Resources
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On-Line Resources
There are obviously many online resources that a person can refer to in order to gain knowledge into bread baking. The four online resources that I have found to be the most useful for me are:
Another interesting online resource is a podcast titled 'Modernist Breadcrumbs', hosted by the co-authors of the extensive book collection 'Modernist Bread' (Modernist Cuisine founder, Nathan Myhrvold, and head chef, Francisco Migoya). This podcast goes into much of the history of bread baking and includes excerpts from some of the top professional bakers.
- The Fresh Loaf - this site contains a useful blog, instructional videos, recipes, and several other resources. The most useful part of this web site for me has been the 'Forum', where you can ask questions or just search for questions from other bakers and see the answers they received from a very wide range of bakers.
- King Arthur Flour - this site contains a very extensive list of recipes, as well as an online store of baking supplies. They occasionally put out instructional videos, as they did during our coronavirus pandemic in 2020 ('The Isolation Baking Show')
- Breadtopia - this site has a wide variety of baking information, including a blog, a forum, recipes, etc. However, one of the really nice features of this web site is their on-line store, which has loads of useful supplies.
- Exploring Sourdough - this site contains numerous resources for those interested in pursuing all forms of sourdough (bread, pizza dough, pasta, etc.).
- 15 mistakes most beginning sourdough bakers make - this is a really good YouTube video created by Mike Greenfield, founder and host of Pro Home Cooks
- Wikimedia Cookbook: Making Bread - this online resource provides a brief, yet nice summary of bread baking and includes a collection of different recipes
- The Casual Sourdough Baker - this King Arthur sponsored blog attempts to document sourdough baking without the need to follow all of the traditional sourdough guidelines
Another interesting online resource is a podcast titled 'Modernist Breadcrumbs', hosted by the co-authors of the extensive book collection 'Modernist Bread' (Modernist Cuisine founder, Nathan Myhrvold, and head chef, Francisco Migoya). This podcast goes into much of the history of bread baking and includes excerpts from some of the top professional bakers.
Books
I have many bread baking books, a couple of which are mentioned below. I intend to add references to more of these books in the future, with descriptions of their strengths.
"Tartine Bread" (author: Chad Robertson) was one of my first bread books and remains one of my favorites. This is a very popular reference book for home bread bakers and was recommended to me by Cynthia Wong, who graciously shared some of her sourdough starter with me. Chad Robertson is the head baker and co-owner of the very successful San Francisco Tartine Bakery. His book goes into great detail of preparing what he refers to as a 'Basic Country Bread', an artisan sourdough bread. Once you master the 'Basic Country Bread', the book extends those basic procedures for other types of bread.
"How to Make Sourdough" (author: Emmanuel Hadjiandreou) is dedicated to sourdough bread baking. It's really an excellent book and contains procedures and a recipe for a sourdough bread that I've baked dozens of times. I guess the reason I like Emmanuel's procedures is because they seem very straightforward to follow. This book has lots of excellent photos of procedures and techniques. It starts with a basic sourdough bread and then includes lots of sourdoughs made with a wide variety of grains.
"Bread, A Baker's Book of Techniques and Recipes" (author: Jeffrey Hamelman) focuses on techniques and recipes. One of the very useful portions of this book is Chapter 3 - Hand Techniques, where Jeffrey describes and illustrates shaping various styles of bread (e.g., round loaves; oval loaves; baguettes), as well as dough scoring techniques. This book has a section on sourdough, but is mostly dedicated to techniques and recipes associated with yeasted breads.
"The New Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day" (authors: Jeff Hertzberg & Zoe Francois) focuses on expending only a small amount of effort (average of 5 minutes per day) in baking artisan breads. The book describes the process of using a master dough recipe to create a pre-mixed dough and maintaining it in the refrigerator (for up to 2 weeks), and then pulling the needed amount out of the refrigerator, shape it, let it rest briefly, and then pop it in the oven to bake while preparing the rest of your meal. The primary focus of this book is on yeasted breads.
The book contains lots of techniques and recipes based on the pre-mixed dough.
The book contains lots of techniques and recipes based on the pre-mixed dough.