Flour Water Salt Yeast: The Fundamentals of Artisan Bread and Pizza [A Cookbook] by Ken Forkish
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Web ID: 14789142Delectable Breads!
Made a number of breads in this book, including the pizza. I love this book so much, not just because I wow dinner guests, but because I am wow'd! I read another review that says the author doesn't detail his instructions. I found them to be detailed, but if you want video to watch the author go through the process, he has videos on YouTube as well (under his name). Purchased a second book as a gift after I tried a few recipes myself.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Basically a Textbook about Bread
I’m a novice baker that got into bread-baking a couple of years ago. I had been steadily creating more and more complex loaves, but I was a bit frustrated because I didn’t really know exactly what was causing my bread to turn out the way it did. This book solves that problem! Instead of teaching how to make fancier, more elaborate loaves, Ken takes you back to the basics and teaches you the best way to handle every aspect of the bread making process—and, better yet, he tells you *why* those methods work. It was everything that the scientist in me could have wanted in a recipe book! Ken explains how to think about bread like a baker; he teaches you how yeast/gluten/flour/etc behave, and what factors can cause their behaviour to be tweaked in one direction or another. There’s even an entire chapter dedicated to teaching you how to think about creating your own recipes! On top of that, the recipes Ken provides you with are amazing. The first recipe in the book is the Saturday White Bread. It’s the simplest and fastest recipe in the book, so I gave it a go. My loaves came out *perfect*, and were easily the best ones I’ve ever made. They looked exactly like the example photos, and the success was all the sweeter because I knew exactly why they came out as good as they did. I can’t wait to steadily work through the rest of this!
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Nothing to great bread in 1 book
Fantastic book with a great range of recipes. Caters to people of all skill levels. Recommendation: invest in the equipment he recommends, totally worth not having to deal with conversions or substitutions. The book is great and will coach you through making all sorts of breads. I personally like a slightly lighter crust than Ken does, so I bake the breads at a lower temp or less time depending on the recipe. Either way, it’s a great starting point that lets to start experimenting with the recipes to modify to your own tastes.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Best beginner book out there
I tried making bread from online recipes and they failed, hard. Dense and untiring loaves. I routinely make one to two loaves of bread a week now for my apartment thanks to this books easy and clear teaching.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Just OK
I thought this book would enlighten me on the techniques. Instead it appears to be memoir of a great cook. I come to this with a fair time in the kitchen, yet am straight back to the speed bumps I had prior to reading this book. Look up "Trouble Shooting" in the index of the book....A half of a page dedicated to getting us over our hurdles! Thanks for the tips on what pieces of equipment to buy, I am now prepared to figure bread making out on my own, with the right tools and a new cookbook.
Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Recipe for burned bread
First recipe I tried was overnight blonde. Bread looks pretty burnt especially on the bottom :(
Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Great Book but technical issues
Since I was stuck home due to the Covid-19 shut down, I took up baking bread, my favorite food in the world. I love this book, the author's enthusiasm made me think about quitting my job and opening up a bakery for a few moments. And the details he provides really helped me understand what I was doing wrong. My very first loaf with his recipe turned out so great I didn't get to taste any. I baked it at night and gave them a little to taste and two of them decided to sneak downstairs and wolf down the entire 10" loaf without me..... Sad. My only complain is a technical issue. I bought the Nook version, which I'm reading on MS Surface Pro and I don't know where the issue is coming from but all the photos in the book (including the cover page) are size of an icon and can't really see. its no big deal for the cover page, but some of the photos would be really helpful to see as they are part of the instruction. but the hard cover.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com