`From a Baker's Kitchen' by poet, teacher, and writer Gail Sher is easily one of the very best books on bread baking I have seen, out of the dozen or so I have reviewed in the last year. This is not to say that the many volumes by Peter Reinhart, Joe Ortiz, Nancy Silverton, Bernard Clayton, and Rose Levy Beranbaum are not some of the very best cookery books I have seen overall. It is just that in this classic tutorial on breadbaking, Ms. Sher has presented this material in a way which is more accessible to more home bakers than the more technical works of Reinhart and company.
One of the most liberating statements early in this book is Ms. Sher's claim that the home bread baker is actually in a better position to bake quality bread than the commercial baker, who is constantly encumbered by pressures to produce a correct number to match sales, use materials and labor economically, and make a backbreaking schedule while maintaining a reasonable quality in their product. Within reason, the home baker should not have any time pressure and the cost of a small quantity of good ingredients should be of no concern. The home cook does need to be aware of things that are no problem for the professional. These typically are using fresh ingredients and sensing baking endpoints simply by sight. The professional baker gets fresh ingredients in daily or weekly and does the same thing daily, so these come naturally.
One of the first things, which convinced me that this is a really great introduction to baking, is when the author gives an overview of all leavening methods, giving each one equal attention. When I started baking, I was fully aware of the importance of yeast and only aware of chemical leaveners in passing. It was almost two years of baking and reading before I realized the importance of aerating leaveners, epitomized by foams of egg whites in, for example, angel food cake, but also accomplished with other ingredients such as butter layers in puff pastry.
The first section of the book deals with `bread ingredients'. While Ms. Sher does not go into as much detail on the chemistry of gluten formation and the biology of the wheat berry as, for example, Rose Beranbaum, this book covers the whole range of flours, including such odd bodkins as triticale, potato flour, and millet. The triticale flour has a combination of properties of wheat and rye, with a light sweetness from the contribution of rye genes.
The second section deals with the `methods and principles of bread baking'. The motto for this book is the first paragraph in the chapter on dough where it says:
`The Point cannot be stressed enough that bread baking is an art replete with choices. You can slow it down or hurry it up, overbake for a crunchy crust or overrise for a chewy loaf with big holes. The correct thing is what you want. You are in control and, if you understand what bread is about, you can tailor any dough to suit your exact specifications.'
What a liberating notion. This whole book, of course, is dedicated to telling you what bread is about.
There are many small things about this book that I love, but the one big thing that will make this book eminently useful to the amateur as an introduction to yeast breads is the fourth section of the book on `the sponge method'. For those of you who are familiar with artisinal bread baking, I should point out that this book simply does not cover this topic. It's strength is in a broad survey of bread baking techniques suitable for the home plus an in depth tutorial on the steps involved in the sponge method using commercially packaged yeast. The main advantages of using a sponge are that it gives the yeast free rein to grow in the absence of inhibitors such as salt and fats. Once the sponge has got a good head start at developing the gluten, other ingredients can be added much more easily than with a conventional dough where the yeast is simply bloomed and added to all the flour and water, followed by salt and fat(s).
Building all the following yeast bread recipes on this one method enhances the careful exposition of the sponge method. This means that the making of each recipe builds on a single skill whereby you become more familiar with all the choices you can make to branch off from one common technique.
Following the exposition of the sponge method and its recipes, the book deals with many different recipes for non-yeast quickbreads such as corn breads, spoonbreads, biscuits, teacakes, batter breads, gingerbreads and muffins. For its size, my favorite section by far is the selection of recipes for leftover bread. You can find dozens of these techniques spread across hundreds of cookbooks on French and Italian cuisine, but here we have all the best ones in one place.
While the book does not go into as much detail as some more recent titles, there is still a lot here I did not know. For example, while many writers have touted instant dried yeast over `active dry yeast', the author points out a few drawbacks of this product. The author also gives an excellent overview of the many different ways bread can be rolled and laid in baking pans and the many different ways in which bread can be scored. I have seen most of these techniques in other places, but this is the only book that pulls all of these things together in one place.
Ms. Sher gives much credit for her inspiration to Elizabeth David's book on English baking. As I am a big fan of Elizabeth David's writings, I am looking forward to reading the fountainhead of Ms. Sher's excellent book.
Superb introduction to home bread baking. Highly Recommended!
