Bread: A Baker′s Book of Techniques and Recipes

I've been making all of the bread for our family for about 5 years now, and I've bought loads of books in the search for the perfect loaf. Of all of them, there are only two I really rate: - Dough by Richard Bertinet. This is my "how" book. It's great for learning the basic techniques, and getting you away from that bread machine and into the world of real bread. My only criticism is that the recipes are a bit limited and unadventurous, but that fits with it being a beginner's book. - This book, Bread: A Baker's Book of Techniques and Recipes by Jeffrey Hamelman. This is my "why" book. For those with an enquiring mind, it explains why you do certain things, and introduces advanced techniques, not just in folding, shaping and braiding, but also in scaling, so you can do any recipe in any quantity, to suit your needs. It also has a huge range of recipes. Not being content with mere 'straight' doughs, which merit only 17 pages, we have 40 pages of doughs made with yeasted pre-ferments (where Poolish, Biga and Pate Fermentee enter your vocabulary), followed by 56 pages of sourdoughs (and introduces us to the three main types of sourdough starter!). All in pursuit of the perfect tasting - and looking - loaf. And as an added benefit, all of the recipes are presented in 3 ways; for the home, for a commercial bakery, and as baker's percentages. Brilliant. As for concerns by some reviewers about metric/imperial units - conversion isn't difficult, particularly when you see that recipes are presented as baker's percentages. But I must admit, my favourite 12(ish) recipes have the weights in grams written in, in two different quantities (2 loaves and 3 loaves), to suit what I can handle. This is a working book, not for the coffee table, so I don't mind writing in it! I think you need both books; "Dough" to learn the basics, then the Hamelman book for everyday use. But if I had to choose, this is the one I just couldn't do without. It never has time to rest on the bookshelf.

Its difficult to know where to atsrt in reviewing this work.. I bake bread by hand at home and I already have the River Cottage handbook as a guide.. However I felt that I needed some more in depth knowledge and came across this book right here on Amazon.. I held back somewhat due to its American bias in ingredients but after It arrived I found that all the weights and measures were actually very workable for me as there is a home listing as well as a bakers listing for all the ingredients both in LBS and cups.. I love the way the book explains the process of bread making from the seed sowing to oven and incorporates as many potential failings during his descriptions. I like this book very much and I have begun reading it from start to end and I have already discovered so much new information. Highly recomended and practicle book to keep and use when baking bread at home or indeed at a bakery where you intend to be the sole bread maker and do it all yourself..

I have quite a lot of books on cookery in general, cookery methods etc. and this book tops the lot. It is not a book for general recipes of bread making, although it does contain a significant amount - 200 pages. It is more for the casual home baker, or even the commercial startup, who wants a complete understanding of bread making. The first 60 pages give a thorough explanation of the constituent parts of bread, followed by 30 pages on Hand Techniques. The next 200 pages cover making just about any bread made in the world, with fully scaleable quantities in commercial US lbs, commercial Metric kg, Home making quanties and Bakers percentages. Each recipe has notes on taste, nature, preparation & appearance of the bread. If you are looking for a book full of glossy photographs, then this book is not for you, although there are some photos. This book does not need them. Although the book is of american origin, the author, Jeffrey Hamelman, does make comparisons with european grains and yeast involved. This is quite simply the best book on baking I own and can only inspire every reader/owner of the book.

this is the bible for artisan bread making. There is nothing missing and is the default reference work for me whenever I come across a problem or want to try something new. BUT it is a technical work for the serious bread maker. This the book to work towards after you've got the bug following one of the many other excellent bread writers (Dan Lepard, Andrew Whitley et al). It's a readable book with lovely anecdotes - if, like me, you are a bread geek. So, a fabulous book, but make sure it's what you want before you buy.

Excellent book, lots of tips and technical information and a real insight into many, many different types of bread and bread making methods.Ideal for a professional or keen serious home baker,well recommended.

A Brillant Book if you want to learn how to make good Bread or refresh from past knowledge -Knowledge is the key.A book to trust. it tells you all the answers to the questions you need to be asking ---follow the techniques, finding the water temp of the water to make the bread and the knack of timing is made simple.snips of information that improve your breadmaking and save you time.I highly recommend this Book to all would-be Breadmakers. It takes time to get it right! but i now make Vermont Soughdough Bread three times a week and it is a lovely Bread.

This is a very detailed bakers book. Probably not for the first time baker, but very interesting and informative for the committed baker. You will understand the bread making process better after reading this book - and make better bread too.

It stated 'like new'. Now that I got it I reckon that 'like' stood for the little black spot on the cover. Apart from that, it looks as if it has never been opened. One of my best deals on Amazon so far. Very happy indeed.

Jeffrey Hamelman lavora da molti anni alla King's Arthur Flour, su you tube vedrete molti suoi video, con lui o collaboratori in azione. Questo libro, che dicevo completissimo, è scritto per panettieri ma perfettamente adeguato a chi non si accontenta del proprio pane fatto in casa. Non vi si trovano ingredienti impossibili e ci sono le spiegazioni dettagliatissime sia per quanto riguarda le fasi di impasto che di lievitazione (le famose pieghe) che di formazione delle pagnotte nelle varie fogge. Lo si legge, e assimila, un poco alla volta perché è davvero un testo fondamentale.

I have been baking bread, as a hobby, once a week for the last 15 years. I've bought just about every bread available during this time-over two dozen. There's no question in my mind that Hamelman's book is the best. Lacking any baking experience, many of my early efforts were failures. From the various books I bought, I gradually gained skills and understanding and my failure rate approached zero, but in general my breads weren't terrific because I hadn't really mastered the processes. Hamelman's book changed all that. Thanks to his book, the quality of my breads improved immensely and I immodestly think they are better than 2/3 of the commercial artisan bakery products in this area, Sacramento, CA. I'd like to address a couple comments of earlier reviewers. One gave the book a low mark because 1) it was written for professional bakers as well as amateurs, 2) there was an error in a recipe she tried, and 3) she's had trouble getting the recipes to work and wasted a lot of flour. Nowhere does Hamelman say he's writing primarily for professional bakers. True he gives recipes for quantities a small bakery might make-20 or so loaves-as well as the typical 2 loaf batches of home bakers, and he discusses some aspects of commercial practice. But the book's contents are just as pertinent to home bakers as professionals. True, there are a couple of typos in the recipes, but only a couple, and they would be immediately obvious to anyone who compares the measurement amounts with the baker's percentages. As to her lack of success with these recipes, I have made over 20 of the 80+ recipes in the book and every one was delicious. In general, there is no problem with the recipes in this book. Other reviewers rated the book highly but stated the text was "dense" or technical and probably not suited for beginners. On the contrary I think it's an excellent book for beginners, if they really want to learn to make good bread. Why spend 15 years and go through two dozen books as I did to end up with mediocre bread? Hamelman's book is thorough and complete in its description in all aspects of breadmaking, and none of it is beyond the comprehension of a person of average intelligence willing to spend the time to read it. A person who doesn't want to make the effort to gain this understanding perhaps shouldn't aspire to be a breadmaker, because making really good bread requires it. Making bread is different from making cookies. Frankly this book is a gift to all bakers, amateur and professional, and it would be a boon to the quality of bread in this country if every artisan baker had a copy. It is the best available book, even for a beginner. If I could have only one bread book, this would be it. Anyone who wants to master breadmaking will eventually have to buy this book. Why wait?

This is the second copy I've bought of this book. This one was a gift for my son-in-law who has started an artisanal bakery as a small business. I've been using my copy for about a year. Just did the Olive Levain, which was truly excellent. My Jewish rye is based on his recipe, a bit revised (I use more sour than he does). This is the one that I turn to, of all the bread books we've bought. Only downside from my point of view is the English measure (lbs and ozs) instead of metric. Easy enough to convert the recipes to metric measure, though. The real artisanal bakers love that his recipes are also shown in 25 lb versions, in addition to the standard two loaf recipes. I love this book.

Since I got interested in bread baking I have been looking for a book to explain me why. Why i have to knead, to ferment twice, to punch the dough, to spray water into the oven etc. Until I found this one. Simply incredible. About the author: The book is written by a person who loves bread and has been making it for decades. As you go through the book you can feel the love he feels about it. His English is concise and clear. About the printing quality: Good thick paper with stylish fonts. A lot of hand graphic drawings on manual bread operations and only a few color glossy photos. Along with the regular text you have blocks that describe some additional story or topic. Did I mention: hard cover with a paper jacket. About the content: The first part of the book (~100 pages) focuses on the bread/dough theory. Follows main part that contains formulas/recipes for different bread types. At the end you have some notes on small details like sourdough production, dough temperature etc. Although the author focuses mostly on mass bread production (bakery style) he provides enough useful information for the home baker. Conclusion: a really amazing book, a must for every home/bakery baker. Precise and to the point - no useless glossy photos like most of the books nowadays.

Bread, es un must have sobre el pan. Hamelman nos hace llegar de forma maravillosa diferentes historias a modo de recetas, o diferentes recetas a modo de historia.