2024 the best bread review

Price: $35.00 - $25.95
(as of Dec 13, 2024 20:09:16 UTC - Details)

Recipes from the back rooms and basement bakeries that produce Europe's best breads.

When Daniel Leader opened his Catskills bakery, Bread Alone, twenty years ago, he was determined to duplicate the whole-grain and sourdough breads he had learned to make in the bakeries of Paris. The bakery was an instant success, and his first book, Bread Alone, brought Leader's breads to home kitchens. In this, his second book, Leader shares his experiences traveling throughout Europe in search of the best artisan breads. He learned how to make new-wave sourdough baguettes with spelt, flaxseed, and soy at an organic bakery in Alsace; and in Genzano, outside of Rome, he worked with the bakers who make the enormous country loaves so unique that they have earned the Indicazione Geografica Protetta (IGP), a government mark reserved for the most prized foods and wines. Leader's detailed recipes describe every step that it takes to reproduce these rare loaves, which until now were available strictly locally. 32 pages of color illustrations

Publisher ‏ : ‎ W. W. Norton & Company; 1st Ed. edition (August 17, 2007)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 368 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0393050556
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0393050554
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 8.4 x 1.2 x 10.3 inches
Reviewer: Lisa G
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Just what I was looking for
Review: I was searching for a book with pure sourdough and whole grain recipes. This book did not disappoint. I'm thrilled. Today, I made the miche and pain au levain. Both were incredible. I couldn't believe how beautiful and delicious they were. The recipes and instructions were very clear. I will not lie and say this is a quick processs, but I decided if I was putting the time into it, I would make two recipes and get more use out of my stiff dough levain. BTW, to make the stiff dough levain, I used my already existing semi liquid spelt starter and added enough flour and water until it looked like the author's picture. It worked wonderfully. I even had a little left over for next time. The less I stress about all this sourdough stuff, the better my bread comes out. I recommend the book highly for true sourdough enthusiasts. Yet, there are more than a few recipes that include quick rise yeast, in addition to a starter (similar to Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Bread which I don't recommend due to his inclusion of commercial yeast in nearly all of his recipes.)

Reviewer: Nancy Thurman
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Bread Extraordinaire!
Review: Daniel Leader has done a tremendous service for home bread making! His detailed explanations of how the ingredients interact, the types and grinds of flours, and his stories in between allow you to retain not only the information, but make you feel like you were with him. His encouragement throughout the book keeps you from giving up, and truly persisting until you get the consistency and flavor you desire - your own personal brand. I would have never known how rye differs from wheat, and surely would not have had the success I did if I hadn't combed through this section. I have now adapted some of the recipes for a bread maker, but the shaping of the items is still something I enjoy. No one else gives out the "secrets" that he does, and nutritionally I am impressed. I began this venture because I am tired of the commercial breads available and wanted more nutrition for the calories, as well as reduced gluten. The flours, salt, and equipment (mixer, in particular) have all been exactly as he represented them - SUPERB!, and truly make a difference in the finished product. I highly recommend this book for anyone who thinks they may want to try their hand at bread. The information, not just the recipes themselves, is worth five times what this book costs, saving you wasted ingredients and time. Thank you, again, for sharing!

Reviewer: Liam
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Exceptional. Especially for experienced bakers.
Review: Here, Daniel Leader explains starters that can be done in the home without tons of flour. Beautiful stuff. Beyond recipes. Exceptional formulas plus a narrative about fermentation, flours, yeasts. Applause, applause.I have a collection of BREAD books, including those from France and Italy in their original languages -- because I love bread.This is one of the best bread books: clear, accurate, andremarkably easy to understand.When I originally made bread in France, it took about 6-8 days to get a good loaf. I usually had to make a huge amount to get good results. Here, the home-scale versions are very true to the originals, and you can see the details in the formula ratios.

Reviewer: Fox n' Sox
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Amazing book
Review: I bought this bread recipe/cook book for my boyfriend for Christmas this year since he absolutely loves baking breads and he hasn't closed it since. He has baked tons of different breads for me and his family, he just can't get enough of it. This book is also easy to understand and follow along with the recipes, it explains how to do everything, and gives you suggestions about substitutions you can make if you don't have a specific tool for example. I highly recommend this book to anyone passionate about bread baking, it has many interesting and unique recipes in it that everyone will love!

Reviewer: D. Smith
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Good addition to the home bread-baking library
Review: Local Breads is a good addition to the bread bakers library. There are probably three types of people who would be interested in this book:1) die-hard artisan bread-baking fanatics (or perhaps not quite fanatic). If you say "hmmm... this describes me pretty accurately, as you pick dried dough off of your forearms), you definitely need this book. No sense having an incomplete home artisan-bread-baking library. It also contains recipes I have not encountered in other books. There is bound to be at least one or two recipes that will enter into your rotation.2) Arm-chair bread-bakers. If you don't bake bread everyday, but enjoy eating it (or perhaps you used to be a fanatic and no longer have time), this book is still for you. In addition to numerous recipes, the descriptions of bakeries, bakers, bread, and other experiences makes for a very good read (if you enjoyed American Pie or any of Maggie Glezer's books, you will probably like this one as well). Likewise, if you are interested in travel or the slow food movement, this book could be of interest to you.3) Beginning bakers. This could be an acceptable first book for people just getting introduced to the world of artisan bread baking-- I would probably recommend Peter Reinhart's books instead of or, if you want as much knowledge as possible, in addition to Leader's. It probably makes more sense to have fundamental baking knowledge before diving into a multi-step sourdough recipe, for example. If you are prepared for some trial and error, the recipes themselves are very clear... there are just some things that cannot be understood perfectly without a little bit of prior experience. Leader does have a very helpful introduction with basic techniques and equipment. So, it could be appropriate for novices (although perhaps slightly overwhelming).This book is probably best described as a hybrid between Hammelman's Bread and Glezer's Artisan Baking Across America. It definitely has enough unique qualities to justify its purchase and it may even end up earning a permanent spot in your kitchen (sending your previous favorite to the living room shelf)Unfortunately (and Leader's book is not the only one suffering from this problem) the book could have benefited from more attentive editing. There are many typographical errors and other mistakes in this book, which is perhaps excusable for a first edition (e.g. he describes a pizza al pomodori. This should be either al pomodoro or ai pomodori. These types of mistakes should be corrected in a second printing.

Reviewer: CalgaryArmyBrat
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: I initially borrowed a copy from my local library. I loved the book so much that I decided to buy it.I highly recommend this book.

Reviewer: B. Montford
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: A very interesting book with some great recipes. It's written for American bakers but each recipe is given in cups, ounces, grams as well as the bakers percentage so British bakers will not be frustrated by having to convert cup measurements which may be ok for some things but not if you want consistency which this author clearly does. Don't expect colour plates for every recipe although there are several grouped together at various points in the book. The author is well travelled and his experience as an artisan baker himself this makes the book an entertaining read as well as a valuable addition to my bread recipe book collection.

Reviewer: W.G. Whitney
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: A great book. It's great because the author really understands the subject and is passionate about it. The artwork and the photography is superb. It is a book that makes you hungry by just reading it. And it looks so well researched that you can trust the recipes. Just my opinion.

Reviewer: RagG
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Got this for my husband and he is reading it from cover to cover. He loves it and has made some excellent breads!

Reviewer: RM
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: It falls a little short on the detail of the sourdough preparation but it is by far the best book on the subjectI wish I could have brought it with me here in the US