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Bread Head: Baking for the Road Less Traveled
One of Food Networks Best Cookbooks of 2022 • One of Vice's Best Cookbooks of 2022 • One of BookPage's Best Cookbooks of 2022.
A groovy master class in healthy, sustainable, naturally delicious breads from a star of the new bread renaissance.
Greg Wade is an expert in the out-of-this-world tastes and textures of long-fermented, hand-shaped breads. The recipient of the James Beard Award for Outstanding Baker (2019) is committed to spreading the love for local, organic flours and long-fermented sourdough loaves far and wide as he kneads, stretches, and proofs his signature loaves each day at Publican Quality Bread in Chicago. Bread Head is his guide to making all your favorite professional-level breads, cakes, and pastries at home.
Bread Head takes home cooks through foundational recipes like Farmhouse Sourdough and Marbled Rye down a winding road to unexpected and delicious bakes. Sorghum and Rosemary Ciabatta, Wheat Neapolitan Pizza Dough, Ethiopian Injera, Indian Parathas, and Georgian Khachapuri will become welcome new staples in your culinary repertoire. For those with a sweeter tooth, try Greg’s Buckwheat Brownies, Wheat Brioche, and Cornmeal Whoopie Pies. Through accessible, teachable recipes that include baker’s percentages and capture the importance of hydration and hand-shaping, Greg will improve your baking know-how, confidence, and zeal in the kitchen.
The science and technique are all Go forth and explore the infinite universes of delights in each of Greg Wade’s inventive recipes.
A groovy master class in healthy, sustainable, naturally delicious breads from a star of the new bread renaissance.
Greg Wade is an expert in the out-of-this-world tastes and textures of long-fermented, hand-shaped breads. The recipient of the James Beard Award for Outstanding Baker (2019) is committed to spreading the love for local, organic flours and long-fermented sourdough loaves far and wide as he kneads, stretches, and proofs his signature loaves each day at Publican Quality Bread in Chicago. Bread Head is his guide to making all your favorite professional-level breads, cakes, and pastries at home.
Bread Head takes home cooks through foundational recipes like Farmhouse Sourdough and Marbled Rye down a winding road to unexpected and delicious bakes. Sorghum and Rosemary Ciabatta, Wheat Neapolitan Pizza Dough, Ethiopian Injera, Indian Parathas, and Georgian Khachapuri will become welcome new staples in your culinary repertoire. For those with a sweeter tooth, try Greg’s Buckwheat Brownies, Wheat Brioche, and Cornmeal Whoopie Pies. Through accessible, teachable recipes that include baker’s percentages and capture the importance of hydration and hand-shaping, Greg will improve your baking know-how, confidence, and zeal in the kitchen.
The science and technique are all Go forth and explore the infinite universes of delights in each of Greg Wade’s inventive recipes.
336 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 27, 2022
45 people are currently reading
3166 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
April 7, 2023
Delicious and yummy easy to follow recipes. Something for everyone
September 15, 2022
I won this book in a giveaway. I received it today, and since it is pretty a cookbook I did not read the whole thing. I did flip through it and love all the images and the quality of the book. I can't wait to try out some baking!
September 15, 2022
I won a copy of this book in a giveaway and WOW!! It’s a beautiful hard bound textbook like book. There’s so much amazing information provided about the basics of flours, grains, sourdough, and baking bread & other goodies. I can’t wait to dive in and give some of these techniques and recipes a try!! A big thanks to W.W. Norton for gifting me this beautiful resource!!!
February 4, 2023
Refer back to for sourdough and cornbread.
Read
February 19, 2024Update 2:
there is no TOC for the recipes in this book, which is kind of annoying - you have to review the headnote for each section separately.
In the past week I’ve made the whole wheat croissants and the buckwheat banana bread recipes in this book. I have some concerns.
The croissants - fairly standard process (including a portion of whole wheat flour - I used Einkorn - and sourdough starter). The process for laminating then dough was not well detailed; Wade has two methods depending on what you're going to bake, and detailed directions are only present for one method. this manageable since it wasn't my first time making croissants, but he suggests trimming so much of the dough off the resulting laminated block that i was honestly concerned about the yield.
The banana bread - also fairly recognizable, except for the inclusion of a full cup of sourdough discard. whats boggling here is that Wade's notes say that the 9x5 loaf should bake in 30-40 minutes. my oven is usually a little cold, but I've never had a banana bread recipe bake faster than an hour. And! this loaf is STILL in the oven over 75 minutes later. I'm withholding judgement until I taste it, but in general his baking times in this book are profoundly unrealistic.
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Update 1: made the farmer sourdough. Pretty standard sourdough recipe, but the directions were very easy to follow and I liked that the flavor didn’t rely heavily on high hydration/precise ferments. Dough was easy to manage. The baking heat/time didn’t quite work for me, but that’s more of an oven issue. Wade is a brand ambassador for an extremely expensive bread baking pan that I do not have and no alternate baking methods are suggested.
there is no TOC for the recipes in this book, which is kind of annoying - you have to review the headnote for each section separately.
In the past week I’ve made the whole wheat croissants and the buckwheat banana bread recipes in this book. I have some concerns.
The croissants - fairly standard process (including a portion of whole wheat flour - I used Einkorn - and sourdough starter). The process for laminating then dough was not well detailed; Wade has two methods depending on what you're going to bake, and detailed directions are only present for one method. this manageable since it wasn't my first time making croissants, but he suggests trimming so much of the dough off the resulting laminated block that i was honestly concerned about the yield.
The banana bread - also fairly recognizable, except for the inclusion of a full cup of sourdough discard. whats boggling here is that Wade's notes say that the 9x5 loaf should bake in 30-40 minutes. my oven is usually a little cold, but I've never had a banana bread recipe bake faster than an hour. And! this loaf is STILL in the oven over 75 minutes later. I'm withholding judgement until I taste it, but in general his baking times in this book are profoundly unrealistic.
————————
Update 1: made the farmer sourdough. Pretty standard sourdough recipe, but the directions were very easy to follow and I liked that the flavor didn’t rely heavily on high hydration/precise ferments. Dough was easy to manage. The baking heat/time didn’t quite work for me, but that’s more of an oven issue. Wade is a brand ambassador for an extremely expensive bread baking pan that I do not have and no alternate baking methods are suggested.
September 27, 2022
During the original Covid lockdown, I decided to teach myself to make bread. I live in a tiny town, and soon enough, it was impossible to get yeast, so I did some research and made my own sourdough starter (named Seymour) and started baking bread and pretzels, and waffles, and whatever. I thought I did quite well. Fast forward to September 14, 2022, when I won a Goodreads Giveaway for a copy of Bread Head by Greg Wade with Rachel Holtzman. OMG! I am loving this book! I have already learned all kinds of how to's and why to's that I hadn't found in my readings. There is much longer fermentation than my original directions, and there are all kinds of flours that I haven't tried previously! And, I should be clear that not all the recipes require sourdough starter, but what fun since old Seymour has been bubbling along for two years now! I love that the book is set up with less difficult recipes that don't require any ingredients that I don't have, and that it builds on this knowledge and experience to more advanced recipes! (Watch out Card Club members! You are going to have some new taste sensations to nibble!) This book is a gift that will keep on giving! LOVE IT!
January 14, 2023
Excellent book for those looking to get into bread baking, especially sourdough. BREAD HEAD is arranged with beginner-friendly recipes in the beginning and branches out into more complicated ones once you've gotten more experience with different techniques throughout the book. There are very helpful guides at the beginning and end of the book that dive into the nitty gritty of bread baking (including a formula for calculating your desired dough temperature).
I do wish there were more photos, since not all the recipes get one. All ingredients are given by weight, volume, and even baker's percentages, which is how you know it's a serious bread book. If you don't know what baker's percentage means, that's explained in the book too.
I do wish there were more photos, since not all the recipes get one. All ingredients are given by weight, volume, and even baker's percentages, which is how you know it's a serious bread book. If you don't know what baker's percentage means, that's explained in the book too.
September 17, 2022
--- Full disclosure: I received this book for free from Goodreads. ---
Not just a cookbook, but also a quickie course in science and technique. The book starts off with baisc information and matching recipes, then builds on that starting platform as it progresses. So while more difficult techniques are located in the latter part of the text, if one is new to the bread game have no fear. This book is structured in a way that allows bakers to build toward completing such techniques with competency.
Not just a cookbook, but also a quickie course in science and technique. The book starts off with baisc information and matching recipes, then builds on that starting platform as it progresses. So while more difficult techniques are located in the latter part of the text, if one is new to the bread game have no fear. This book is structured in a way that allows bakers to build toward completing such techniques with competency.
November 11, 2022
Fantastic and easy to understand and follow. I will definitely keep going back to Greg’s book!
October 29, 2024
It's an excellent selection of recipes, so many breads most sourdough based. The photos are beautiful. I tried a few recipes, the rye focaccia, multi grain baguette, wheat Neapolitan pizza dough and the farmers favorite (my favorite). The farmers favorite was excellent, the others not so much to my family's taste. What I didn't enjoy was the struggle finding the grains for the breads. Where I live it's not easy to find, malted rye, Taff, millet, sprouted grains, nigella seeds .. most I had to mail order, it was not convenient and expensive.
March 21, 2023
I felt quite stagnant in my bread baking abilities and picked up this book as a way to get some diversity in the breads I was making. I cannot believe how much better I am post this book at baking. From technique to some of the recipes which really challenge you as a baker, this is a must read for any home baker or even professional baker.
May 10, 2023
Lots of recipes mostly centered around using sourdough. There is a lot of information about different grains, how they are used, the flavors they impart, etc. Techniques are discussed so you know how to use the different grains and how to make different breads and what effects the outcome such as temperature, type of grain, humidity, etc.
January 7, 2023
Interesting recipes but I will never make anything from this book.
January 9, 2023
I've tried enough recipes to give this book a thumbs up. I used a library copy but I would buy this for sure if I didn't have ten bread books already. Might buy it anyway.
A lot of the emphasis is on sourdough. I don't like making sourdough because I make it so infrequently there's no point to keeping leftover starter on hand and I hate throwing it out (I hate throwing out food, period). However Wade's approach is simpler — flour, water and let wild yeast grow — and by reducing the size of the recipe I reduced the waste to livable levels.
Everything I've tried has been tasty, including the sourdough banana bread and the cornbread with fermented buttermilk. I'd love to bake a few more, but as I mentioned I do have ten other baking books I can turn to.
A lot of the emphasis is on sourdough. I don't like making sourdough because I make it so infrequently there's no point to keeping leftover starter on hand and I hate throwing it out (I hate throwing out food, period). However Wade's approach is simpler — flour, water and let wild yeast grow — and by reducing the size of the recipe I reduced the waste to livable levels.
Everything I've tried has been tasty, including the sourdough banana bread and the cornbread with fermented buttermilk. I'd love to bake a few more, but as I mentioned I do have ten other baking books I can turn to.
November 3, 2022
Good recipes, but the Grateful Dead references get annoying.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews