After the bread class I took in October with Gayle I came home and started baking. I have had a really good time providing my family (and myself) with some whole wheat and white hand crafted breads. They eat them up. And when I follow the directions completely, they work great!
Here are the books I have been looking at. I am best at the white Italian loaves, called Pane Pugliese (PON-ay poo-lee-AY-zay), but would like to do better with the whole grain bread. It's better for you. But until I conquer it, I will have white every other time I bake, because I don't want to burn out my faithful tasters with an inferior product.
I read and bought the Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book in the '80s and have found that the tutorial called "A loaf for learning" has been the best teacher of how to make a delicious loaf of whole wheat bread. Not only does it teach technique, but it teaches WHY you need to do the things to bake a light and edible and not brick-like product.
This was one of the books our teacher had at the class we took, and it was a super-pretty book. I bought it used online for a song, and am glad I did. I think I will try some olive bread for the holidays. 
Our teacher recommended watching Peter Reinhart on Youtube for some techniques, so I did. He is a really great instructor and baking professional, and fun to listen to. I am reading through this whole grain bread book, which is pretty technical and overly scientific in some places, but informative and interesting. I am hoping to hone my skills at creating a great artisan loaf of whole wheat bread. What are you doing now that the weather has changed and you've had to come in out of the cold?
2 comments:
Your post of break baking books does inspire me some. I might go amazon shopping myself.....although you know I'm afraid of the eating part. Thanks for sharing.
I have soooo enjoyed your "experiments" with new bread recipes!
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