Breaking Breads: A New World of Israeli Baking--Flatbreads, Stuffed Breads, Challahs, Cookies, and the Legendary Chocolate Babka

by Uri Scheft

Named one of the Best Cookbooks of the Year by Food & Wine, The Boston Globe, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, USA Today, The Washington Post, and more
 
Israeli baking encompasses the influences of so many regions—Morocco, Yemen, Germany, and Georgia, to name a few—and master baker Uri Scheft seamlessly marries all of these in his incredible baked goods at his Breads Bakery in New York City and Lehamim Bakery in Tel Aviv. Nutella-filled babkas, potato and shakshuka focaccia, and chocolate rugelach are pulled out of the ovens several times an hour for waiting crowds. In Breaking Breads, Scheft takes the combined influences of his Scandinavian heritage, his European pastry training, and his Israeli and New York City homes to provide sweet and savory baking recipes that cover European, Israeli, and Middle Eastern favorites. Scheft sheds new light on classics like challah, babka, and ciabatta—and provides his creative twists on them as well, showing how bakers can do the same at home—and introduces his take on Middle Eastern daily breads like kubaneh and jachnun. The instructions are detailed and the photos explanatory so that anyone can make Scheft’s Poppy Seed Hamantaschen, Cheese Bourekas, and Jerusalem Bagels, among other recipes. With several key dough recipes and hundreds of Israeli-, Middle Eastern–, Eastern European–, Scandinavian-, and Mediterranean-influenced recipes, this is truly a global baking bible.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Food, Nonfiction, Jewish, Food and Drink

476 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 18, 2016

Reviews

[Petra X · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I was living in Jerusalem as a very poor student, I used to make shakshuka. I was working part-time for a Palestinian antique dealer in the Old City and he made some for lunch one day and showed me how.

Every day at 7.00 when the corner shop closed my flat mate and I would go and ask for that day's bread, vegetables that were past their best and two eggs. Sometimes we would make bread pudding and sometimes shakshuka.

In a heavy frying pan I would slowly saute the usually overripe tomatoes, some onion and the good bits of the peppers I had bought until the sauce was thick but still had plenty of texture. I would make two holes in it drop in a little olive oil and scramble an egg in one hole for me, do a whole egg in the other one for my friend. A little garlic, cumin, paprika for seasoning. That with warmed-up pita bread was a lovely supper dish. But this version is from a chef who nestles the shakshuka into a focaccia as a plate. I wish I'd thought of that.
__________

In the introduction the author writes his version of Babka ("Grandma cake") is made with croissant dough, chocolate and a lot of Nutella. That's when I decided to buy the book. I might not bake and I might be on a permanent diet but I do know what croissants and Nutella taste like and there are the pictures to chocolate-lust over. So far the book has not disappointed.

[Mischenko · Rating 5 out of 5]

Please visit my blog for this review and others at www.readrantrockandroll.com

Breaking Breads: A New World of Israeli Baking by Uri Scheft has become one of my absolute favorite bread baking books! Homemade bread is a staple in my family and this book contains copious amounts of recipes worth keeping.

I was very interested to check this book out because my Syrian ancestry introduced me to bread at an early age and flat and fancy breads were quite common growing up. I can still remember walking into Jid's (Grandfather's) house and smelling the fresh baked Syrian bread. So, when I saw this, I had to grab it!

The book starts out with challahs and a handful of different challah recipes. The very first basic challah dough recipe is wonderful and easy. Step by step photos are included which makes them so easy! The photography is wonderful and the breads are so impressive and professional looking. There are rolls, stuffed breads, crescents, and cookies to name a few.

This is a book that I'll be purchasing to keep and enjoy in my kitchen. I'm so glad to have come across it!

Thanks to Netgalley for sharing a copy with me.

5*****

[Koeeoaddi · Rating 5 out of 5]

My new favorite bread book. Gorgeous, inspiring and complete. I want to make almost every single recipe in the thing!

One down:

[Serendy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic range of breads let down slightly by the less than top quality printing of the photographs.

[Emily Graham · Rating 4 out of 5]

that goat cheese poached pear brioche bun tho

[Sandra Noel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love bread. Just about any kind of bread you can come up with, I love to eat it and to make it. I've baked bread from many different cookbooks, and I was so excited to get this cookbook. Unfortunately, it did not live up to expectations.

I'm not sure what happened with the recipes in this book, but there are many issues. Proof times on some of the recipes are a joke. In the time it tells you the dough should have doubled, it is barely starting to rise. Instructions are seriously lacking in places. For instance, Crazy and Festive Challah has photos of multiple fancy braids/shapes, but there is only clear directions for a basic three strand braid, and some vague description of other ways to do it.

Focaccia is usually an easy and at least somewhat quick bread. The No-Knead Focaccia recipe is three pages long!! The number of steps is ridiculous for a focaccia that is not better than any other I've made from much shorter, easier recipes.

Last, but not least, there are really no instructions given to hand knead any of these. The directions call for a stand mixer and if, like me, you don't own one, you're on your own.

This is a gorgeous book. I feel like I put on five pounds just enjoying the photos. Unfortunately, when it comes to the actual recipes, it really falls short.

I received a copy of this book from Artisan books for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

[Reading Fool · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

This is an excellent book for the moderately-skilled baker, not necessarily for a beginner. The author is Israeli, so he writes about breads from a Middle Eastern culture. Very informative. The photographs are beautiful and are very helpful in showing you the finished product. Some recipes are quite complicated or require patience and time, but I am fairly sure the work is very fulfilling! There are many recipes I have already marked to attempt.

[Maryam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clear, detailed recipes. Babka recipe has step-by-step photographs. He doesn't assume you're minimally competent which is really helpful to me.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

It isn't until almost the end of Uri Scheft's book that the following appears:

The only must-haves for making bread are your hands, an oven, and a digital scale. [The Baker's Toolkit]
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
[A]ll you need to make bread is your hands. Well, it's true . . . but a stand mixer makes the job a lot easier! [The Baker's Toolkit | Stand Mixer]

After reading earlier in the book the several cautionary notes about making sure to let the dough rest if the temperature is getting too high, or to make more than one loaf of bread because an electric mixer is more efficient with more dough, I'm not at all convinced that a stand mixer makes bread making "a lot easier".

Be wary of overwarming the dough-while using a mixer is a great time- and energy-saver (human energy, not electricity), the process does tend to warm up the dough, risking "burning" the flour and disempowering the gluten. If you notice that the dough is becoming too warm during this process (perhaps your room is very warm or your water or flour was too warm), stop the mixer and lightly flour the top of the dough; then place the dough in a lightly floured bowl and let it rest, covered, for 30 minutes. [...]
    After kneading the dough in the stand mixer, I always like to finish kneading it by hand. [Introduction | Kneading]
~ ~ ~ ~
When making dough in a stand mixer, small amounts of ingredients don't get handled as efficiently as larger amounts. So for the best results, make the bread as described and share it with your family and friends or freeze some for later. [Introduction | A Few Notes, Tips and Tricks: Batch Size]

Luckily, Scheft acknowledges that batch sizes can be changed and offers a formula on how to do that. It starts off logically. However, it ends up as possibly the most confusing formula ever, especially because he neglects to talk about how baker's percentage works (each ingredient in a bread recipe is calculated as percentage of the flour weight; the flour weight is always 100%):

[U]se the weight of the flour in the recipe as your 100% benchmark. So if a recipe calls for 800 grams of flour and you want to increase it to an even, simple 1 kilo (1,000 grams), multiply the amount you want to increase it to (1,000 grams) by 100, to yield 100,000. Then divide 100,000 by 800 grams (the original amount of flour, your 100% benchmark) to get 125. Finally, divide 125 by 100 to get 1.25-multiply all ingredients by 1.25 to get the new measurements. [Introduction | A Few Notes, Tips and Tricks]

Whha-a-at??? Why add those extra steps? All that is required is to know that the flour amount inthe recipe will always be the baker's percentage 100%. Then, in the case where the original recipe calls for 800 grams flour, but you want to change it to 1000 grams, this is the formula:

1000 ÷ 800 = x

or

new amount flour ÷ original amount flour = x

to find the value for x , the number to multiply the number grams of all the other ingredients by.

Another somewhat confusing section is the following:

Flour: converting all-purpose to whole wheat
You can also substitute up to 50% of the white flour in a recipe with whole wheat or spelt flour. You will have to add about 50 grams (3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon) more water to the dough to account for the heartier flour.[Introduction: Flour]

Of course, it's not difficult to understand that whole wheat or spelt flour absorb more water than all-purpose flour. But, Scheft neglects to say 50grams water per how much of the substituted whole grain flour.

As I read the following, I got quite excited:

When I wanted to learn how to make real Italian focaccia, the kind that is thin and tender, chewy yet with crisp edges and crust, and pocked with the telltale marks of a baker's fingers pressed into the dough, I enlisted two means of discovery: (1) I asked every Italian person I knew where he or she gets the best focaccia, and then (2) I traveled to Italy's most famous focaccerias and tasted for myself. In the end, I had two favorites, one from the north of Italy and one from the south, so I spent time in both places to learn the bakers' techniques and methods. [Flatbreads]

But my excitement was dashed when the focaccia recipe that followed was for a no-knead focaccia. Luckily, a little further on in the flatbread chapter, there is a "Focaccia with a Poolish (Pre-Ferment)" recipe and the note that focaccia "made with a poolish has the most wonderful chewy texture and nuanced, tangy flavor [...] If you have time to make a poolish for your focaccia, I recommend it."

If there is time? It takes virtually no time to mix a poolish together!

Uri Scheft's hand kneading method is idiosyncratic as well, proving once again (no pun intended here) that there are many ways to mix dough and that bread just wants to be bread.

I knead dough the way I learned from my mother: by stretching, tearing, and pushing the dough away from me [...] I find that tearing the dough actually develops the gluten more quickly without overheating the dough (or exhausting your arms), so you end up with better bread. [Introduction | Kneading]
~ ~ ~ ~
Once the dough begins to resist, cup your hands around the base of the dough and push and pull it, using your hands to guide it into a nice round shape. You don't ever want to fight the dough if it resists and doesn't want to be kneaded anymore. If the flour over-oxygenates, the dough will begin to lose flavor and the bread will be tough. [Introduction | Kneading]

The only time that the tearing method is decidedly not recommended is for mixing the very slack dough for ciabatta. For that, he suggests using the now standard stretching and folding technique - "achieving structure without overheating the flour and gluten".

Not surprisingly for a book with the subheading of "A New World of Israeli Baking", the first recipes are for Challah. And not just one challah recipe but ten!

When I was a boy, every Friday for Shabbat my mother [...] baked challah with the schoolchildren. The rich sweet smell of Friday challah is [...] This simple ritual of baking the challah and the pleasure [...] holding the warm loaf fresh from the oven ... well, it's a love story to me. [...] I fell in love with the feeling of excitement that each Friday brought, knowing that when I opened the door after coming home from school, this intoxicating, homey, beaautiful smell would greet me. That fragrance was the marker of something delicious, as well as the human connection that is sparked when you share something made with love. [Challah]

All of the challah recipes call for at least some sugar.

The next section of recipes in the book are for babka. Again, it's not just one babka recipe. There are twelve! As expected, the babka recipes are laced with sugar.

Indeed, virtually all the bread recipes in this book include some sort of sweetener. The notable exception is the recipe for everyday loaf (baguette) that appears in the chapter after the one with all the babka recipes.

All the yeasted bread recipes call for using fresh yeast OR dry yeast. There is just one mention of sourdough (wild yeast) - in a sidebar on the recipe for everyday bread - with the implication that wild yeast needs "special care" and requires too much "hand-holding". Uri Scheft prefers using cake yeast "for flavor and texture" but he also states that he would "challenge even the most sophisticated palate to tell the difference-because the difference, if there even is one, is slight".

But of course, commercial yeast is a wonderful invention. Scheft suggests making a commercially yeasted pre-ferment in place of wild yeast to "get more layers of flavor".

The most amazing thing is that Scheft calls for using store-bought puff pastry, saying to make sure it's all-butter - as if this is an easy thing. Perhaps it is in Israel. It is not where I live. Commercial puff-pastry is widely available, but commercial all-butter puff-pastry is not at all easy to find. It's easier to make puff pastry at home.

In spite of calling for what I consider to be too much commercial yeast, sometimes way too much sugar (in Jerusalem bagel, focaccia, ciabatta, pita ??), the strange call for using a stand mixer instead of hands, and the strangest of all omissions: how to make puff pastry because "making puff pastry is a very labor-intensive and discouraging process", there are lots of really excellent tips, as well as several wonderful looking recipes for things to eat with bread: hummus, z'hug babaghanouj, tapanade, matbucha, ful, preserved lemons....

A few of the most useful tips:

Read the recipe before you begin. Read the ingredients list, reread the instructions, weigh all your ingredients, and get everything in order so you can follow the recipe exactly. [Introduction | A Few Notes, Tips and Tricks]
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
When flour is oxygenated, it allows for better gluten development, and the gluten can trap more air in the loaf. I've taken the same ingredients and made the same bread, proofed and baked the same way, but used sifted flour in one loaf and unsifted flour in the other. In the sifted loaf I got 10 to 15% mor volume compared to the unsifted one! [Introduction | Flour: Sifting]
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Another way to tell when the dough is ready is to look at the side of the dough, between the bottom edge of the shaped loaf and the sheet pan or other surface it is proofing on. There should be about a 45-degree difference, an "air angle,"if you will, between the side of the loaf and the board [...] If the dough hasn't relaxed enough during proofing, the angle will be greater; if the dough has overproofed, there will be hardly any air between the edge and the board.
[Introduction | Rising and Proofing]
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Some loaves (such as ciabatta) will sound hollow when tapped, while other richer breads (challah, for example) won't. Since the tap test can be a bit confusing, I find that the most reliable method for checking doneness is to follow the visual cues described in the recipe, to look for even browning [...]Another way to evaluate doneness is to press on the side of the loaf with your finger to see if it resists light pressure or gives in easily; but of course this depends on the loaf-a hearty muesli bun will feel firmer than a pain de mie roll. [...] Remember that the loaf will continue baking once it is out of the oven, thanks to carryover heat-the heat trapped within the bread.[Introduction | Baking]
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
My general rule of thumb when adding chocolate, seeds, nuts, dried fruits, or grains to bread is to weigh the dough, then add 20% of the weight in extra goodies. [Introduction | A Few Notes, Tips and Tricks]
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
[F]ollow the recipe first! Get to know the method. Like a musician who studies classical piano before exploring interpretive jazz, you will find that the fundamentals and techniques are important. Most people think of baking as a science that is all about precision—which it is, in part—but really, once you get to know a dough, you can break free from the structure to create new shapes and flavors that inspire you.
[Challah]
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Lightly flour the long ropes (this allows for the strands of the braid to stay somewhat separate during baking; otherwise, they'd fuse together). [Challah]

Bookmarked:
• Beet Hamantashen (for "The Flakiest Pie Dough", "take sticks of freezer-chilled (but not frozen) butter, sprinkle the butter with flour, and [...] chop it all quite fine, until it looks almost like shredded cheese.")
• Challah
• Chocolate and Orange Confit Challah (but perhaps omitting the chocolate, even though Scheft says: "Pairing candied orange with good-quality chocolate chunks [...] is a magical combination.")
• Ful
• Lachmajun with Roasted Eggplant and Scallions
• Malawach ("Addictive? Delicious? Decadent? (Yes, yes, and yes!) [...] Yemenite flatbread made by creating a dough with baking powder—not yeast—laminating with butter [...] Cooked malawach separates into wonderfully flaky layers and is very delicious and rich." - sounds not un-similar to Chinese green onion cakes)
• Matbucha ("a simple tomato sauce made by slowly cooking tomatoes, chiles, and garlic down until the mixture reaches a jamlike consistency.")
• Poached Pear and Goat cheese Brioche Buns ("Last night's wine can become tomorrow's poaching liquid.")
• Poppyseed filling for hamantashen (calling for apricot jam and cake crumbs "(crumbled muffins and biscuits work well too) to absorb some of the moisture and lighten the filling" and "to absorb extra moisture that any ingredient might give off during the baking process so the dough doesn't become soggy."
• Preserved Lemons
• Rinat's Salad ("made with vegetables cooked over a live fire so they can become infused with the taste of the grill")
• Spinach Bureka (but we'll make our own puff pastry!)
• Z'hug ("the fiery hot Yemenite chile paste")

+ + + + +
The rating of 3 out of 5 stars may be a little harsh. There are plenty of great tips and many wonderful photos, including explanatory shaping photos. But I stand by the rating considering that a.) Scheft refuses to share his puff pastry method because it's too hard, b.) there is the claim that caring for wild yeast is too much work, c.) for my taste, there really is too much sugar called for in just about every recipe (especially the savoury bread recipes), and d.) in enough of the recipes to make it a bit annoying, there is too much need for flipping pages back and forth to instructions or ingredients from another recipe in the book. (It's no wonder Scheft says to be sure to "read the recipe before you begin").

[Nicole]

Breaking Breads by Uri Scheft is a book full of many new and interesting breads. The recipes are easy to follow. The photos are wonderful.

The sections on baking at home was very good and one of the best I have read. His explanation on how to knead dough was helpful.

The book has great step-by-step pictures and fairly simple instructions for the recipes. The photos are great for intimidating for a novice baker.

The entire book was thoughtfully put together with clear explanations and helpful tips along the way. Step by step pictures were also included (super helpful for the above-mentioned apple strudel) as were suggestions for achieving perfect bakery-likeconsistency.

I received this book from Artisan Books via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[roxi Net · Rating 4 out of 5]

So much fun to read! First, I hadn't realized how many beautiful and different kinds of challah breads exist - they're gorgeously designed to even hold bowls of oil and there are also sweeter kinds versus the more savory ones I'm familiar with.

The book has great step-by-step pictures (for those like me who need them!) and fairly simple instructions for the recipes. The photos are drool-inducing for sure but they're also very intimidating for a novice baker (not even novice given my flat, hard bread attempts). It still doesn't deter me from trying them so I'd recommend this book for folks who like a baking challenge!

[Mairzi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Beautifully illustrated, interesting cookbook but the recipes, although long, are poorly written and in some cases missing steps. For example, the recipe for Focaccia with a Poolish neglects to mention when to add the additional flour--sort of an important step when making bread. In the same recipe, there are five photographs illustrating a fairly simple step while none for the previous more difficult to understand and unusual step.
Also while the illustrations are gorgeous, they aren't captioned or reference the page on which to find the recipe.
Overall, this book makes me wish I could visit the author's bakery but doesn't inspire me to bake.

[Ruth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Uri Scheft has two bakeries, one in Tel Aviv and one in New York. He grew up in Israel and Denmark, and is married to a woman whose family is from Yemen and Morocco, so he has a lot of background Jewish foods and general baked goods from all of those countries. In addition, he's apparently fascinated by Tunisian and Italian baking. He believes in going to the places where the food is from to learn more about it, as well. The mix of influences and styles on the types of recipes in the book is wonderful.

Also wonderful are the photographs of the baked goods and many of the procedures. What is less wonderful is how much I found I needed them. The instructions aren't perfectly clear for some of the processes. For example, Scheft assumes that people will at least mix and probably knead using a stand mixer. Also, Scheft prefers a particular method of tabletop hand kneading that isn't the one most bakers in the US use. I think he like the push and tear kneading that I've been watching a Moroccan baker do on Youtube? He believes this is a faster method for gluten development. I will have to try it to find out. I didn't on the one recipe of his I tried, because I didn't have enough time to mess around.

I had already been influenced by some of the shaping methods that Scheft's bakeries have popularized for challah. In this book I learned that the cut flower shape I learned from an Israeli baking video is originally from the Tunisian island of Djerba. That was cool. I also got to see how Scheft's bakers incorporate dishes for honey into the middle of the challah braids. I tried Scheft's "black tie"--a seeded braid or other ornament on top of an unseeded challah--and I liked that a lot.

I only baked one recipe from the book, which was the main challah recipe. After I struggled with it for a little while, I realized that I needed to knead in more water to get it to smooth out. All the recipes were tested with mixers. I went back to read the box of notes inserted after the recipe and saw that Scheft believes that challah should be underkneaded (!) and underproofed so the crumb comes out like cotton candy. It was good challah--a little sweet, and the flavor wasn't as deep as my usual recipe, but I suspect that Scheft gets better results using cake yeast in the bakery. I think I might have a different goal about how I want mine to come out.

I guess overall I want to make more of the recipes in here, but I also want to compare other people's versions before I do. Scheft is super opinionated about how things should come out. Like, he uses a laminated dough for his best-selling babka, and Nutella in the filling. That works for him, but I'm not sure I want to bake that babka. (He does provide a regular babka dough as well--the laminated one he calls "advanced.") I definitely want to make his matbucha (a kind of tomato jam you can use for shakshuka) and zhug, and his wife's grilled vegetables salad. I'm dying to try baking jachnun, but I'm not sure whether I can use Scheft's recipe and have it come out the way it does for him. I might bake the beet hamantashen if someone dares me, but Purim is a ways off. We'll see. It's definitely a book I am happy I read and recommend to others to read.

[Crittermom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Variety is the spice of life and is an essential ingredient for a good cookbook, particularly one that focuses on baking.  Breaking Breads definitely offers a large variety of recipes from sweet to savory.  I particularly liked the sesame tahini cookies and the cheese shortbread.  If you get this cookbook be prepared to spend a lot of time.  The recipes require a decent amount of baking experience and are fairly complex.  I bake a lot of bread, and a good number of the recipes were a bit too involved for my liking.  If your only baking experience comes from making the occasional cake or batch of cookies, Breaking Breads isn't for you.  On the other hand, if you are a dedicated, experienced baker looking to try new ethnic delights, you will greatly enjoy this book.  There is a gorgeous assortment of stuffed breads and pastries of Israeli origin, but they are not easy to prepare.  There are pictures to help with preparation of some unfamiliar items.  The photographs throughout are mouthwatering.

On the whole Breaking Breads is an excellent book for the experienced baker.  I would have liked there to be a few more easier to prepare items included, but as it stands it is a beautiful cookbook.

4/5

I received a copy of Breaking Breads from the publisher and netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review.

--Crittermom

[987643467881 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although the book includes many great recipes, my 5 star rating is mostly for the Challah chapter – which is truly exceptional. As a baker who has already gone through the process of learning all the different methods and techniques for braiding bread with different numbers of strands (the knots, the classic braids, the weave braids, the fishtail braids, the round weaves, etc.), I was looking for some creative ideas to keep the process interesting and found exactly that in this book. I'm sure Uri Scheft isn't the only baker with his own unique, recognizable braiding and decorating style, but he's the first one that I've come across that has inspired me to experiment with forming my own distinctive challah style :)
Perhaps one possible drawback of the book to some readers will be that the book isn't really focused on technique, so for beginners to bread-braiding, I would recommend getting something that teaches the basics first, for example Rising: The Book of Challah by Rochie Pinson, which includes detailed instructions for about 90% of the braids/shapes I've seen out there.

[Jess · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tried the basic babka dough recipe with the Nutella chocolate topping. It was really dry and needed about four tablespoons of milk and thrice the amount of kneading and wouldn't form a windowpane well till a long time later. The dough did not rise above the 9x5” loaf pan, maybe in an 8.5x4.5” it would.

It baked up dry and hard, despite the sugar syrup - which led to really sweet corners. The Nutella and chocolate chips already made it as sweet as candy. Need to nuke it for 10-20 seconds before eating so it softens. Some people like it, others don’t.

I may still try the challah recipe though.

[Fraser Sherman · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is fun to browse, but not really useful to me as a baker. Scheft uses a bread mixer, and I work by hand. I'm honestly not sure how to translate directions like "one minute on slow speed, two minutes on medium speed" and such into hand kneading. If I were in a more experimental mood, I might give it a shot, but I'm not.
Still fun to read about babkas, burekas and other popular breads of Israel.

[X · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely wonderful collection of recipes from all sorts of cuisines the author is familiar with
Explained simply, with clear measurements and helpful step-by-step photographs.
I especially loved the variety between savory and sweet recipes.

When I put this book down, I literally couldn't wait to get started

[Alinna · Rating 5 out of 5]

bro knows his shit! i've loved everything i made out of this book. the challah recipe is surprisingly easy to manage and is DELICIOUS.

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this cookbook and can't wait to really start working on these recipes I can already see that I am going to learn so much more about bread and pastry making from this book!

[Pam G · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full of great recipes and pictures of finished loaves.

[Mckinley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty

[Dray · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well done bread book and a lot more that focuses on Israeli and Middle East baked items. Great photography. Lots of items I was not familiar with but can’t wait to try.

[Penmouse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Breaking Breads by Uri Scheft is a book written with love as the author freely admits he loves bread. One of his earliest memories is smelling the delicious aromas of freshly baked bread as his mother baked often. The author writes his book is influenced by Middle Eastern baking as he's Israeli but not all the recipes found in his cookbook are influenced by his Danish, Israeli and Jewish background.

Throughout his cookbook you will find numerous photos illustrating baking making it easier for the reader to understand the recipes or techniques found in Breaking Breads. In fact, I loved his “Baking Bread at Home: A Simple Explanation from Start to Finish” as the author breaks down the basic steps of baking. You will also find color photos showing how to knead bread and what the kneaded bread dough looks like when it is kneaded correctly. Later you will see a photo showing well-proofed dough. When I first started learning how to bake bread, I wish I had his book as the direction and photos would have helped me turn out a decent loaf of bread.

Later in his book you will find a chapter called The Baker's Pantry that suggests ingredients to purchase and keep in your pantry.

Arak and Sesame Sticks
Parmesan Cookies
Chocolate-Dipped Vanilla Krembos
Apple Strudel
Barouj Tea Cookies
Chocolate Rugelach
Pan Pita
Spinach Focaccia
Halvah Babka
Challah
Challah Rolls
An Every Day Loaf

Recommend.

Review written after downloading a free galley from NetGalley.

[Billie · Rating 4 out of 5]

So far I have tried five of the recipes and they have all turned out exceptionally well. The pita bread is basically foolproof and so good hot off the stove that we didn't have any leftovers for next day pita sandwiches like I had originally planned. The chocolate babka, the chocolate kugelhopf, and the cinnamon raisin walnut babka were all delicious and huge crowd pleasers. I will say though, that stretching the dough for the apple strudel recipe was the most anxious I've ever been in my entire life. I was so sure it was going to tear that I worked at half speed. Fortunately, it turned out beautifully and tasted amazing. I will definitely be making it again.

The entire book was thoughtfully put together with clear explanations and helpful tips along the way. Step by step pictures were also included (super helpful for the above-mentioned apple strudel) as were suggestions for achieving perfect bakery-like consistency. Next on my list are the everyday loaf recipe (using baguette dough) and the ciabatta rolls.

p.s. he also included recipes for both red and green z'hug!

[Betty · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am always on the lookout for good bread making books. This one certainly fits that category. There are so many new and interesting breads included. The recipes themselves are easy to follow. I have learned the value in weighing the ingredients and was glad to see the weights given. The photos are wonderful. I just hope my attempts at some of the breads featured will at least resemble those photos.

The sections on baking at home was very good and one of the best I have read. Sometimes bread books assume too much of the reader. But Mr. Scheft doesn’t do that. His explanation on how to knead dough was especially helpful to me.

Even if you don’t make any of the recipes (which would be a shame) the book itself is a feast for your eyes. I look forward to trying many of the bread recipes in this book and highly recommend it.

I received a free copy of the book from NetGalley in exchanged for my honest review. Thank you.

[Shes_a_book_geek · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am always looking for the perfect bread baking book and I have to admit that the photography in such a book plays a huge part in me liking it. That is why when I first opened this book and there was a tantalising image of bread crumbs and seeds I could almost smell freshly baked bread...I knew this book was going to be a good one. Each image was like a love song to bread with beautiful plump dough proving, artisan hands kneading dough, and golden challah encouraging me to read further.

Breaking breads just got better as I was reading, and I was only at the first recipe. Something I have been looking for in a bread baking book is how long to knead for with a dough hook, I want the machine to do most of the work and then stretch the dough like Uri Scheft does in the book. With the time suggestions from this book I feel more confident to give it a go. I understand that the bread baking artisan wants to keep it all natural by using their own hands but I like that this shares the dough hook method.

Each recipe is very precise and I like that it has ingredient measurements in both grams and cups or spoons, it gives the baker options that best suit their method or cooking, The tips are helpful and give a good description of how the bread should look when it is broken and with the author suggesting the reader not to be shy when adding things into the dough, this instills in me a confidence to have a go.

Overall, this is now officially my favourite bread baking book, it shows me I can bake these loaves with confidence, that if I should trip up there are suggestions about why this may have happened and the step by step instructions and pictures give me a visual of what to do. Now off to bake some bread...

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to review this book

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book like this is both inspiring and incredibly daunting. I just don't seem to have the patience to get bread exactly right. But this makes me want to keep trying!