Books on Good Bread

In Bread Book, Robertson and Tartine’s director of bread, Jennifer Latham, explain how high-quality, sustainable, locally sourced grain and flours respond to hydration and fermentation to make great bread even better. Experienced bakers and novices will find Robertson’s and Latham’s primers on grain, flour, sourdough starter, leaven, discard starter, and factoring dough formulas refreshingly easy to understand and use.

With sixteen brilliant formulas for naturally leavened doughs—including country bread (now reengineered), rustic baguettes, flatbreads, rolls, pizza, and vegan and gluten-free loaves, plus tortillas, crackers, and fermented pasta made with discarded sourdough starter—Bread Book is the wild-yeast baker ’s flight plan for a voyage into the future of exceptional bread.

Renowned baking author and instructor Peter Reinhart has always been on the forefront of the bread movement—from his seminal work, The Bread Baker’s Apprentice, to today. In Bread Revolution, he explores the cutting-edge developments in bread baking, with fifty recipes and formulas that use sprouted flours, whole and ancient grains, nut and seed flours, alternative flours (such as teff and grape skin), and allergy-friendly and gluten-free approaches.

From Whole-wheat, sourdough, and rye to pita, focaccia, and naan, this classic cookbook from expert baker Peter Reinhart shows you how to produce phenomenal bread. Reinhart details each step in the process, giving you the knowledge and confidence to create countless versions of your own. Not merely a book of bread recipes, this book is an in-depth dive into the world of bread baking, filled with highly tested formulas to take your bread game to the next level.

A pioneer of the at-home milling movement, Adam Leonti has written the definitive guide that modernizes this old-world tradition for home cooks and amateur breadheads. With step-by-step photographs and comprehensive instructions to guide you through each technique, plus guidance on all aspects of home milling, including sourcing wheat or flour and choosing the right equipment for your kitchen, Flour Lab is a master class at making better-tasting and more nutritious food.

James talks the home cook through everything from starters, flours and hydration, to kneading, shaping, rising, slashing and baking, explaining how to achieve the perfect crust and crumb. With a foolproof recipe for the perfect loaf, clear step-by-step instructions, troubleshooting tips and explanations of what works and why, From Scratch: Sourdough is the accessible handbook that bakers everywhere have been waiting for.

Making Super Sourdough is the true test of every aspiring bread-maker. Fickle and delicate, every loaf is unique. And there are a lot of pitfalls to be avoided. It's much more than a food: sourdough is a science. Who better than Dr James Morton, baking pedant and fermentation fanatic, to explain the basics for both the uninitiated, and more experienced bakers? James talks the home baker through everything from starters, flours and hydration, to kneading, shaping, rising, scoring and baking, explaining how to achieve the perfect crust and crumb. With more than 40 sourdough recipes including basic loaves and rolls, baguettes, bagels and buns, clear step-by-step instructions, troubleshooting tips and explanations of what works and why, Super Sourdough is the new, accessible guidebook that bakers everywhere have been waiting for.

Creating the perfect loaf of bread--a challenge that has captivated bakers for centuries--is now the rage in the hippest places, from Waitsfield, Vermont, to Point Reyes Station, California. Like the new generation of beer drinkers who consciously seek out distinctive craft-brewed beers, many people find that their palates have been reawakened and re-educated by the taste of locally baked, whole-grain breads. Today's village bakers are finding an important new role--linking tradition with a sophisticated new understanding of natural levens, baking science and oven construction.

For more than 10,000 years, grains have been the staples of Western civilization. The stored energy of grain allowed our ancestors to shift from nomadic hunting and gathering and build settled communities—even great cities. Though most bread now comes from factory bakeries, the symbolism of wheat and bread—amber waves of grain, the staff of life—still carries great meaning.

Today, bread and beer are once again building community as a new band of farmers, bakers, millers, and maltsters work to reinvent local grain systems. The New Bread Basket tells their stories and reveals the village that stands behind every loaf and every pint.

While eating locally grown crops like heirloom tomatoes has become almost a cliché, grains are late in arriving to local tables, because growing them requires a lot of land and equipment. Milling, malting, and marketing take both tools and cooperation. The New Bread Basket reveals the bones of that cooperation, profiling the seed breeders, agronomists, and grassroots food activists who are collaborating with farmers, millers, bakers, and other local producers.

At her renowned Sourdough School, Vanessa has taught countless students the secrets of this healthy, more easily digestible bread, and now she has compiled her teachings for the home baker.

From creating your own starter from scratch, you'll then move on to basic breadmaking techniques, before progressing to using sprouted grains and experimenting with flavors to produce Fig and Earl Grey and Cherry Plum loaves.

With step-by-step photography, detailed instructions, specialist advice and Vanessa's indispensable encouragement, The Sourdough School celebrates the timeless craft of artisan baking.

Sweet Sourdough is an indispensible guide to exploring the techniques and ingredients involved in successful sweet sourdough baking. A companion to the bestselling The Sourdough School, it focuses on sweet - but not sickly sweet - recipes that are gut-friendly and rely on natural sweetness where possible.