Recommendations for a good bread making cookbook/guide

All this talk about no-knead bread and the lack of availability of good, artisanal bread in my 'hood (Albany park--I know Provenance has bread from Red Hen but their selection is limited) has made me want to learn how to make my own.
I saw Zeeshan's post about his experience with the Reinhart book.
I also saw this book by Hertzberg and Francois which looks interesting.
I want to be able to make bread without spending the whole weekend in the kitchen. But, I'm not afraid of a little kneading (plus my KitchenAid has a dough hook).
Anyone have any advice for a wanna-be weekend warrior bread baker as far as cookbooks (or just advice on how to start out--I've been reading the No-knead bread post as well). I don't want to dedicate my whole life to the craft. I'm really more of a home cook than baker (not much of a sweet tooth).
Thanks

Any of Reinhart's books are a good place to start. He's also got one on whole grain baking.

I second the Reinhart books. The breads really work and with the kitchen aid they are no sweat.
Paulette

I've had luck with the King Arthur's site for bread recipes. Specifically, their recipe on 'garlic knots'.

Another book I've heard raves on is Baking illustrated, produced by the same folks of Cook's Illustrated.

Santa brought me the Artisan Bread in 5 minutes a day book, and I like the philosophy of "make it once and bake it often" - although it's too soon to make a call on the results. Basically, it has you make a giant "master" batch of dough that can sit in the fridge for two weeks, so you break off a hunk whenever you want some bread. There is a diverse range of bread recipes, from peasant loaves to naan, za'atar bread,foccacia, bialys, pumpernickle, enrinched breads, and many more, and a couple recipes on using up bread too - panzanella, etc.

I've only made one batch of "master" dough - I went with the olive oil dough. The first thing I made was a garlic, spinach, and chicken white pizza, and I liked how the crust turned out - very crispy, with a decent chew. Even stretched pretty thin, i.e. 1/8" thin, baked on the pizza stone it was firm enough to stand for the "upskirt" shot (a term nicked from Serious Eats' pizza blog, Slice). I'm going to try a calzone tonight.

As a fan of the no-knead bread, and moreso of Cook's Illustrated's "Almost No-Knead Bread," I'm interested to see how their loaves of bread turn out. The method used for them is to preheat a stone and broiler tray on different shelves, then pour a cup of hot tap water into the tray when you put the bread in the oven, creating the necessary steam for the crisp crust. We'll see how it goes.

In other threads, I've mentioned our success with the Artisan in 5 breads, which is so easy Sparky has done it more than once...but I have yet to try anything other than the master recipe. The Bread Baker's apprentice has a series of videos on their website that are very helpful in shaping loaves: I've found that the no-knead bread is shapeable on its 2nd day of refrigeration.

I just got the Bread Baker's Apprentice by Reinhart and I'm working my way through it, but my favorite for many years has always been Bernard Clayton's Complete Book of Breads. He has recipes for a wide variety of breads, and instructions are pretty simple.

What a great day to cozy up with some warm dough!

I love Bernard Clayton and have about four of his books. Whatever happened to him? I wonder if he wrote any more cook books. They were so pleasant to read.

I am glad this question was asked, because I've been wondering the same thing. One of my New Year's resolutions is to teach myself some basic breadmaking.

Thanks for all the great tips. I think I am between the Clayton and the Reinhart book (mainly because I want to learn a little about the basic 'theories' behind breadmaking and it sounds like the Reinhart book, in particular offers that). Maybe I'll have to get both .

If you like Reinhart, you will really enjoy his 1991 book, Brother Juniper's Bread Book, Slow Rise as Method & Metaphor. Very Zen, but also with plenty of technical details and great recipes. His passion for bread seemed stronger back then making this a much more enjoyable book than his more recent books.

I’m not sure what no-knead bread making is, but I have tried making bread the old-fashioned way, combining flour and liquid in a bowl until its congealed enough to knead on the counter, and also tried it in the good processor and stand mixer. I have had the best results by far hand-kneading and it’s also the quickest for me, since I have done it enough to know when it feels right. Here is my recipe for whole-wheat bread; it makes 3-4 loaves depending on your yeast:

Gently warm 18 ounces of milk in a sauce pan

When it is warmed (not steaming or anything like that) drop in 1/2 stick of butter

Mix in 1lb whole wheat flour. I use a whisk to get started with the mixing

Take a quick break to proof 1/2 stick of fresh yeast (use a fork to gently mash/separate the yeast in a cup, add a bit of slightly warmer than room temp. water, mix it around, and wait for bubbles, indicating the yeast is active. If you get no bubbles, add a pinch of sugar to try for bubbles)

Mix in the yeast, 1/3 cup honey, 1 tablespn brown sugar, 2 teaspoons salt

Start mixing in white flour. At this point it may be easier to switch from a whisk to a wooden spoon

Mix in white flour until the consistency is such that dumping it out on the counter won't result in the dough seeping onto the floor

Continue kneading and adding flour for 10-15 minutes until the dough is firmer and not sticking to your fingers very much

Place in a greased or buttered bowl to rise for about an hour to an hour and a half

After rising, punch it down. Cut into appropriate size for your bread pans, knead a bit more to remove large air pockets and place in the bread pan. At this stage it should NOT fill the bread pan--there's more rising to do.

Once it’s doled out to the bread pans, let the dough rise again for another 60-90 minutes.

Put in the oven, preheated to 425. Then drop the temp immediately to 375 and bake for ~45 minutes. The crust will darken a bit and when it’s done you should be able to hear a hollow sound from tapping on the bottom of the loaf.

Let cool overnight.

This usually takes me good part of a Sunday evening. And I usually double or triple the recipe and freeze the rest.

My wife has Amy's Bread and The Sweeter Side of Amy's Bread, from Amy Scherber, who has three really good bakeries in NYC. The recipes are thorough, yet easy to follow and turn out great product, but are a little light on the science behind the process. They do offer some tips and techniques that are helpful to the new baker, and the photography is first rate.

cybermud wrote:I’m not sure what no-knead bread making is...

You may want to take a look at this thread.

I am a fan of the old standbys: Beard on Bread and the Tassajara Bread Book

I also reach for the New York Times Bread and Soup cookbook more often than not for some great inspiration on bread and soup from around the world.

There's a wonderful, forgotten bread book called "Mary's Bread Basket and Soup Kettle" by Mary Gubser. Don't know if it's still in print, but you can probably find a used copy online. It was written by a woman who started offering breadmaking classes well before breadmaking really took off--in the 70s or 80s, I think. in fact, I don't think the word "artisan' appears anywhere in the book.

It has the most helpful instructions I've ever come across for a new breadmaker, and most of the recipes are designed for a minimum of fuss and failure. And for an older book, it actually does a good job of including lots of ethnic breads from all over the world. There are plenty of All-American basics, too. The overnight oatmeal bread, cinnamon buns, potato soup, cheese, soup, and others are the best and easiest recipes I've come across and I go back to them again and again. Nothing fancy--but exactly what you want early in your breadmaking career.

One nice feature of the book: every bread recipe is paired with a soup recipe, and there are directions for both.

Just a follow-up to this post--I ended up buying Bernard Clayton's Complete Book of Breads and Peter Reinhart's Bread Maker's Apprentice. I have to say, while both are great, I LOVE the Reinhart book. He has great explanations--I've curled up with it in bed and it's actually a great read. As a nice bonus, I'm having pretty good luck with the recipes I've tried. I subsequently bought his pizza book (American Pie) which details his fabulous-sounding quest to Italy and around the States looking for great pizza. I'm now trying to convince my significant other that our next trip should be to Recco, outside of Genoa to try foccacia col formaggio.

The Reinhart books are my favorite too. Have been using the whole grain book making a 100% whole wheat hearth baked bread mostly. If I forget to start the bread and only have one day because we are just about out of bread and my husband only wants whole grain I make the dark rye of the marbel rye loaf. Its really a great easy bread.
Paulette

Mhays wrote: The Bread Baker's apprentice has a series of videos on their website that are very helpful in shaping loaves

Do you have a link for their website?

Hi- Does anyone own the book Healthy Breads in 5 Minutes a Day? Do you like it? I checked the book out of the library right before Christmas last year, and one of my sisters made some bread using one of the recipes in the book, and the bread came out okay, but not great. I can't remember what the problem was. My sister was going to try the recipe again when she got back to New Orleans, but I am not sure if she did. Thanks, Nancy

thaiobsessed,
Just wondering how the breadmaking is coming. I went out and bought Bernard Clayton's update to his old standard (I'm not certain which of his you have, but I imagine it's the new, updated one). I've been making bread from his books for years and years; the old volume has seen better days (physically speaking). And, frankly, while I have no trouble believing that there are other great books out there, I continue to be thrilled with Clayton. I've never had a bad loaf and his book encompasses an extraordinary variety of things. Meanwhile, thought I'd check in and see how your own breadmaking was going.

Diannie wrote:I am a fan of the old standbys: Beard on Bread and the Tassajara Bread Book

We used to bake a lot from these two books too. We recently won a gourmet gift basket of foods and such at a fundraiser, included in it was "No Need to Knead" cookbook by Suzanne Dunaway. The subtitle is Handmade Italian Breads in 90 minutes. We were going to try it out this weekend but the nice weather lured us outside most of the time, looks like fairly simple rustic breads.

Gypsy Boy wrote:thaiobsessed,
Just wondering how the breadmaking is coming. I went out and bought Bernard Clayton's update to his old standard (I'm not certain which of his you have, but I imagine it's the new, updated one). I've been making bread from his books for years and years; the old volume has seen better days (physically speaking). And, frankly, while I have no trouble believing that there are other great books out there, I continue to be thrilled with Clayton. I've never had a bad loaf and his book encompasses an extraordinary variety of things. Meanwhile, thought I'd check in and see how your own breadmaking was going.

Aside from a baguette-making jag this summer, I haven't been baking much bread lately. But I've been thinking now that the weather's a little cooler, it's time to fire up the oven (plus I just got a new Fibrament stone for pizza and bread). This past week I was in San Diego which has a great bakery/cafe called Bread & Cie--inspired by one of their loaves, I pulled out the Bernard Clayton book and marked the page for Italian Olive bread; I think that will be my next loaf. I'll post on the results.

Hi- Since nobody reported on Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day, does anybody have Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, which is written by the same authors? Do you like the book? Any comments pro or con would be appreciated. Thanks, Nancy

Gypsy Boy wrote:while I have no trouble believing that there are other great books out there, I continue to be thrilled with Clayton.

Bernard Clayton's "The Complete Book of Breads" has been my go-to for decades.

NFriday wrote:Hi- Since nobody reported on Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day, does anybody have Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, which is written by the same authors? Do you like the book? Any comments pro or con would be appreciated. Thanks, Nancy

Hi Nancy. this book was mentioned a couple of times upthread.

I also have Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes and for the most part I really like it. The basic boule recipe is fantastic for pizza and flatbreads and it lasts pretty much indefinitely in the fridge (and develops great flavor over time). I recently made the deli rye bread and found it to be pretty nice.

My only complaint is that when I scoop out a portion of dough for a loaf of bread, the dough ball does not rise very much during its rest after shaping, so you end up with a pretty small loaf. It will expand in the oven if you make sure to slash it, though. Because of this, it doesn't end up dense. Still, though - smaller loaf than I would like.

I'm going to try and remedy this problem with a brief kneading before shaping and resting (in the spirit of Cook's Illustrated's Almost No-Knead Bread - just a 15 second or so knead). The theory is that a bit of kneading will establish a better gluten structure than simply scooping, shaping and resting.

Oh also - I do sort of a hybrid technique: using the Artisan Bread in 5 dough, but baking it inside a large dutch oven, like the famous no-knead bread.