to find a decent loaf of Rye—like my grandmother used to make—I decided to do it myself. I've used the King Arthur whole-grain book, but Jeffrey Hamelman's second edition is far superior.
It gives scale weights and baking percentages. Far better results than measuring by volume. And the taste: delicious! Almost wholly doing whole-wheat sourdough variations.
Highly recommended for the home cook wanting to experiment.
It gives scale weights and baking percentages. Far better results than measuring by volume. And the taste: delicious! Almost wholly doing whole-wheat sourdough variations.
Highly recommended for the home cook wanting to experiment.
May 16, 2014
Brilliant. If you do nothing else with your life, follow the recipe on page 249--Un-Kneaded, Six Fold French Bread. I guarantee you, you will be making this bread for the rest of your life.
November 4, 2014
It doesn't require to be baker to love this book. We at Zomick's bakery have this cookbook for many years and must admit we learned many new recipes from it. This goes for the challah bread especially. The cookbook itself has some drawbacks, like the inaccurate indexing of the recipes but if you can overcome that, you'll like it for sure. That is if you like spending time in preparing and baking foods.
May 30, 2018
A masterpiece of bread information. So helpful in baking!
September 22, 2020
June 2018: Granted, this rating of only 2 stars is probably grossly unfair, especially because I hardly read any of the book (public library copy of the 2nd edition: John Wiley & Sons, 2012) and didn't try any of the recipes or outlined techniques.
Over the years, I've heard great things about Jeffrey Hamelman and I was really looking forward to reading his book. But it turns out that Hamelman's idea of "a baker" is one who is running a bakery, not someone like me who has a little kitchen, enough room in the oven for two loaves of bread, and not quite enough counter space for them once they are cooling. The recipes in the book have ingredients lists for making 22-25 loaves at a time. Sure, they have bakers' percentages listed for each recipe but does a home baker really want to get the calculator out every time?
Filled with photos and good drawings of various techniques, I'm sure this is a terrific book for people who are planning to start or improve their own bakeries. But, considering the number of excellent bread books, published since 2004, with the home baker in mind, I decided not to continue.
+ + + + +
September 2020: Once again, this 2 stars rating is probably not really fair. After hearing rave reviews from several sources about Jeffery Hamelman's tome, in July, I got it out of the library again, to try to actually read it.
Alas. I failed to get very far (public library copy of the 2nd edition: John Wiley & Sons, 2012). First of all the print is tiny dark(ish) grey fine-lined sans-serif font that is closely spaced. Some of the print is on a medium blue background. There are, however, very good drawings depicting shaping techniques and how to lift large weights without hurting one's back.
Over the weeks, I picked up the book repeatedly, leafing through various sections, stopping to squint and struggle to read the section on scoring (the primary reason I got the book out of the library again), some of the parts about creating and maintaining cultures, and the use of commercial yeast in so-called sourdough bread. The book is heavy - both in weight and substance. I'm afraid that once again, I did not manage to read any of the many recipes, other than to skim the recipe for creating/maintaining sourdough
Sadly, the section on scoring isn't quite heavy enough in substance, missing out exactly how deeply to score. Nor does it delve even remotely into what kind of scoring is best to encourage expansion.
Let's see now...
4 ounces = 113.4 grams;
180 pounds = 81.65 kilograms.
First of all, why on earth would a home baker want to have 340 grams on day one of building? Exactly how many rooms and people are in that particular home?!
I find myself completely flummoxed when reading further to see the continued suggestion for giant sized amounts of starter Hamelman uses as examples, for a person who is "baking 100 loaves for the farmer's market". He writes "Let's imagine that we keep a sourdough culture at 100 percent hydration" and suggests that 36 ounces of sourdough culture is required. That's just over a kilogram!
For the home baker's Day One initial mix in developing a sourdough rye culture, Hamelmain suggests using 6.4 ounces flour. That is 181.4 grams, to create a total of 363 grams! Then, to add insult to injury (rye flour is NOT cheap), he suggests using only 3.2 ounces (that's 90 grams) of the 1st day's mixture, along with 90 grams rye flour and 90 grams of water, to create a new total of 272 grams . The 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th days are more horrifying with two feedings per day rather than one, with each feeding beginning with just 90 grams of the previous feedings' mixture. That amounts to a LOT of rye flour thrown down the drain.
Then, after all that work to build up a healthy starter that is teaming with natural yeasts, there is Hamelman's continued recommendation to add commercial yeast:
But does adding commercial yeast to a wild yeast leavener benefit the diners' tasting schedule? Perhaps not, if the fermentation time is substantially reduced. ...unless I have misread the sections in several other bread books that say that the longer bread dough is fermented, the more flavourful the final bread will be.
Sure, I understand that a bakery has to be able to have several loaves of bread ready and perfect for sale at a specific time. But home bakers generally do not have those constraints when mixing and baking just one or two loaves at a time.
Conclusion: Once again, I come away convinced that this book is for people wanting to run their own bakery. It is not at all designed for the home baker.
Over the years, I've heard great things about Jeffrey Hamelman and I was really looking forward to reading his book. But it turns out that Hamelman's idea of "a baker" is one who is running a bakery, not someone like me who has a little kitchen, enough room in the oven for two loaves of bread, and not quite enough counter space for them once they are cooling. The recipes in the book have ingredients lists for making 22-25 loaves at a time. Sure, they have bakers' percentages listed for each recipe but does a home baker really want to get the calculator out every time?
Filled with photos and good drawings of various techniques, I'm sure this is a terrific book for people who are planning to start or improve their own bakeries. But, considering the number of excellent bread books, published since 2004, with the home baker in mind, I decided not to continue.
+ + + + +
September 2020: Once again, this 2 stars rating is probably not really fair. After hearing rave reviews from several sources about Jeffery Hamelman's tome, in July, I got it out of the library again, to try to actually read it.
Alas. I failed to get very far (public library copy of the 2nd edition: John Wiley & Sons, 2012). First of all the print is tiny dark(ish) grey fine-lined sans-serif font that is closely spaced. Some of the print is on a medium blue background. There are, however, very good drawings depicting shaping techniques and how to lift large weights without hurting one's back.
Over the weeks, I picked up the book repeatedly, leafing through various sections, stopping to squint and struggle to read the section on scoring (the primary reason I got the book out of the library again), some of the parts about creating and maintaining cultures, and the use of commercial yeast in so-called sourdough bread. The book is heavy - both in weight and substance. I'm afraid that once again, I did not manage to read any of the many recipes, other than to skim the recipe for creating/maintaining sourdough
Sadly, the section on scoring isn't quite heavy enough in substance, missing out exactly how deeply to score. Nor does it delve even remotely into what kind of scoring is best to encourage expansion.
Two types of blades (or lames) are used to score bread: curved and straight. The curved is appropriate for cutting "ears" in baguettes and oval loaves; the straight blade is used when vertical cuts are made on round or oval loaves. [...] The lame is held so that the razor is at about a 30-degree angle to horizontal.
[...]
Using a straight blade to cut round or oval loaves offers the baker (and consumer) a wide variety of visual possibilities The straight blade is held perpendicular to the loaf [...] Incisions with the straight blade are generally slightly deeper than those made with the curved blade, in order to encourage maximum expansion in the oven [...] [S]trive for symmetry, evenness of line length and depth, and a balanced pattern that not only is pleasing to the eye, but that also encourages good dough expansion. [Scoring Bread, p.72-73]
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
After all our efforts at developing a vigorous sourdough culture, we want to be sure it remains in good health for many years. This is comparatively easy in a production bakery, where the cultures are fed and used every day. But what about for those of us who bake just once a week � what strategies can be employed so that the sourdough continues to provide good flavor and good leavening power to the loaves, but does not necessitate twice-daily feedings and the discarding of most of the culture at each new feeding? [...] Let's remember that during the initial phase of developing a culture, we discard a portion of it with every feeding. Why? If, for example, a feeding consists of equal weights of culture, flour, and water, the weight would increase exponentially, so if we had 12 ounces of culture after a first build (four ounces each), that weight would balloon to over 20 pounds after the four build and over 180 pounds after six builds! [Sourdough Maintenance and storage for the occasional baker p432]
Let's see now...
4 ounces = 113.4 grams;
180 pounds = 81.65 kilograms.
First of all, why on earth would a home baker want to have 340 grams on day one of building? Exactly how many rooms and people are in that particular home?!
I find myself completely flummoxed when reading further to see the continued suggestion for giant sized amounts of starter Hamelman uses as examples, for a person who is "baking 100 loaves for the farmer's market". He writes "Let's imagine that we keep a sourdough culture at 100 percent hydration" and suggests that 36 ounces of sourdough culture is required. That's just over a kilogram!
For the home baker's Day One initial mix in developing a sourdough rye culture, Hamelmain suggests using 6.4 ounces flour. That is 181.4 grams, to create a total of 363 grams! Then, to add insult to injury (rye flour is NOT cheap), he suggests using only 3.2 ounces (that's 90 grams) of the 1st day's mixture, along with 90 grams rye flour and 90 grams of water, to create a new total of 272 grams . The 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th days are more horrifying with two feedings per day rather than one, with each feeding beginning with just 90 grams of the previous feedings' mixture. That amounts to a LOT of rye flour thrown down the drain.
Then, after all that work to build up a healthy starter that is teaming with natural yeasts, there is Hamelman's continued recommendation to add commercial yeast:
A small portion of baker's yeast � up to .2 percent � can be added to a levain dough without any noticeable changes in the bread's sourdough characteristics. This small amount of yeast will have a slight impact on fermentation and loaf volume. On the other hand, some of the formulas contain yeast in the 1 to 1.25 percent range. When using this amount of yeast, bulk fermentation time can be substantially reduced, a factor that might benefit the baker's production schedule. [Levain Breads, p.151]
But does adding commercial yeast to a wild yeast leavener benefit the diners' tasting schedule? Perhaps not, if the fermentation time is substantially reduced. ...unless I have misread the sections in several other bread books that say that the longer bread dough is fermented, the more flavourful the final bread will be.
Sure, I understand that a bakery has to be able to have several loaves of bread ready and perfect for sale at a specific time. But home bakers generally do not have those constraints when mixing and baking just one or two loaves at a time.
Conclusion: Once again, I come away convinced that this book is for people wanting to run their own bakery. It is not at all designed for the home baker.
June 29, 2009
You basically have to be a hard-core breadmaker to make sense of this book. I'm a home cook that wanted good info on making bread and learned quickly that this book is really intended more for people who are commercially making bread, not for people like me. So, I gave up after the intro.
June 27, 2020
Este libro está orientado a panaderos.
No a panarras aficionados de segunda categorÃa como una servidora, a panaderos profesionales.
Vamos, con decir que el autor considera el amasado a mano casi tan raro como amasar con los pies lo digo todo.
Asà que muchos de los aspectos que trata son demasiado técnicos para mÃ, y aunque puede que para un panadero el Ãndice de cenizas de la harina que utiliza sea fundamental yo me seguiré conformando con emplear unas de la fuerza adecuada.
Pero como el saber no ocupa lugar, ha resultado muy interesante aprender sobre los temas que Hamelman expone.
Los distintos tipos de harina... y los aditivos empleados, y los distintos procesos como el blanqueamiento. Hay aquà mucha información.
De hecho, incluso quedándome solo con los temas que sà que utilizaré a pequeña escala, he hecho anotaciones como nunca antes con un libro de cocina.
El autor habla de la futilidad de congelar masa madre (a pesar de lo extendido de la práctica) e incluso del refrigerado (que en cualquier caso ha de hacerse apenas una hora después del refresco, para que las bacterias puedan seguir alimentándose lentamente durante el periodo de refrigeración) y de la utilidad de la sal para evitar la sobrefermentación.
Explica los refrescos de masa madre que se realizan en panaderÃa, que muy lejos de multiplicar la cantidad por tres o por cinco, la multiplica por 20, 30 o más en pocas horas.
Me hizo sonreÃr el hecho de que defiende que las medidas volumétricas son demasiado imprecisas, al mismo tiempo que continuamente menciona que el panadero debe observar su masa y hacer las modificaciones necesarias; es mi opinión es un poquitÃn contradictorio, pero sé de sobra que mi preferencia por las medidas volumétricas es altamente impopular.
Además de los aspesctos más teóricos, explicada detalladamente una serie de técnicas (poolish, bigas, pliegues, etc.) y aporta una amplia colección de recetas, explicadas de forma precisa.
En resumidas cuentas, un libro muy didáctico.
No lo recomendarÃa a aquellos que se inicien en el mundo del pan, por excesivamente complejo, pero si ya tienes algo de experiencia y quieres un aprendizaje más formal este es, sin duda, un gran manual.
No a panarras aficionados de segunda categorÃa como una servidora, a panaderos profesionales.
Vamos, con decir que el autor considera el amasado a mano casi tan raro como amasar con los pies lo digo todo.
Asà que muchos de los aspectos que trata son demasiado técnicos para mÃ, y aunque puede que para un panadero el Ãndice de cenizas de la harina que utiliza sea fundamental yo me seguiré conformando con emplear unas de la fuerza adecuada.
Pero como el saber no ocupa lugar, ha resultado muy interesante aprender sobre los temas que Hamelman expone.
Los distintos tipos de harina... y los aditivos empleados, y los distintos procesos como el blanqueamiento. Hay aquà mucha información.
De hecho, incluso quedándome solo con los temas que sà que utilizaré a pequeña escala, he hecho anotaciones como nunca antes con un libro de cocina.
El autor habla de la futilidad de congelar masa madre (a pesar de lo extendido de la práctica) e incluso del refrigerado (que en cualquier caso ha de hacerse apenas una hora después del refresco, para que las bacterias puedan seguir alimentándose lentamente durante el periodo de refrigeración) y de la utilidad de la sal para evitar la sobrefermentación.
Explica los refrescos de masa madre que se realizan en panaderÃa, que muy lejos de multiplicar la cantidad por tres o por cinco, la multiplica por 20, 30 o más en pocas horas.
Me hizo sonreÃr el hecho de que defiende que las medidas volumétricas son demasiado imprecisas, al mismo tiempo que continuamente menciona que el panadero debe observar su masa y hacer las modificaciones necesarias; es mi opinión es un poquitÃn contradictorio, pero sé de sobra que mi preferencia por las medidas volumétricas es altamente impopular.
Además de los aspesctos más teóricos, explicada detalladamente una serie de técnicas (poolish, bigas, pliegues, etc.) y aporta una amplia colección de recetas, explicadas de forma precisa.
En resumidas cuentas, un libro muy didáctico.
No lo recomendarÃa a aquellos que se inicien en el mundo del pan, por excesivamente complejo, pero si ya tienes algo de experiencia y quieres un aprendizaje más formal este es, sin duda, un gran manual.
March 28, 2012
I can't say I've "read" it completely as I'm still trying out new recipes, but as far as techniques for baking go, this is "THE ONE" book. It's amazing and really pushes me to try new things as far as baking bread goes: from shaping to proofing to technical and chemical details about what happens to flour, everything is carefully explained.
Jeffrey Hamelman did an amazing job in explaining how to create sourdough, including your own starter. There are reading groups on the internet who encourage others to bake a specific recipe together such as (that's how I discovered the book).
I have read other bread books and so far can only name óne every serious (home) baker should own and that's this one.
Jeffrey Hamelman did an amazing job in explaining how to create sourdough, including your own starter. There are reading groups on the internet who encourage others to bake a specific recipe together such as (that's how I discovered the book).
I have read other bread books and so far can only name óne every serious (home) baker should own and that's this one.
May 27, 2019
This is my go-to bread baking book. I like the simple formulas rather than everything being a full-blown recipe.
Other reviewers have complained about the lack of metric home-baking instructions, but taking the metric formulas for professional bakers and dividing by ten gives reasonably-sized batches. (Measuing flour in pounds and ounces is such a pain!)
Oh, and I suggest you avoid the second edition and try finding the first edition instead -- he switched to a sans-serif font that, in my opinion, renders it much harder to read, much like many of the crummy web sites you see on the Internet.
Other reviewers have complained about the lack of metric home-baking instructions, but taking the metric formulas for professional bakers and dividing by ten gives reasonably-sized batches. (Measuing flour in pounds and ounces is such a pain!)
Oh, and I suggest you avoid the second edition and try finding the first edition instead -- he switched to a sans-serif font that, in my opinion, renders it much harder to read, much like many of the crummy web sites you see on the Internet.
June 21, 2009
My rating is from the perspective of wanting a more light hearted bread book with some story, easy recipes and great tips. This is one heavy book - figuratively and by weight! A much more serious bread book than I was after
February 20, 2021
Not for someone who’s never made bread before, but basically every bread I’ve made from here turns out amazing (not true of the 2-3 other bread books I’ve used)
January 8, 2021
So much good information here, and much of it I've not seen elsewhere. It's currently my go-to bread baking book, and I admit, I've even taken it to bed to read on several occasions.
It's not without it's flaws though. The recipes are developed with commercial bakeries in mind (e.g. yields 32 loaves), and the home-scaled weights are imperial - I just write my own metric conversions in pencil where there's a convenient space. Some panels use light text on a textured background and can be hard to read. But I'm sticking to 5 stars because I'd probably run into a burning building to save this thing.
It's not without it's flaws though. The recipes are developed with commercial bakeries in mind (e.g. yields 32 loaves), and the home-scaled weights are imperial - I just write my own metric conversions in pencil where there's a convenient space. Some panels use light text on a textured background and can be hard to read. But I'm sticking to 5 stars because I'd probably run into a burning building to save this thing.
February 16, 2020
Really, really really good bread. I'm baking ciabatta as I type this. I love you, Jeffrey Hamelman. I'm still too much of a novice to have made my own starter culture, but my experiments with pâte fermentée have been delightful.
The only downside is that it's definitely for an American audience, so the home measures are in freedom units rather than metric. As I'm not going to make a professional baker's worth of bread in one go (even I can't eat THAT much bread in a week), I do need to do some arithmetic using the baker's percentages.
Still, yum.
The only downside is that it's definitely for an American audience, so the home measures are in freedom units rather than metric. As I'm not going to make a professional baker's worth of bread in one go (even I can't eat THAT much bread in a week), I do need to do some arithmetic using the baker's percentages.
Still, yum.
February 28, 2021
I read this after Ken Forkish’s Flour, Water, Yeast, Salt and found it to be more geared to someone running a bakery than the home baker. That’s not to say the home baker can’t find value - they’re just the second audience considered. I’m glad I read them in this order because Forkish was a 101-level and this was probably 201 (expected you to have at least a little experience going in, recipes were good, but sparse in instruction compared to Forkish, who was... verbose). Both certainly have their place.
April 18, 2020
Every bread baker needs this book in their library. He really delves into the science of bread baking and covers a variety of different types of bread. He talks about sourdough and commercial yeast. he explains Baker's percentages really well and all his recipes are designed for both the professional and the homebaker. Easily scalable and very well explained.
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March 9, 2020This is my go to book for baking - after reading the very large science section you have an insight into what is going on as the dough develops and the bread bakes. This helps the mistakes to be better understood and not left to complete randomness of what happens.
October 1, 2021
I wanted to learn and understand how to bake great sourdough bread, including my own starter. This book has taught me way more than I thought I needed and I am now able to bake great bread using my own starter. I understand enough to tweak recipes and make them my own. THANK YOU Jeffrey Hamelman!
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May 15, 2017I couldn't read this book because it's mainly drawn pictures. Lots of cool techniques, but only needed when actually in the act of baking.
April 9, 2018
Great, I was researching sours and pre-ferments.
July 17, 2019
Every recipe I read, every technique I tried was superb. My new go to bread book.
March 14, 2020
This book helped me take my baking to a level I thought would take me years to achieve. I could not be happier.
March 28, 2020
I think I maybe could have benefitted from a simpler introduction to bread, but I learned a lot and it’s much less of a mystery!
August 16, 2020
My favorite reference book. All recommendations and recipes work. Great buy!
January 18, 2021
Not for the faint hearted cook to try breads. But if you want to be a Pro at bread baking: this is it.
March 1, 2021
My Bible! Genius!
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January 6, 2022Unrated bc I haven't baked from it yet.
June 7, 2024
This recipe book was so informative. Will definitely be using the tips and recipes in the future! If you are a baker, I would highly recommend checking it out!
November 11, 2012
Jeffrey Hamelman
An accomplished baker, teacher and entrepreneur, Jeffrey Hamelman brings a variety of experiences and skills to his position as Bakery Director at King Arthur Flour. One of fewer than 100 Certified Master Bakers in the United States, Jeffrey began his training working under French and German bakers at Naegele Bakery in Northampton, Massachusetts.
In 1996, Jeffrey was named captain of Baking Team USA, which competed at the Coupe du
Monde de la Boulangerie, an international “Bread Olympics� in Paris. His team’s outstanding performance stood the world of baking on its ear and helped pave the way for America’s first-place win at the 1999 Coupe du Monde.
My goto bread book. The recipes are written in bakers math and scaled for home and bakery. Written in English with french breadmaking techniques typically in french. If you want to learn to make artisan style breads give it a try.
An accomplished baker, teacher and entrepreneur, Jeffrey Hamelman brings a variety of experiences and skills to his position as Bakery Director at King Arthur Flour. One of fewer than 100 Certified Master Bakers in the United States, Jeffrey began his training working under French and German bakers at Naegele Bakery in Northampton, Massachusetts.
In 1996, Jeffrey was named captain of Baking Team USA, which competed at the Coupe du
Monde de la Boulangerie, an international “Bread Olympics� in Paris. His team’s outstanding performance stood the world of baking on its ear and helped pave the way for America’s first-place win at the 1999 Coupe du Monde.
My goto bread book. The recipes are written in bakers math and scaled for home and bakery. Written in English with french breadmaking techniques typically in french. If you want to learn to make artisan style breads give it a try.
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