A comprehensive guide to creating-at home-the country-style breads that have consistently captured the imagination and the taste buds of the world.In a richly told tale, Leader chronicles his crossings of America and Europe to locate the most vital ingredients at the source, to learn from the methods of the world's great bakers, and to perfect their traditional techniques. His recipes are ones that have been used for centuries: large sourdough ryes, rich and dark raisin pumpernickel loaves, real French pain au levain, big round wheats with walnuts, crusty baguettes, high and airy breads, and more. Made from organic, stone-ground grains, these breads are slow-leavened, hand-shaped, and baked to perfection on heated baking tiles. As you read through the recipes, you can almost smell the ancient aroma of baking bread. And as you begin to bake, you will learn the importance of the primary ingredient in great bread: your own observations.These are some, of the breads and techniques you will master:In the chapter "Becoming Bread," you will learn to identify and shop for the highest quality flour available. And you will seek it out because you'll taste the difference. Making a poolish will become second nature to you as you master the Learning Recipe: Classic Country-Style Hearth Loaf and its delicious variations. Whatever your schedule, there is a bread for you. In the chapter "Straight-Dough Breads: Traditional Breads for a Modern Life-Style," you are shown how to start and finish a recipe in five hours, or morning-to-night, or night-to-night. You will bake sourdough bread in its many forms. By gently introducing the concept of sourdough-how it is made, how it is maintained, and how to get the best flavor from it leader demystifies it and makes it accessible to you. Discover the wonders of rye bread: From the dense and chewy Finnish Sour Rye to the fragrant Danish Light Rye, everyone's tastes are served. The mystery of pain au levain, French for "bread from a sourdough or wild yeast," unfolds into an understandable, user friendly process. From My Personal Favorite Pain au Levain, a typical large Parisian loaf, toPain au Levain with Pecans d Dried Cherries, the "Family of TraditionalPain au Levain"includes some of the best loaves baked around the world, A perfect baguette is a beautiful thing. From shaping to scoring, you will learn how to make the authentic French baguette at home. The purpose of an organic certifier-find out how and why one farmer becomes dedicated to his role as land steward. Brioche, Chocolate-Apricot Kugelhopf, Panettone, and Semolina Sesame Rolls are a few recipes you will find in 'A Family of Breads Inspired by Traditional French and Italian Breads." Finally, when a quick bread is all you have time to bake, you will find recipes for such delights as Vanilla Bean Butter Loaf; Dried Pear, Port, and Poppy Seed Loaf; and Provolone Sage Corn Loaf. Bread Alone is the bread book that cooks and bakers have been waiting for. From the wheat fields of the Midwest to the hot and steamy boulangeries of Paris, you will travel the long and delicious road to flawless bread baking. You will emerge a better baker and with a deeper understanding of what it takes to make perfect loaves. Bakers entertain you with stories of their love of baking (even in the most adverse situations). Bread Alone is the bible of bread books and a must have for bread lovers everywhere.24 pages of full color, featuring bakers at work, the breads in the book, all the equipment you'll need, and the grains used
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From Library Journal
Here is a wonderful collection of delicious recipes and bread lore. Leader, a former New York City restaurant chef, runs Bread Alone, a popular Woodstock, New York, bakery well known for its breads baked in wood-fired brick ovens. Blahnik is a food writer and editor. Leader is an example of the dedicated artisans described in Joe Ortiz's excellent The Village Baker ( LJ 12/92); as he became increasingly fascinated with bread-making, he traveled to Europe and throughout the United States to uncover the secrets of the craft. The results are his traditional and "tradition-based" breads such as Country-Style Loaf with Herbs and Onion, Sourdough Rye, and Pain au Levain with Olives and Rosemary. The recipes are extremely detailed, and the accounts of Leader's adventures in the world of bread bakers are both readable and fun. Highly recommended.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
About the Author
Daniel Leader is the owner and baker of the Bread Alone Bakery in New York's Catskill Mountains. Dan's food career began when, nine months short of his undergraduate philosophy degree from the University of Wisconsin, he realized his need to work with his hands as well as his mind. He enrolled at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York, graduated at the top of his class, and, worked as a chef for some of New York City's hottest restaurants, La Grenouille and the Water Club. Then, after eight years of cooking food "too fancy to eat," he became obsessed with the idea of creating something wholesome, timeless, and beautiful. Great bread and Bread Alone were born. Dan lives in Boiceville, New York, with his wife, Sharon, and four children, Liv, Nels, Octavia, and Noah.
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Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
It's so sad to see such potential squandered for the sake of word count. If the authors had spent as much time on the accuracy of their writing as they do on the accuracy of the temperature and weight of their ingredients, this would have been perhaps one of the greatest bread books ever written. However, the combination of gross omissions, editorial blunders, and what I believe to be bad recipes is truly disappointing.
Just a short taste of the mistakes I encountered:
- time tables were inconsistent. One place in the recipe instructs allowing 2 hours for mixing the poolish, while another says it will take 24 hours.
- a chapter on straight dough breads gives an alternative time table for mixing, kneading, and baking. It says that all the recipes in this chapter can be used with this method. However, there are no recipes at all in the chapter it mentions.
- too much salt. I followed the instructions precisely, and didn't think a thing of adding a full tablespoon to the mix as suggested. The bread came out flat and so salty that it was inedible. I reduced the amount of salt by 1/2 and my loaves were much better.
Please, don't waste your money on this book.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
The book has many good features, and I've made some great breads with it. But it is very annoying to run accross silly errors that a half way decent editor should have caught. The worst mistakes are in proportions, which are obviously very frustrating (particularly if you've spent money on the expensive flours Leader incorrectly suggests are crucial). Other reviewers are correct that the number of pages could have been drastically reduced. Frustrating is the fact that while there is an enormous amount of repetition, some important aspects are given only cursory treatment: e.g., how to form the loaves, how to make breads from straight dough. Also annoying is his suggestion that you reuse plastic wrap. The fixation on temperature is too much as well. When my house is warm, it's warm, and when it's cool it's cool, and the bread does fine in both, although it moves faster the warmer it is. My book fell apart very quickly, too.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I discovered "Bread Alone" about five years ago and have been baking from it almost weekly over the period. I have greatly enjoyed creating breads using this book. My life has been made greater for the experience. However.....I agree with all the negatives so well discribed in other reviews. The 300 plus pages could be reduced to 50 with no loss of information. Many of the instructions are ambiguous,repetitious and confusing. There are mistakes. One specific example, pg 290 "Rose Levy Jewish Rye". Omitted the addition of fluid for the "Final Dough". The book should be edited.
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4.2 out of 5 stars
Most recent customer reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
not as good as his second book
i prefer his second book 'local breads' but i learned some stuff about bread making in this book. 'local breads' doesn't really require any knowledge. Read more
Published 19 months ago by rita
1.0 out of 5 stars
disappointment...
I wish I'd read the reviews here before buying this book...when will I learn! As another reviewer pointed out, Chapter 7 is supposed to have many recipes and has absolutely... Read more
Published on July 8 2010 by B. Best
5.0 out of 5 stars
Finally The ONE
After reading more than 10 books about bread making at home I found this one. The only one making sense and good results is this one. No contradictions, no tricks, no nonsense. Read more
Published on Dec 15 2003 by Cristian
5.0 out of 5 stars
The book for the aspiring bread baker
I have been baking bread for over 30 years, but have never found a helpful guide to approaching the fine , chewy, flavourful artisan loaf of the Europeans. Read more
Published on May 13 2003 by Elizabeth L. Greene
4.0 out of 5 stars
A must for serious artisan bread bakers
If you're interested in making serious artisan bread, this book gives you the basic essentials in terms of ingerdients, method and recipes. Read more
Published on Nov 14 2000 by Samuel Fromartz
5.0 out of 5 stars
Bread Alone: Bold Fresh Loaves from Your Own Hands
I have tried for years to replicate the Artisan breads of Baltimore and Washington bakeries in my kitchen oven. Read more
Published on Feb 1 2000 by Louis Spisso
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent book for us neophyte bakers!
I have read and used many different books on baking bread. Dans' book has basically held my hand and walked me thru different areas of breadmaking I did not know or did not... Read more
Published on Jan 9 2000 by "kvirgo50"
5.0 out of 5 stars
You too can bake great bread
Okay, I agree with some of the negatives pointed out by the other reviewers. The excruciating detail can become repetitive, we do not all have access to the exact ingredients, nor... Read more
Published on Jan 8 2000 by "sbgantz"
5.0 out of 5 stars
The fastest path to the slow way of artisinal bread
An excellent book which will help everyone from the novice bread maker to the accomplished baker arrive at an excellent loaf. Read more
Published on Oct 20 1999
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good read, but the detail level is tiresome to extreme.
Learned how to make a good sour-dough bread and a marvelous hearth bread, but the level of detail is extreme and very boring. Read more
Published on July 6 1999
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