Anyone doing any baking this weekend? We're still playing around with sourdough in our kitchen, which boils down to throwing a cup of sourdough starter in just about everything. (Pizza dough? YES! Muffins? Mmm...we'll get back to you on that one...)
If you're looking for some inspiration, here's a round-up of some of our favorite cookbooks. What are yours?
Some of these books have been with us from our first attempt at pancakes and others have become go-to books for all our baking questions.
Bread Alone by Daniel Leader
This book was our first introduction into sourdough and the world of artisan bread baking! We've used it so much over the years that the pages started falling out and now it lives in the purple binder pictured above!
The Bread Baker's Apprentice by Peter Reinhart
We bought this book when the bread baking obsession took over. It could be a bit overwhelming for absolute beginners, but it's a great resource for refining techniques and learning about the science and history of bread baking.
The King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion
We've never had a recipe go wrong from this cookbook. Not only are the recipes delicious, but chapter openers and recipe head notes offer tips and tricks that teach baking fundamentals.
Baking Illustrated by The Editors of Cook's Illustrated Magazine
This is a new addition to our collection, but we can already tell that it will soon be as batter-splashed and chocolate thumb-printed as the rest of our books. Like the King Arthur book, this one aims to teach techniques and fundamentals along with their test-kitchen approved recipes.
The rest of these books are great recipe resources and are in heavy rotation in our kitchen:
The Tassajara Bread Book by Edward Espe Brown
Brother Juniper's Bread Book by Peter Reinhart
The Bread Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum
The Bread Bible by Beth Hensperger
And since we're always ready to covet new baking books, what are your favorites?!
(Photo Credit: Emma Christensen for the Kitchn)
Copyright © 2008 Apartment Therapy
I'm still working with the sourdough too...haven't quite had a perfect loaf yet though. I tried the no knead bread with sourdough, but think maybe it needs to bake a little longer? anyone else try that?
view aleec's profile
The New York Times Bread and Soup Cookbook (from the '80s, I think).
view Joan A.'s profile
My all time favorite bread book (so much so that it falls open to my most often used bread recipes) is Beard on Bread. It has a lovely companion book Beard on Pasta which is equally awesome.
The two were originally my fathers books, and they were given to me to use when I bought my own house. Excellent books, all around.
view Ether Maiden's profile
Nothing beats Bread Alone (ours is falling apart too, and the recipes make THE. BEST.BREAD.), although Local Breads is a nice compliment to it...
http://www.amazon.com/Local-Breads-Sourdough-Whole-Grain-Recipes/dp/0393050556/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_b
view mschatelaine's profile
I've been a long-time fan of The Bread Baker's apprentice, but my new most-used book is "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day" I learned about here at the kitchn. We haven't had to buy a single loaf of bread since I brought that book home, and have been happily enjoying delicious homemade bread every day. Their method really is so easy; as much as I'll still take out my old faves when I want to spend a little time on something special, this book really does allow bread baking to become a daily event, no matter how busy you are.
view jooleeyet's profile
Oh, goodness! How could I forget "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day"?! Actually, the answer is because I've been using it so much recently that it's become a semi-permanent fixture on my counter and got overlooked when I rounded up my other books!
view EmmaC's profile
I checked out King Arthur Flour's Whole Grain Baking from our library and was sad when I had to return it. I only baked the quickbreads and muffins, but the ones I did were delicious and didn't taste at all like "health food." I want my own copy now!
view christinatremill's profile
Peter Reinhart's new book on baking whole grain breads is also fantastic! It is a real reference that will continue to be useful.
view kplays's profile
The Bread Bible (and, really, any of Hensperger's book on bread or slow-cooking) rocks! Lots of info, nicely presented, great recipes. It's a cookbook you can sit down and read.
I loved reading the Bread Baker's Apprentice, but none of the recipes appealed enough to actually try baking them.
view CleanSimple's profile
When I decided to get serious about bread, I followed the internet consensus to Bread Alone and it has made huge changes. I think Leader's new book, Local Breads, is a great follow-up, because in addition to local specialties, it is a kind of chronicle of all the ways his thinking and baking have changed since Bread Alone was published.
www.breadbabies.blogspot.com
view rosasharne's profile
I love the Bread Baker's Apprentice and have had a lot of good results, the new whole grain one is great too.
Also, I have the Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book (Laurel Robertson et al) and have gotten some mileage out of it as well.
view branny's profile
I second (or third) the praise for Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. I always have a dough waiting in the fridge and we have freshbaked bread on a whim. Everything from fantastic rye to pita and a wonderful brioche that makes the most amazing cinnamon rolls. We are especially big fans of the semolina dough. Makes wonderful baguettes for sandwiches and also great pizza dough.
I brake for bread, and so should you!
view s and the r's profile
I'm glad to see The Tassajara Bread Book in the list! Richard Bertinet's Dough: Simple Contemporary Breads was a good read, too.
view OneWallKitchen's profile
Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Breads is about the most thorough and informative bread cookbook out there.
http://www.amazon.com/Bernard-Claytons-Complete-Book-Breads/dp/0743287096/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1209756625&sr=8-1
view nicolemari's profile
forgot about Baking with Julia -- a more general baking book instead of a pure bread book, but a favourite nonetheless!
view mschatelaine's profile
I love Tassajara and the King Arthur whole grain book. I started with the Laurel's Kitchen bread book, but am not so crazy about it anymore. I've checked a couple others out from the library but never found anything that I love.
view classiccook's profile
My current favourite bread cookbook is Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day.
view angorian's profile
bread alone!
view Joan in SB's profile