(Subtitle: Simple Breads from the Italian Oven)
If you like flatbreads, this book will sing to your soul. Carol Field offers 4 basic dough recipes and over 50 ideas for savory toppings, sweet toppings, rolled, layered and filled focaccias and schiacciatas, and the possible combinations are endless.
Many of the recipes are written with a straight-style dough in mind, so they can be prepared and eaten on the same day. However, as most professional bakers would, Field recommends halving the yeast and relying on an overnight retard in the cooler to bring out the full flavor of the wheat in the dough. A short section on dough technique at the beginning of the book explains the process clearly; even beginning bakers can take immediate advantage of these recipes.
The book is intelligently designed, with flaps on front and back covers for marking pages, and printed on heavy coated stock to withstand repeated dustings with flour or an occasional spill. And it is filled with colorful photographs from Joyce Oudkerk Pool, depicting about one-third of the focaccias.
The recipes I’ve tried so far have all been amazing. I recommend this book to all breadbakers and pizza makers. You won’t be disppointed.
My favorite recipe, thus far: Schiacciata with potatoes and rosemary (p. 68) — surprisingly appealing, given its starch-on-starch nature.
Patronize these links, man:
posted to area: Cookbooks
updated: 2004-04-29 17:56:40
