Anna Phor Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 My husband is a keen bread baker and his birthday is coming up. I'm looking for a book that has some interesting extended techniques but that's suitable for home baking. I'm seeing a lot of volumes that get rave reviews, but when I look at the recipes, I see quantities and yields that strike me as much more suited to commercial production than to home baking and eating. Any good suggestions? Suggestions also welcome for other good gifts for a baking enthusiast! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PollyG Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 I am a big fan of Carol Field's original Italian Baker. I have not read the revised version, but she has good, detailed directions and we have not had a failure from her book. We are particularly fond of the Rosemary bread. Many of her recipes involve an overnight sponge. http://smile.amazon.com/Italian-Baker-Carol-Field/dp/0061812668/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1425060638&sr=8-1&keywords=field+italian+baker 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
astrid Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 I own and like The Bread Baker's Apprentice, though the recipes may still be too big for what you have in mind. Another suggestion if you're open to a wider definition of breadmaking, would be Flatbread & Flavor. It has a nice overview of various kinds of flatbread and include lots of recipes of food to eat with each flatbread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Hersch Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 The baking section of Mastering the Art of French Cooking Volume II is terrific, and is aimed very squarely at the home baker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kwhitney Posted February 28, 2015 Share Posted February 28, 2015 Bernard Clayton's "New Complete Book of Breads". Great book. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkstar965 Posted February 28, 2015 Share Posted February 28, 2015 My husband is a keen bread baker and his birthday is coming up. I'm looking for a book that has some interesting extended techniques but that's suitable for home baking. I'm seeing a lot of volumes that get rave reviews, but when I look at the recipes, I see quantities and yields that strike me as much more suited to commercial production than to home baking and eating. Any good suggestions? Suggestions also welcome for other good gifts for a baking enthusiast! Mark Furstenberg is as good and as experienced a baker as anyone in this region and probably the country. He recently did a blog post on cookbooks of all types because he has partnered with Politics & Prose up the street to create a book shelf in BreadFurst alongside his fantastic breads, pastries, pickled, preserved, prepared and other foods for sale. Because the post was mostly about cook books versus his personal core focus of baking, he just wrote this in terms of a possible answer to your question: Finally, could I create a bookshelf at Bread Furst without books about breads and sweets? Right now my favorite bread books are: Tartine Bread by Chad Robertson, my copain in San Francisco. Flour Water Salt by Ken Forbish, a particularly sensible didactic bread book. The full blog post is here. You might do well to go visit him at the shop and just ask his views. And get one of his magic baguettes or a loaf of levain, palladin or corn rye to inspire. I don't think he offers classes but talking to him might yield some great ideas. One final idea. Phone these guys in Brookline, MA and ask their reccs as well. They, like Mark, are current Beard Award semifinalists for Most Outstanding Bakery in America. LIke BreadFurst, this is a truly awesome and exceedingly rare bakery. I'd put heavy weight on whatever book reccs either would suggest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoramargolis Posted February 28, 2015 Share Posted February 28, 2015 While it is not strictly a bread technique and recipe book, I'll bet he would really enjoy Sam Fromartz's recent memoir In Search of the Perfect Loaf. Sam is a local DC-area journalist who became fascinated by bread-baking, focused on making a great baguette. The book is a chronicle of his obsession with learning about how to make great bread. He's a terrific, entertaining writer who manages while telling the story of his passion for bread and the many interesting characters he encounters in his quest to learn how to bake, to provide vast amounts of information about the history of wheat cultivation and bread baking, the many types of flour and how they need to be handled to make bread. It's a great read, and he describes his own techniques, too. Highly recommended. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ctay122 Posted March 1, 2015 Share Posted March 1, 2015 This is the best bread making book in my library - The Fundamental Techniques of Classic bread baking by the French Culinary Institute. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoramargolis Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 Sam Fromartz's book was just shortlisted for the 2015 Art of Eating best book prize. click eta: Sam's book did not win, but the book that did win sounds terrific. I have a lot of Mexican cookbooks, but I may have to add this one to my collection. click Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B.A.R. Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 I love the Tartine Book. Been using it for 6 months and love it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ctay122 Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 I have the Tartine Bread book. I think alot of the recipes are very tedious and complicated. Maybe that's just me. I do love Bernard Clayton's The Breads of France. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtureck Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 Nancy Silverton's Breads from the La Brea Bakery: Recipes for the ConnoisseurGreat book. http://www.amazon.com/Nancy-Silvertons-Breads-Brea-Bakery/dp/0679409076/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1425422904&sr=8-1&keywords=la+brea+cookbook 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John William G Posted March 6, 2015 Share Posted March 6, 2015 I got Peter Reinhart's book "Artisan Breads Every Day" a few months ago and have been very happy with the results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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