Customer Reviews

The Art of Handmade Bread: Contemporary European Recipes for the Home Baker

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is actually Dan Lepard's English book, "The Handmade Loaf" converted to American measures. I own over 20 bread books and Lepard's intermittent minimal kneading method beats all other methods, hands down, for delicious, country style artisanal breads and sourdough starters.

I think this book is so appealing on so many levels. Lepard's introductions, his photos, and his recipes are all very well done. Ironically, Lepard also was the book's photographer, due to the logistics of visiting various countries and budgetary constraints. His photos of the different places in the British Isles and Europe and his commentary were well done and very interesting. It was nice to see dough rising and baked in cooking pots--humble ingredients and implements are a mark of true home cooking. This book reminds me a bit of Colin Tudge's "Future Food," done in the 1970s, and Viana La Place's more recent "Unplugged Kitchen." Even though I am only an occasional baker now, I had to purchase this book after I had checked it out of the library. This book is properly a part of the "slow food" movement. It encourages us to take the time to bake, to live, and to enjoy life.

I have been baking on and off for twenty years. This book has inspired me in a way that no other has. If you want a book that doesn't call for more than basic ingredients and your own two hands and your are interested in natural leavens, this is it. It took a few attempts to get a really good result with the basic white leaven loaf (I am baking at higher altitude), but the effort is worth it. Even on my first try I had rave reviews for the flavor of my first under-volume loaf. One of the most amazing things about this baker/author is his very informative website, where he and other great bakers respond to questions about the recipes in this book and other publications.

It's a nice book for beginners who start to bake with sourdough. The recipes are rather clear, many of them are time consuming. I have started to bake bread four years ago and I liked this book very much. If you start to bake bread only with yeast it's better to buy Peter Reinhart's books. This book needs a little bit knowledge about baking and patience. Some recipes had been published with mistakes and Lepard clear them on his website.
If you are serious home baker you may need something more advanced like books by Jeffrey Hamelman or Andrew Whitley.

This is a wonderful book, written in a lovely subtle tone. The recipes are tasty and pretty simple, and I have slowly been working through them starting with the sourdough ones. They have all turned out on first try exceptionally well. The book has both volume and metric measurements, concisely and conveniently listed. If you don't have a sourdough starter, there is a wonderful color photographic section showing you how to create one at home from day one to day six and then use it. The very beautiful photographs, taken by the author/baker on a tour of european locations to see and learn historic and traditional bread making skills are enough reason to own the book, imho, even if you're not a bread baker and just wanted to read and enjoy the tour. A rank beginner can use this book, and it is a great inspiration for even an experienced baker, I think. Mr. Lepard has a hugely active website, where besides all the other areas of interest and forums, there is a specific forum devoted to questions and discussion of the recipes in this book--Five years later he is still answering questions and giving helpful advice to people who have bought the book (nearly daily as far as I can tell from intermittently monitoring the site)--and he doesn't even sound bored or tired of getting those questions. In testimony of his methods, which don't require any machines at all, I threw out my King Arthur Flour starter and the wholewheat starter I have been using and followed his directions to make a new "local yeast" starter, and I have been using it in his recipes. I like the flavor and complexity of it far better than either starter I had before, and I expect it to just get better as it gets more life experience in my kitchen. Don't be thrown off because he has available in England and makes use of compressed yeast--he tells you in a sidebar how to make a substitute with dried yeast that has a similar texture--or just to convert to dried yeast. It's no big deal, but I found it fun to experiment with mixing up a sort of teensy dough of yeast to "mimic" compressed yeast. Other times I just used dried instant yeast and cut the amount to half of the dried non-instant version of yeast he recommends. He has answered all these questions of conversion of ingredients on his website, since the publication of his book in 2006--so you don't have to get stressed out because the book uses a slightly older version of this or that ingredient. I have lots of Bread books, and I use them all and often--each one has something I like, but this is one of my faves. (The other books I have are Maggie Glezer's Artisan Bread; Jim Lahey's My Bread, (probably my second most-used recipes), Rose Berenbaum's Bread Bible--which is like the old Joy of Cooking--any question you could ever have is answered and illustrated, somewhere, in it; Peter Rheinhart's Whole Grain Baking and Artisan Bread books; The KAF whole grain baking book; Elizabeth David's English Bread and Yeast Cookery; Beard on Bread, (both older but useful books to research ideas that strike me), Both of the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day books, and Lisa Rayner's Wild Bread book.) I list all these books to make the point that if you love bread baking, failures, successes and inbetweens as well, each of these books has something wonderful to teach you. I wouldn't send back one, and I wouldn't offer any criticism of any of them. I have my favorites, as I have indicated, and some I love, and others I just use, but unless you can only buy one book, and it is critical that you be totally satisfied with just that one book, I don't see how you could go wrong with any book I have mentioned, except maybe Elizabeth David's book and Beard on bread--and only because they are quite "dated" and wouldn't tell you the newest and most successful--not to mention easiest-- ideas about bread baking.

Baking your own bread from scratch, when guided by the excellent recipes and instructions in this book, is a very fun and tasty experience. There is something in here for everyone; the scientist in me loved growing my own leaven, and the food lover has enjoyed the final product of those recipes I've tried so far. What makes this book even better is the context given to the breads, with explanations of local customs and origins. For anyone who has ever wanted to try their hand at bread baking, this book is a great way to get your hands covered in flour.

This is a great book to jump into Sourdough breads. I was intimidated by the process and reluctant to try to make sourdough but this book made it easy. I had success from the first bread I made, and my starter is now about 9 months old and getting better all the time. Quite a variety of recipes from different countries. Love the illustrations and narrative of the author's travels. If you want to jump from making wonder bread to really tasty breads, this book will show you how.

Interesting and unusual recipes. But the prescribed techniques just don't work for me. When I revert to using the formulas with my standard baking methods, I usually get good to outstanding results.

If the methods work for you, hurrah! If not, you still get some unusual recipes to try.