What would it be?
I have a few simple sourdough breads under my belt, so to speak, but would love to have one book to take me a bit futher with techniques and recipes.
Any suggestions welcome
Category:
What would it be?
I have a few simple sourdough breads under my belt, so to speak, but would love to have one book to take me a bit futher with techniques and recipes.
Any suggestions welcome
Already a member? Login
Replies
Advanced Bread and Pastry by Michel Suas - it isn't a recipe book as much as a professional baking textbook.
The Michel Suas book, like sourfish said, is a professional book on baking. Bread makes up less than a quarter of the book; you're also paying for viennoiserie, pastries and frozen desserts. OK, if you're interested in those. If you're a sourdough purist, you might screw up your face when you see instant yeast in the sourdough recipes, as are in many other professional bakers' recipes.
The only fully sourdough book I have is Ed Wood's World Sourdoughs from Antiquity. I have tried half a dozen of his recipes...I don't know...the amount of starter he uses is a lot. And, not much on techniques.
In my opinion, Jeffrey Hamelman has enough technique and great recipes in his Bread, and, Dan Lepard's book with his beautiful pictures just inspire you to bake, though not heavy on techniques. I love Peter Reinhart's writing style, and, there are some interesting techniques, but the american measures (cups and ounces) slow you down. I have a few other bread books but these are the ones I constantly reach for. My opinion is based on the books I have...I don't have the Leader book, or John Downes, and a few others which have been mentioned in the forum.
Am not the right person to choose Just One Book.
Its amazing how many wewll known books are inaccurate or just plain wrong.
My favourite (and accurate): Dan Lepard's "The handmade loaf" ISBN 1-84000-966-7
The Michel Suas book is excellent.
Professional level
"Handbook of Dough Fermentations" Kulp and Lorenz ISBN 0-8247-4264-8
"Baking Art and Science" Schunemann and Treu ISBN 0-96937950-X
I share TeckPoh's reservations on Ed Wood's recipes. I borrowed one of his books from my local library - an earlier one, I think, than World Sourdoughs from Antiquity - and after trying several breads and other creations (eg: stollen, limpa), I reached the conclusion that I am not a big fan.
I have two others, one of which I don't rate at all, and the other is a quality buy: Dan Lepard's The Handmade Loaf. Although Lepard does often spike his sourdough breads with fresh yeast, it is a beautifully presented book that is quite inspiring. I would have preferred it if he'd included only sourdough recipes - quite a few use only fresh yeast, or a fresh yeast/sourdough combo - but I think it's well worth getting.
That said, since my collection is in its early stages, I am not in a position to recommend a single "must-have" text.
I would recomend for you Jeffrey Hamelman's "Bread". This will help you further into sourdough and keep you busy for a while trying the formulas out. The next step after that would be "Local Breads". "Local Breads" does have errors in it but lots of new formulas to explore also.