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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From Portland’s most acclaimed and beloved baker comes this must-have baking guide, featuring recipes for world-class breads and pizzas and a variety of schedules suited for the home baker.

There are few things more satisfying than biting into a freshly made, crispy-on-the-outside, soft-and-supple-on-the-inside slice of perfectly baked bread. For Portland-based baker Ken Forkish, well-made bread is more than just a pleasure—it is a passion that has led him to create some of the best and most critically lauded breads and pizzas in the country.

In Flour Water Salt Yeast, Forkish translates his obsessively honed craft into scores of recipes for rustic boules and Neapolitan-style pizzas, all suited for the home baker. Forkish developed and tested all of the recipes in his home oven, and his impeccable formulas and clear instructions result in top-quality artisan breads and pizzas that stand up against those sold in the best bakeries anywhere.

Whether you’re a total beginner or a serious baker, Flour Water Salt Yeast has a recipe that suits your skill level and time constraints: Start with a straight dough and have fresh bread ready by supper time, or explore pre-ferments with a bread that uses biga or poolish. If you’re ready to take your baking to the next level, follow Forkish’s step-by-step guide to making a levain starter with only flour and water, and be amazed by the delicious complexity of your naturally leavened bread. Pizza lovers can experiment with a variety of doughs and sauces to create the perfect pie using either a pizza stone or a cast-iron skillet.

Flour Water Salt Yeast is more than just a collection of recipes for amazing bread and pizza—it offers a complete baking education, with a thorough yet accessible explanation of the tools and techniques that set artisan bread apart. Featuring a tutorial on baker’s percentages, advice for manipulating ingredients ratios to create custom doughs, tips for adapting bread baking schedules to fit your day-to-day life, and an entire chapter that demystifies the levain-making process, Flour Water Salt Yeast is an indispensable resource for bakers who want to make their daily bread exceptional bread.

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The James Beard and IACP Award-winning author of Flour Water Salt Yeast and one of the most trusted baking authorities in the country proves that amazing pizza is within reach of any home cook. The author of Flour Water Salt Yeast teaches you how to elevate your sandwich bread, breakfast toast, and overall bread-baking game using everything he’s learned in the last decade to perfect his loaves.

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Ten Speed Press; 43633rd edition (September 18, 2012)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 272 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 160774273X
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1607742739
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 8.27 x 0.97 x 10.28 inches
Reviewer: NewEnglandScene
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: An Algorithm for Great Bread: OOD + baker's experience + precise instructions = consistently superb artisan bread
Review: If I had to choose only 3 cookbooks to take with me to a new home, this would be my bread book. A close runner up would be Chad Robertson's Tartine Bread, but I give the edge to Ken Folkish's book based on the variety of recipes, the precision of the instructions, and the consistent excellence of the outcomes.In my review of Tartine Bread, I called this book by Ken Forkish the "Algorithm of Bread", written by an ex-software engineer. Forkish is meticulous in his description of how to bake each loaf, as if he were writing a detailed algorithm for a baker to follow. Starting by defining his bread baking objects in early chapters, he proceeds by chapter from straight bread, to preferments, to natural yeast hybrids, to pure leavened breads, a journey that allows intermediate (and even beginner) bakers to follow a natural bread learning progression. The recipes for all his bread variants produce consistently top-quality loaves. I was shocked when my first preferment loaf turned out nearly perfect, in both form and taste. The algorithm worked.Chapter 2 is great background on bread and Folkish's methods; the why's and how's of his bread. Chapter 4 describes the core methods used in all of his breads: mixing, folding, dividing, proofing and baking. These are the essential programming (bread baking) objects that are arranged in the bread algorithms (recipes) which compose the rest of the book.The book has a limited but sufficient repertoire of classic breads. You won't find recipes for esoteric ingredients and combinations. That is not Forkish's intent, nor if I understand correctly is that what he offers in his Portland bakery. What you will find is a beautiful exposition of standard and classic breads: whites, whole wheats and browns; both commercially and naturally leavened. At the end of the book are two chapters on pizza, which I must say I have not read because I don't care for pizza. Forkish has a new book out (or due out soon) devoted to pizza, for the devoti di pizza.The naturally leavened (sourdough) breads in Flour Water Salt Yeast are better than Peter Reinhart's. They are on par with Chad Robertson's. The results with Forkish recipes are more consistent than with Robertson. The difference between the Zen of Bread (Robertson) and the Algorithm of Bread Baking (Forkish) is that Robertson is less directive and less precise, encouraging the baker to 'feel' what is going on and adjust, while Forkish basically says, "Do this, this and this, and you will get very good bread." ---very much like a conditional statement in programming. And he is right, you do get very good, more likely 'excellent', bread. Interestingly, in a couple places in the book, Ken Forkish credits Chad Robertson for helping him out with technique and ideas when Forkish was learning to bake bread. Nice when the results of the student match or exceed those of the master.Once I started making the hybrid and pure leavened breads in this book, only occasionally do I go back and make the pre-fermented breads. The hybrids and pure leavens have more complex flavor and last longer on the countertop. I never tried the straight yeasted breads in the book, going right to the preferments. I can truly recommend ALL the hybrid and naturally leavened recipes, with my favorite being the Overnight Country Brown (and also the companion Overnight Country Blonde). The pure leaven breads last for 3-4 days on the countertop under a tea towel and are still great. No other bread I bake is so durable.Both Forkish and Robertson use the Dutch Over method of baking for wet doughs. That was a brilliant innovation. It is the only way I have found to get the kind of internal moistness and external crispness in leavened breads baked at home. I have tried all the steam and spray techniques without the success of baking an a dutch oven or perhaps a cloche.Since I have baked with a few bread books, I want to offer my take on how they compare/rank (for me) to give others who might be looking for bread books the benefit of what I have learned. It can be tough wading through bread books, and this is just another (personal) view on what is out there.Highly Recommended (5-stars)Flour Water Salt Yeast: The Fundamentals of Artisan Bread and Pizza - best all around artisan bread for home baking, consistently very good to excellent bread. No worries, just follow the directions, it will turn out fine.Tartine Bread - beautiful exposition of how to bake artisan bread the 'Tartine Way'. Very Zen-like in the emphasis on repetition and feeling/sensing what is going on, placing the onus on the baker to think, intuit and adapt. A close second to Flour Water Salt Yeast. Robertson's signature 'Country Loaf' is still my favorite bread.Recommended (4-stars)Bread: A Baker's Book of Techniques and Recipes - literally a textbook on baking bread, ideal for culinary students or small-scale commercial bakers who have already practiced/learned the fundamentals. I use this book occasionally for rye and other non-wheat breads. It is 'THE Book' of bread, but is not as detailed and instructional as Flour Water Salt Yeast. Not a good first book of bread by itself. It is a reference book for me. The recipes are well-tested and delicious.Good (3-stars)Bread Matters: The State of Modern Bread and a Definitive Guide to Baking Your Own - an iconoclastic and sometimes pedantic denunciation of commercial (unnatural) bread, with gobs of excellent information about bread and method and a stable of recipes, though not as foolproof as Flour Water Salt Yeast. A bit British in its context, since the English author writes for a mainly British audience. And the author is a bit cranky sometimes. There are some great rye and alternative grain recipes. The wheat breads are okay/good, but because they are not fired (kiln or dutch oven method), they don't have the wonderful crust of the Forkish breads.How to Make Bread - not as much description as Forkish but great photos, a clean, easy, consistent format. More bread variety (grains and flavor ingredients) than Forkish and very good results by an excellent international baker and teacher. But here is the problem with the non-Dutch Oven (or Cloche) method --it's all just bread. No caramelized, crisp crust the way you get in a bakery. If you can't bake in a kiln or a modern day equivalent, it just isn't the same.Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads: New Techniques, Extraordinary Flavor - Reinhart's previous Bread Baker's Apprentice updated for whole grains. Generally an improvement over the prior book. Same format but healthier recipes and more of them, with less of the instructional detail and background on bread.The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread - good for beginners. Recipes okay, but not great and a lot of stuff other than core bread. The real benefit its the 100 page background to bread and technique. If you are serious about bread, you will outgrow this book quicklyInteresting Books I Am Still Working Through [update to follow]Tartine Book No. 3: Modern Ancient Classic Whole - the first book, Tartine Bread, is so great, the third Tartine volume is a natural extensionDella Fattoria Bread: 63 Foolproof Recipes for Yeasted, Enriched & Naturally Leavened Breads - reading through it with interest, but have not baked anything yet. Like Forkish, the author uses a dutch oven on some breads.Specialized Books For Bread-Bakers -- RecommendedThe Bread Builders: Hearth Loaves and Masonry Ovens - the best treatise on the subject of fermentingBread Science: The Chemistry and Craft of Making Bread - all sorts of helpful hints buried in this bread-baker's dissertation on bread. Well worth purchasing as a Kindle book.Books I Would Like to TryThe Italian Baker, Revised: The Classic Tastes of the Italian Countryside--Its Breads, Pizza, Focaccia, Cakes, Pastries, and Cookies - I have the author's book on Italian grandmother's cooking and love it.The Fundamental Techniques of Classic Bread Baking - when I think I know everything there is to know about bread, I want to read this tome.There are also many good baking books with bread-making sections, like Dori Greenspan's Baking with Julia: Savor the Joys of Baking with America's Best Bakers and King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking: Delicious Recipes Using Nutritious Whole Grains (King Arthur Flour Cookbooks), which I have used for non-bread recipes but not baked bread from. So many bread books, so little time...I have very little criticism of Ken Forkish's book. I wouldn't mind some more naturally leavened recipes, and some alternative grain formulations. Maybe that is stuff for his next book. And I am kind of amazed how much leaven/starter is thrown away after daily feeding and care. As I understand it, the reason for the big dose of flour, when you wind up throwing most of it out is so the bacteria can really bloom. But that doesn't quite make sense to me, because it feels like it should all be scaleable. Andrew Whitley Bread Matters: The State of Modern Bread and a Definitive Guide to Baking Your Own and Emmanuel Hadjiandreou How to Make Bread have much more sensible and less wasteful leaven development / maintenance programs. And in my daily starter maintenance program, I have scaled back the Forkish program by a factor of about 10.Personal Favorite: Pain au Bacon. A killer recipe!

Reviewer: Wotan
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: MOST EXPENSIVE - MOST INFORMATIVE - AND, WILL GET YOU UP AND RUNNING FOR LESS 'DOUGH!'
Review: I'd give it TEN STARS IF I COULD ! As a newbie baker (not a hobby baker) I found this book to be head and shoulders more useful than the other 9 'artsian baking made easy books' I'd already bought.Do NOT let the chapter on his trials and tribs put you off ... it is a background pillow that comforted me in my journey through a jungle of failures, wasted money on unneeded equipment, and technique-deficient / poorly written recipes and books that exist on the internet and in many otherwise useful baking books. Example: After reading this book (3 times) cover to cover, I now understand why bread baking is similar to constructing a balloon and why all those techniques inside the book on temps, dough handling, etc., etc., etc. are the 'hacks' that help you through Novice Baker's Failure Jungle!!

Reviewer: Sonya
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Great bread book!
Review: This book has the journey of the other, in the first part. As you get into the book, there is so much valuable information about bread making! I’m just starting my bread making journey and I wish I had this book from the beginning! Great book!

Reviewer: Meg R.
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Ken Forkish is a genius when it comes to bread
Review: This book has everything you need to know about how to make excellent bread at home. It’s a game changer and I love the scientific approach Ken Forkish takes in this book. The results taste (almost) as good as when I used to buy the bread directly from his bakery in Portland, OR.

Reviewer: T.P.
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Great recipes just very wasteful
Review: I'm prefacing this to say I am not a novice baker but I am also not a professional. I make bread nearly every day and have been making bread for over 10 years, however I am constantly learning and perfecting my skill. I really wanted to love this book as Forkish was the first to teach me the art of pizza making and the game changing pizza sauce tip of using a can of high quality tomatoes just slightly pureed. The pictures are beautiful and honestly, the bread recipes all turn out great. However, I cannot ignore the fact that his recipes are incredibly wasteful when it comes to feeding and discarding levain. It is so frustrating, especially with the prices of flour and sometimes the lack of ability to even locate good quality bread flour in the grocery stores. I know there is science to it on quantities/measurements etc. but when I compare his recipes to 3-4 others that are my main bread baking bibles (both yeast and sourdough books) there is SO much waste in Forkish's book that it is utterly discouraging.When starting out on my sourdough journey I made SIX different sour dough starter recipes so that I could compare and find the BEST one. I weeded it down to 3: King Arthur's, Rose's Bread Bible, and Forkish's. I finally eliminated KA just for simplicity since both KA and Forkish had whole wheat as an element. Rose's was a starter of rye leading into a feeding of pure bread flour. My one go-to sourdough starter from Rose is simple and has a feeding of 60g bread flour to 60g water (you can discard all but 120g of levain which makes the discard a very little amount, or not discard and just let it grow). However, for Forkish's feeding (even the small recipe) is 200g white flour, 50 g whole wheat and 200 g water. You discard each feeding of all but 50g of levain before you feed. That's a ton of wasted levain/flour (I understand there are recipes for discarded levain but I can't make bread AND use the discard every time I feed). It just seems unnecessarily wasteful.I'm on the fence on keeping the book and just using Rose's levain for the recipes or if even THAT is still too wasteful as often he begins with the basic levain that you feed, then remove about 200g to make a new levain for the bread recipe (the discarded part you save only 50g of for your continuous levain that you feed and discard all the rest). Then with the NEW levain for the recipe you plump that up with a ton of flours and discard a TON of that and add more flours to make the actual bread recipe. It is astronomical the amount of waste.When I make the same exact bread recipe with Forkish's levain and Rose's levain I cannot tell the difference in taste, texture, crumb, loft, tang, or airy pockets. They are identical. I even did a blind taste test with several of my family members who have a very exquisite palate for bread and can taste subtle differences in them. They couldn't tell the difference either except a possible slight increase tang in Rose's bread. I don't consider that a negative.....Lastly, although this a very personal opinion, I got the feeling of a bit of dramatic presentation when reading Forkish's book. Every recipe is "mix by hand" even when it is the ooey gooey-ist steps. Now, I have zero issue getting my hands gooey but if there is no actual reasoning behind the why it comes across as very pretentious. I see the rationalization behind mixing by hand during certain stages like folding before bulk proof/rise or shaping into a boule as you can FEEL the dough becoming stretchy, smooth, and firming up. It is a lovely feeling. But to hand mix before that without a wooden spoon or such just feels utterly unnecessary and messy. Seriously, you can mix with a wooden spoon, or a fork, or any other tool you find useful. You won't lose a thing in the dough by NOT mixing by "hand".Anyways, again, the recipes are great, the bread turns out fantastic so there is nothing wrong with the actual recipes in the end result. For me, it was just the "getting there" steps that was a bit eye rolling and economically wasteful. In my opinion, I would suggest checking out The Bread Bible and Emilie Raffa's sourdough book. Several of the breads that I blind taste tested were rustic loaves of Raffa's (with Rose's sourdough levain vs. Ken's levain). Both of these are awesome bread books that I lean on heavily which continuously turn out perfect loaves of heavenly airy bread with a crisp crackling crumb.

Reviewer: Rasvan00
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Very complete book for the bread baker in you
Review: Plenty of recipes, all types of bread, very complete and nicely explained. The book was recommended by a friend that uses it for a few years now and the results were tasted and were magnificent.

Reviewer: Meem4
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Well written
Review: Inspiring recipe book! It’s an easy read with easy to follow instructions. I’m excited to start baking some of these incredible recipes!

Reviewer: Mehdi H.
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: This is a masterfully written book to ease the beginning baker into the world of artisan bread making. It covers all the basics and more. Beautiful photographs and tips and guidance to ensure that you not onl bake the best bread but understand the whys and hows of every step as you're doing them.

Reviewer: JG
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Recommend

Reviewer: Suolu Lu
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: I wanted to make better high hydration bread and bought this (my third) bread book. I only bake sourdough but would like to learn the general craft. Ken uses commercial yeast as well and there is maybe only a quarter of the book is on purely sourdough bread making. Another criticism is the large amount of starter/levain he suggests in the book. I use about a 10th to maintain my starter.That said his advice still got me the best rise so far with 78% hydration. What I did differently is not to skip autolyse, hit the sweet spot of 25 degrees dough temperature and use a god damn Dutch oven. I really didn’t want to buy one as it’s huge and heavy and I can’t be bothered to find room in my kitchen to store it. But after books and books recommending it, I borrowed one to try. It gave a much better rise than my copper pot.If you just want to be better at making bread and get more intuitive, it’s a good book, it has a lot of good tips and whys and hows. If you want general recipes, there aren’t many. They are all free forms with almost no enrichment and a few pizzas. No rolls, loaves, ciabatta or other bakery usuals. (Ken mentioned how his bakery makes a great raisin and pecan bread but the recipe wasn’t in the book, a disappointment)However, it should get you into a bakers mindset and start experimenting and creating your own rather than following recipes. For that reason, I recommend this book to home bread makers who are into this art.

Reviewer: Lam
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: After lots of failure doing the bread, I decided to do a more profond theoretical research on the subject. I encountered this title on the internet (among many other book recommandations) and I decided to try it. And i'm glad that I did! The bread made by using the recipes in the book is a taste explosion. I like particularly the bread with biga.KF's journey to the bakery industry is inspiring. His method is much more simple to follow. His explanations provide you all the necessary and very important foundations on the bread subject, with a principal focus on temperature and time - the critical elements that are normally not throughly explained by many bread makers. I totally recommend this book to those who want to explore the world of bread.

Reviewer: Manas Mukherjee
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: I tried many recipes but when I found this book , my bread making life has been changed. This is 75% whole wheat Saturday bread. But I struggled lot because of the temperature issue in India. But now I know the besic from this book. Thank you Mr Ken Forkins.