This book taught me how to make bread. There are dozens of great recipes in the book, and a thorough introduction to using preferments (biga, poolish) to build bread in stages.
This book remains one of my favorites because it leads the reader on a bread tour of France, Germany, and Italy, demonstrating many wonderful variations of wheat and rye breads.
The main sourdough recipe uses a firm levain, in the French style, and I believe this is much more difficult than using a wetter, barm-style starter. However, this is a quibble; I’ve had great success with most of the recipes.
A word of caution for new bakers (as opposed to, ahem, “Master Bakers”) — this book is written from the perspective of a professional baker, and tends to rely on having various starters and old doughs at hand. While it’s true that great bread requires such integredients, new bakers might feel less intimidated by Crust & Crumb.
My favorite recipes from this book:
- Berkeley Sourdough (p. 195), one of the more sour recipes I’ve found.
- Pain sur Poolish (p. 80) — the best one-day baguette recipe I’ve tried. I had committed this recipe to memory, in my youth. It’s easy, reliable, and make a great loaf of bread.
Patronize these links, man:
posted to area: Cookbooks
updated: 2004-05-06 04:01:22
