Product Description

First, Daniel examines the key ingredients in baking (flour, yeast, salt and water), explains the science behind the seemingly alchemic processes, and advises on the right kit to get started. He then demonstrates how to make yeast and non-yeast breads, as well as enriched doughs and home-started sourdough, and includes sixty recipes, covering everything from the simple white loaf and familiar classics such as ciabatta, naan and pizza bread, to fresh new challenges like potato bread, rye, tortilla, croissants, doughnuts and bagels. The handbook is completed by full-colour photographs throughout, including step-by-step photos, instructions for building your own bread oven, and a directory of equipment and useful addresses.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #405 in Books
• Published on: 2009-02-16
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 224 pages

Review
'My team at River Cottage really know how to find and cook good, fresh food. Together we are creating a series of handbooks crammed with expert information. They will be passionate, but practical so that you can have a really useful book to hand whenever you feel the urge to forage, preserve, bake, grow or cook' Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall PRAISE FOR THE FIRST RIVER COTTAGE HANDBOOK, MUSHROOMS: 'The best guide to gathering and eating wild mushrooms there has ever been' Independent

About the Author
As well as baking fresh bread every day in the HQ kitchens, Daniel Stevens leads the ever-popular Build and Bake courses, which equip students with the skills to build their own outdoor wood-fired oven. Daniel has been cooking and baking in professional kitchens for several years, in Hertfordshire, where he grew up, and more recently in Dorset, where he now lives. He has been part of the kitchen team at HQ since June 2006.

Customer Reviews

Bread like your Gran used to make.
What a glorious book. I started to make my own bread a little over 8 months ago and had a reasonable level of success, but was always disappointed by the lost loaves that didn't quite work out. This book put an end to these problems and I can honestly say I've not had a bad loaf since.

The basic bread recipe is explained in great detail with information as to why you're doing each stage, and what is going on with the dough at each stage. This takes the mystery out of your loaf and helps you to understand if anything is going wrong, giving you a chance to correct it before its to late. One you've followed this through a couple of times then the basic recipe is given in a short version, much more like a normal recipe, making it easy to follow.

After the basics have been learnt then the skies the limit. There are plenty of other recipes to have a go at (not to mention the gorgeous focaccia bread) and a rather useful section on what to make with your bread that is a little past its best. There is even a section on how to make your own outdoor bread oven that has got me dreaming of outdoor feasts over the summer.

A simple to follow must have guide without the waffle about the "terrible state of the modern bread industry" that is often present in other books. Buy it now!

Brilliant book - My bread has improved massively
This book is simply brilliant. The 'basic' bread recipe takes 54 pages (yes, 54!) because goes through each stage in detail, explaining why each step is important. This section alone is worth the purchase price because it contains all the basic skills you need. I thought I made pretty good bread already, but since I got this book and read through this section, my bread has got 100 times better.

He covers aspects most others don't such as how to shape the loaves and the basic ratios that almost all bread recipes are based on and has the customary (and well deserved) attack on the Chorleywood process that has all but killed 'real' bread for most people.

Dan's writing conveys his enthusiasm really well and makes you want to get stuck in straight away. He also covers the more specialist breads well (such as bagels, ciabatta) and yeast free breads (like soda bread).

Highly Recommended.

Detailed but enjoyable
This is the best book on bread I have ever come across. My bread making as improved out of site since reading it. At a first glance this book, like the others I've seen in this series, looks too pretty to be much good. But like all the others in the series it manages to have a huge amount of substance to back up its beauty. The first 50 odd pages that go through the process of bread making and the techniques involved in real detail but without being dull or pedantic are worth the price twice over - the rest is a very nice bonus. Thanks for writing such a great book. One of the highlights of what is a very, very good series.