Handmade Loaf [Paperback]

Dan Leperd (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 15, 2008

"The Handmade Loaf" is a collection of recipes, personal stories and photographs that capture the breads and home bakers of Europe. Over 80 recipes, many of which are inspired by the bakers profiled, look afresh at traditional methods and ingredients. Their blend of history and innovation will appeal to the experienced baker, but also to a generation ready to discover the simple pleasure of baking their first crisp loaf at home. Shot in real time, with bakers caught on film as the dough is mixed and the bread taken freshly from the oven, the photographs place the reader right beside the baker, showing the detail to help us understand perfectly how breads are created.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"As fresh and as mouth-watering as a loaf straight from the oven... the author's own step-by-step photographs are genuinely educational." Jenni Muir, The Independent Review "(Lepard's) supreme skill is his empathy with people who bake, from grandmothers using ancient ovens to cutting-edge chefs." Sheila Keating,The Times Magazine "It oozes knowledge, curiosity and love for its subject... I doubt a better book will be written on the subject for a few years to come." Tom Jaine, The Guardian

About the Author

Dan Lepard is the most talked about baker in Britain. He has baked for some of the country's top restaurants, including Locanda Locatelli, Zafferano and Alastair Little. He co-wrote Baking with Passion, the Baker & Spice Baking Book, published in 1999. For more information on Dan Lepard and the latest breadmaking trends from around the world, visit www.danlepard.com

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Octopus Publishing Group (February 15, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1845333896
• ISBN-13: 978-1845333898
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 7.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #843,142 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Dan Lepard is an award-winning baker, food writer and photographer. His books include Baking With Passion, The Handmade Loaf (author and photographer) and, as a contributor, The Cook's Book and the Dictionnaire Universel du Pain. His other photography credits include Hawksmoor at Home and Made in Italy. Dan also writes for the BBC and Sainsbury's Magazine and his irresistible weekly column in the Guardian Weekend magazine has brought him a huge and loyal following.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

64 of 67 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Real easy sourdough, May 31, 2005

By 

plevee "toast addict" (Oregon coast) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Handmade Loaf (Mitchell Beazley Food S.) (Hardcover)

I've been baking my own bread for over 20 years & have used everything; cuisinart, kitchenaid, bread machine & keading till I drop. Lepard's mininal, intermittent kneading beats them all, hands down AND makes the best bread. Moreover, he tells you how to raise a starter that doesn't involve wasting pounds and pounds of flour or finding a vineyard with organic, unsulfured grapes. The recipes are secondary. This is a gem of a book.

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely great....., April 30, 2009

By 

S. Newton "SallyBR" (Norman, OK United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Handmade Loaf (Paperback)

I've had this book for almost two years - this was THE book that got me into serious bread baking. Once I made my own starter following his method, and got used to the rhythm of feeding it, I never looked back.

his method of minimal kneading is well explained, the photos are gorgeous, the book is a pleasure to read.

A must-have for any person really interested in bread baking.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Unique Book for a Specific Type of Home Baker, November 1, 2010

By 

Elizabeth (Washington State, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Handmade Loaf (Paperback)

I gave this book four stars because I can't imagine going without it, but I would also check out an updated version from the library to see if there were major changes, and buy that one instead, if he were to revise it.

About me as a baker:

I have three books with bread recipes and frequently use online bread recipes. I've been baking for about six years now and bake at least weekly, often daily. Up until I bought this book, along with Hamelman's _Bread_, I had only baked yeast breads and had never used 100% whole wheat or rye (though I had done partially whole wheat breads). I bake by hand and I have only a glass Pyrex bowl, cookie sheets, a spritzer, a whisk, and a wooden spoon at my disposal. My goal when I bought these books was to learn to cook sourdough and with a variety of different grains, as well as to increase my general skill at bread baking.

What I liked about the book:

1. His instructions on how to build a sourdough starter are invaluable and worked perfectly for me. The pictures were a wonderful tool and hard to find elsewhere. You can see what it's supposed to look like as you go. He is very descriptive and clear.

2. His choice of recipes (breads from all over Europe and parts of ex-Soviet Asia) is delightful, in my opinion. Most, but not all, of the breads are sourdoughs, which are what most hand bakers in Europe and Asia use. There are some yeast breads including the good old Quick White Loaf. Between the 100% Rye, the Mill Loaf, the Rye with Coriander loaf (that literally got my husband's eyes misted over with memories of his school days in the Soviet Union), Brown Butter Picklets, and so on, I have staple and special breads to try and enjoy for the rest of my life.

3. His writing style is clear and you can tell he also writes for a living.

4. The pictures and narration of his travels and experiences add a lot to the book, in my opinion. I enjoyed hearing how and where he learned these recipes, and their history. The pictures of the bakers themselves are wonderful. I enjoyed the personal aspect of this book a lot.

What I did not like about this book:

To be honest, a lot of the recipes had to be modified to work for me. I had my oven professionally re-calibrated because some just were not working. I am not sure what it is about my personal idiosyncratic technique that does not jive with his, but while I get at least 95% of my new breads from Hamelman's _Bread_ and from the Internet right, I know that I'll need at least a couple of tries to get a Lepard bread right. This is tough because we bake bread to eat, not as a hobby. Some breads are very hit-and-miss for me, even now.

Sometimes, I had a hard time seeing how the recipe led to the picture in the book. For example (and I use this because the rye in particular did not work well for me in many instances, though it was amazing when it did work), his 100% rye picture shows a loaf with no evidence of having risen in flour. Yet, the instructions have the loaf rising in a floured cloth in a basket. I found that rising the loaf in a floured cloth dried out the crust prematurely and prevented oven spring. When I rose them in wet cloths, I found them to rise better.

I'm adding in a comment about the Dark crisp rye bread as well (p. 167). I was very excited to try this as we love knackerbrod. Despite my initial misgivings about the temperature and the bake time (425 F for 40 - 50 minutes), knowing that the light rye flatbreads were a mere 400 F for all of 25 - 30 minutes, I went ahead and followed the instructions to the letter, as I usually do the first time around. What a mistake. 30 minutes into the process, the bread was burnt to a crisp. It was black in several places. Now as I mentioned I've had my oven re-calibrated twice and I do not have this problem with other books. So if you do buy the version out right now, go ahead and lower the temperature and bake time on that recipe, and don't be afraid to tweak things ahead of time if they look a little off.

His method is VERY unique. He has decided (rightly, in my opinion) that a major mistake of hand bakers and new bread bakers is to end up using too much flour. Therefore, he has the baker kneading on a lightly oiled surface. This does NOT work out for me. Perhaps I'm too liberal with the oil, but it does seem to affect the formula, though I have gone so far as to wipe the surface clean after oiling, but before putting the dough on there.

He also uses a lot of short rests when preparing the dough, rather than one long mix and one long rest. This makes for some awesome results at times, but it is also difficult if you like to work in blocks. Of course, there are breads that can be prepared with fewer rests, but sometimes it is hard for me to do the knead, rest ten minutes, knead, etc. for the better part of an hour.

If you have improved your own technique as a baker and want to retain some of that knowledge, this will throw you for a loop in a good but challenging way.


I do wish I could give this book five stars, because it is so unique and invaluable. But I also think there are significant improvements that could be made. Until a newer version comes out, I would strongly recommend buying this one.