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Bread Making: A Home Course: Crafting the Perfect Loaf, From Crust to Crumb
Treat your friends and family to freshly baked ciabatta, challah, English muffins, naan, brioche, and more. Even complete beginners can successfully bake their own bread with this encouraging in-depth course. Lauren Chattman covers standard bread-making techniques for every style, including straight doughs, sourdoughs, and flatbreads. From sifting flour to cleanly slicing a warm baguette, you'll find everything you need to know to make artisanal loaves with flawless golden crusts and soft, pillowy insides.
297 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 1, 2011
36 people are currently reading
48 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
April 5, 2014
In the past few weeks, I’ve gotten really interested in baking bread at home. This is honestly really weird. My kitchen experience pretty much consists of boxed macaroni and cheese, rice in the rice cooker, and Ramen. I can brown beef in an emergency.
Why the sudden change? At some point I decided that if I’m going to eat bread as often as I do, I need to learn to make it myself. The original thought behind this was that I’d be too lazy to actually do it, thus cutting back on my bread consumption.
Well THAT plan backfired. I’ve only made four things so far, but I really enjoy the process of it. The things I made didn’t turn out perfectly, but they weren’t awful. The focaccia was actually pretty good. In any case, I liked it enough to want to learn more. Most importantly, I wanted to demystify the process a little, because right now most bread recipes translate in my head to “mix flour, water, and magic in a bowl.”
Chattman’s book Bread Making is perfect for demystifying the process. Put into pretty simple terms, she explains the chemistry (cousin to magic) that goes on when water, flour, yeast, and salt get together for a party. Beyond that, she provides very practical advice like how to purchase your flour, how to account for small changes, and what equipment is more necessary than others. Her recipe directions are clear as well. Lastly, the end of the book has a whole list of additional resources like a conversion chart, glossary, and bread-making related lists. The only thing I would have liked to see more of in the book are pictures. There are illustrations on occasion, but if someone as new as I am to baking is using this book, I know I would like to see a few more visuals to compare my own work to hers.
The recipes are broken into six chapters, each of which explains the uniqueness of that type in the introduction. I enjoyed this layout because it allowed you to read about each type and then provided a list of relevant recipes to try. These chapters are:
Simple Breads from Straight Doughs
Baking with Yeasted Pre-ferments
Sourdough Baking
Yeasted Flatbreads
Whole-Grain Breads
Bread Machine Baking
I’m giving this book four stars. It was informative and detailed without being overcomplicated. I only wish more pictures had been included.
Review originally posted at The Book Cat.
Why the sudden change? At some point I decided that if I’m going to eat bread as often as I do, I need to learn to make it myself. The original thought behind this was that I’d be too lazy to actually do it, thus cutting back on my bread consumption.
Well THAT plan backfired. I’ve only made four things so far, but I really enjoy the process of it. The things I made didn’t turn out perfectly, but they weren’t awful. The focaccia was actually pretty good. In any case, I liked it enough to want to learn more. Most importantly, I wanted to demystify the process a little, because right now most bread recipes translate in my head to “mix flour, water, and magic in a bowl.”
Chattman’s book Bread Making is perfect for demystifying the process. Put into pretty simple terms, she explains the chemistry (cousin to magic) that goes on when water, flour, yeast, and salt get together for a party. Beyond that, she provides very practical advice like how to purchase your flour, how to account for small changes, and what equipment is more necessary than others. Her recipe directions are clear as well. Lastly, the end of the book has a whole list of additional resources like a conversion chart, glossary, and bread-making related lists. The only thing I would have liked to see more of in the book are pictures. There are illustrations on occasion, but if someone as new as I am to baking is using this book, I know I would like to see a few more visuals to compare my own work to hers.
The recipes are broken into six chapters, each of which explains the uniqueness of that type in the introduction. I enjoyed this layout because it allowed you to read about each type and then provided a list of relevant recipes to try. These chapters are:
Simple Breads from Straight Doughs
Baking with Yeasted Pre-ferments
Sourdough Baking
Yeasted Flatbreads
Whole-Grain Breads
Bread Machine Baking
I’m giving this book four stars. It was informative and detailed without being overcomplicated. I only wish more pictures had been included.
Review originally posted at The Book Cat.
April 22, 2011
It’s safe to say that many have never baked bread that did not come from the frozen section of the grocery or from a pop open tube. Pastry chef and author Lauren Chattman hopes to inspire changing that in her new Bread Making: Crafting the Perfect Loaf from Crust to Crumb (Storey Publishing, March, 2011). In Bread Making, Chattman lays out (in a toney, smart style) all the basics of making true artisan breads – with shatteringly crisp crusts, deep flavors, complex aromas and substance. Breads we all want to bake and enjoy and to share.
Chattman brings a world of knowledge to the subject, a subject long lost on many other than the most adventurous bakers and diligent gourmet cooking class participants. Proper artisan baking – as Chattman teaches, is time consuming and costly. And while an entirely enjoyable and worthwhile skill to learn, it is not for the beginner.
Like many excellent cookbooks (and I consider Bread Making to be an excellent cookbook even though it lacks photography) it supposes a level of knowledge of foods, ingredients and cooking techniques that often is not yet obtained by a cook – nor ever will be. Saying this is a book about making artisan breads for the ‘beginner’ is relative; this ‘beginner’ is certainly an experienced home cook with room, a big refrigerator, a lot of tools to work with and some money to spend on ingredients, both locally sourced and purchased over the internet.
Chattman lays out all of the prerequisite knowledge base about flours, yeasts, salts, sweeteners and other ingredients in a clean design that is orchestrated to support the recipes. Yes there are a number of French words for things and specialty ingredients abound but Chattman includes excellent reference material and enough sources to make wrapping everything up as easy as possible.
Considering the quality, design and instructional level of Bread Making, it will remind many of other books on the subject. Along with Chattman’s work, a thorough library of reference materials on true artisan baking can be achieved. Just don’t think it’s going to be easy.
Edible Notes received a complimentary copy of the book from the publisher and has received no other compensation for this review.
Chattman brings a world of knowledge to the subject, a subject long lost on many other than the most adventurous bakers and diligent gourmet cooking class participants. Proper artisan baking – as Chattman teaches, is time consuming and costly. And while an entirely enjoyable and worthwhile skill to learn, it is not for the beginner.
Like many excellent cookbooks (and I consider Bread Making to be an excellent cookbook even though it lacks photography) it supposes a level of knowledge of foods, ingredients and cooking techniques that often is not yet obtained by a cook – nor ever will be. Saying this is a book about making artisan breads for the ‘beginner’ is relative; this ‘beginner’ is certainly an experienced home cook with room, a big refrigerator, a lot of tools to work with and some money to spend on ingredients, both locally sourced and purchased over the internet.
Chattman lays out all of the prerequisite knowledge base about flours, yeasts, salts, sweeteners and other ingredients in a clean design that is orchestrated to support the recipes. Yes there are a number of French words for things and specialty ingredients abound but Chattman includes excellent reference material and enough sources to make wrapping everything up as easy as possible.
Considering the quality, design and instructional level of Bread Making, it will remind many of other books on the subject. Along with Chattman’s work, a thorough library of reference materials on true artisan baking can be achieved. Just don’t think it’s going to be easy.
Edible Notes received a complimentary copy of the book from the publisher and has received no other compensation for this review.
December 26, 2020
really quite good. love the tips and science and questions and great survey of bread making
December 27, 2020
Recommended: Focaccia, baguette, cheddar cheese boule, ciabatta, Roman pizza, pita, English muffins, scallion pancakes, naan
April 11, 2023
Informative and easy for the non professional, beginner bread maker. I took notes.
November 24, 2012
I am a novice baker, and I found all of this book extremely easy to understand. She explained the differences between the different breads and how to make them and I was able to follow along- AND still not feel overwhelmed by all the information. I want to own this book so I can come back to it again and again. A part I found particularly helpful was the section at the end of each chapter where she lists the possible questions you may have, and then answers them. How smart is that to be able to preemptively answer the dumb questions people may have after they read the chapter, or try to make the bread from that chapter?!
June 2, 2011
While this is a book about baking, it isn't really a cookbook as I am used to thinking of the genre. There are recipes but most of the almost three hundred pages of this book are used to discuss the ingredients, equipment and techniques used in baking bread rather than for recipes. If you are used to making bread you'll probably find this book to be overkill; however if you've ever wondered how people get from yeast and flour to sandwich bread, this book will have all you ever wanted to know.
Thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy via NetGalley.
Thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy via NetGalley.
July 10, 2014
This book really tries to tell you the ins and outs of bread making. I liked the explanations of different terms that I have heard before but other books do not take the time to explain. She also explains briefly why one chooses a poolish vs biga vs sponge vs "old dough". I think she does a great job of citing other books that will bring even more detail to the particular aspects she is referencing. I also enjoyed the Q and A sections of the book. Looking forward to trying some of the recipes.
February 28, 2012
I learned so much about bread baking from this book. I didn't like the recipes so much though. My advice: skip the recipes and read the info at the front of the book. Use your tried and true recipes with the tips given in this book. My traditional roll recipe turned out melt-in-your-mouth good because of it!
May 31, 2015
While I liked the information, and the recipes that I tried, the formatting was confusing. There is no index for the recipes, which are scattered throughout the "course." The English muffin recipe rocks. I really miss my mom's sourdough English muffins, but not enough to add sourdough starter to my life. This recipe is just as good.
December 28, 2014
Love this book! Lots of great information.
Want to read
September 6, 2014SFPL:
Eureka:
641.815
C3927b
Hardcover book
$16.95 list
Info. on: sourdough, bread machines, basics, etc.
Eureka:
641.815
C3927b
Hardcover book
$16.95 list
Info. on: sourdough, bread machines, basics, etc.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews