I know we have some bread bakers on the board, so I thought I'd post this recommendation.

For years I've been what I would describe as an intermediate level baker...good enough to get by. It seems that I have been stuck at that level without being able to get better.

Sandwich bread, Italian bread, dinner rolls, cinnamon rolls...I've routinely made them all and over the years have come up with what I would describe as pretty darned good recipes. I've honed the recipes and techniques to where I like them and they are what I have considered to be quite good...until now.

Just for giggles, I picked up a book recently called The Bread Baker's Apprentice by Peter Reinhart, and inadvertently discovered carbohydrate heaven.

The beginning of the book is an education on everything you should know about baking breads. Then, multiple recipes and techniques follow.

I've always liked my sandwich bread. I make two loaves every other week and it's all I eat. I haven't purchased store-bought bread in years. The first recipe of Reinhart's that I tried was his sandwich bread and it blew my bread completely out of the water. Soft, flavorful, just the right amount of chew, and a perfect crust. The epitome of what sandwich bread should be. That alone was worth the price of the book.

Today, I baked up a batch of his Pain a' l'Ancienne.



Basically baquettes, but not like any store-bought baquette you have ever had. Oh my this stuff is good. Crunchy, chewy perfection, with a flavor that is indescribable, and all with just flour, water, salt, and yeast. It's remarkable what just those four ingredients can become.

I'm looking forward to making my way through all of his recipes. Marble rye is next and bagels are on deck.

If you are looking to up your game in the bread baking department, I can highly recommend this book.

Great looking crust and even nicer crumb. I love high hydration doughs.

I have enough trouble controlling my weight with my whole wheat bread, which to me tastes as pleasurable as a croissant. I don't need any other temptations. I did a few sourdough loaves, they turned out OK but not as tasty as the whole wheat.

We have a local French bakery that is excellent; if I feel the weakness for something fancy they are happy to oblige.

But best wishes to all of you who want to try something different.

Nice job...Peter's book is good but nothing replaces experience. I read several books years ago to understand the basics but even after 20 years of baking breads and pizza, I'm still learning from experience.

Mark60, just for you...

quote:

Originally posted by sjtill:
I have enough trouble controlling my weight with my whole wheat bread,

There's a recipe for whole wheat bread in there too.

Well done Sig Marine, that looks fantastic.

quote:

Originally posted by Gustofer:
Just for giggles, I picked up a book recently called The Bread Baker's Apprentice by Peter Reinhart, and inadvertently discovered carbohydrate heaven.

....

If you are looking to up your game in the bread baking department, I can highly recommend this book.

That book is one of the gold standards amongst bakers. Everyone that I know of that does home baking or, works in the food industry, has that book. Its not any mystery why it garnered just about every award possible.

Gustofer, your bread is beautiful. I bake a lot, but not much artisan type bread. Most exciting thing I can think recently of were feta scallion rolls, which were really good. I’ll have to pick the book up.

Had to kick this back up. I made some roasted garlic rosemary bread today and ... wow. Paired it with chicken cordon bleu with parmesan dijon sauce. Home run, and I'm stuffed.

I thread after my heart. I have several books on bread making including Mr Reinhart's and am very interesting in try all of the recipes as well. Love making pizza dough as well. I start baking a ton when the cold weather arrives here in Utah. Looking forward to hearing what you have learned and you favorite recipes.

A friend of mine retired in January and as of a couple of weeks ago he has baked over 100 loaves of bread. I don’t have the patients to make bread and if I did, I’d probably have a bread gut. Nothing beats fresh home baked bread.

I go back and forth between that one and "Flour Water Salt Yeast." They're both great, and seem very approachable for the new-to-bread-baking.

I also really like "Tartine Bread," but it's not really a sit down and bake a loaf of bread cookbook, the first recipe is something like 90 pages long and mixed in with a lot of reminiscing and a really extraordinary amount of detail about every part of the process that many people might not be interested in. I love that stuff.