"The Handmade Loaf" contains more than 80 contemporary European bread recipes that will teach you the techniques used to turn grain into beautiful bread, using your hands as the perfect kitchen tools to combine and shape dough with.
The Handmade Loaf
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Book Description
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
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
About the Author
Dan Lepard is the most talked about baker in Britain. He has baked for some of the the country's top restaurants, including St John's, Locatelli's, The French House, Mezzo and The Fat Duck at Bray. His first book, Baking with Passion, the Baker & Spice baking book, was published in 1999.
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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
70 of 73 people found the following review helpful
By plevee
Format: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.
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
By Elizabeth
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
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.
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.
20 of 23 people found the following review helpful
By S. Newton
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
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.
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.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant!!!
This book is just excellent. I find I go back to it again and again. Suitable for the home baker and the more advanced, it's full of information from flour and equipment through to... Read more
Published 3 months ago by vos01
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic
Fantastic, Fantastic, Fantastic.
Throw away those old bread making machines. ThIs is so easy.
And thoroughly satisfying.
It is highly recommended.
Throw away those old bread making machines. ThIs is so easy.
And thoroughly satisfying.
It is highly recommended.
Published 4 months ago by emma gyuris
5.0 out of 5 stars
excellent book
Dan Leperd takes us to faraway places in forgotten times to bring us a treasure trove of authentic regional recipes. Read more
Published 7 months ago by sy
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good book
This book is very helpful in baking loafs. All of the measurements are in metric, which is more accurate. Read more
Published 12 months ago by G. Swarthout
5.0 out of 5 stars
Took a month to receive this book.-It was Well Worth the Wait !!
This book is a great eye-opener for the home baker in the US.
****Please note, this is a RE-WRITE after owning this book for about 9 months.
I love this book. Read more
****Please note, this is a RE-WRITE after owning this book for about 9 months.
I love this book. Read more
Published on December 13, 2010 by Walter Knight
2.0 out of 5 stars
beginner baker
I love to bake bread, but where I'm from, they do not sell fresh yeast. That makes using this book very challenging. His directions for substituting instant yeast is not clear. Read more
Published on November 23, 2010 by M. Tan
5.0 out of 5 stars
the handmade loaf by dan lepard
i like this book because Dan goes a long way towards demystifying the whole breadmaking process, even saying that anyone can make bread and they dont need a special oven or a... Read more
Published on February 7, 2010 by Ms. Tamara Piec
5.0 out of 5 stars
Amazing book
The book is amazing! It is like to celebrate bread making! And the result is delicious!
Published on September 26, 2005 by K. Harris
