Great Book

[heliman]

I got this book today: Bread Baking - An Artisan's Perspective by Daniel T. DiMuzio.

Really well structured and very informative book to compliment Bread Baker's Apprentice.

I recommend it for in-depth understanding of the entire breadmaking process.

A belated Xmas gift perhaps?

Rossco

[DrakeRemoray]

Does it have much about baking with sourdough? Or other old dough methods? Is it mostly multi-day bread recipes?
Unfortunately they do not have it at my library yet...

Drake

[heliman]

This is an overview of the topics covered in this excellent book. It is available from Amazon, Barnes and Noble etc.


1 The History of Bread Making
A Brief History of Bread Making
Bread’s Impact on Basic Survival
A Cornerstone of Civilization
How Bread Began
Bread: An Accidental Creation
Mechanized Bread Making
Direct Mixing Method
World War II and Its Aftermath
The Intensive Mix Method
Rescue Arrives —The Improved Mix Method
Renewed Interest in Great Bread

2 Ingredients and Their Effects
Ingredients for Baking Bread
The Most Important Ingredient: Flour
Wheat Dough Can Inflate
The Wheat Berry
Wheat Classifi cation
Other Grains
Water
Salt
Yeast
Sweeteners
Fats and Oils
Milk Products
Eggs
Nuts, Seeds, Grains, and Dried Fruits
Using Whole Grains
Herbs and Spices

3 Basic Baker’s Percentage (Baker’s Math)
An International Language for Bakers
It’s All in the Percentages
Changing Batch Sizes
Find the Total Flour Weight: Using the Percentage Sum
Discrepancies in Batch Size
When You Have Two or More Flours

4 Mixing Methods
The First 10,000 Years: Hand Mixing
Two Stages in the Dough Mixing Process
Dough Transformation During Mixing
Precursors to Mechanized Mixing
Mechanization Arrives: The Short Mix Method
Intensive Mix Method
The Improved Mix Method
Is There a Best Mixing Method?
Special Circumstances or Exceptions

5 Fermentation
Fermentation: A Process of Transformation
Does Fermentation Create or Destroy?
Fermentation of Bread Dough
Yeast Fermentation: Produces Carbon Dioxide and Alcohol
Bacterial Fermentation: Produces Organic Acids
Nonliving Organic Substances: Esters and Enzymes
Manipulating Fermentation: Time, Temperature, and Hydration
Pre-Ferments: How to Shorten Fermentation Time
While Increasing Strength and Flavor
Natural Pre-Ferments

6 Division and Shaping of Loaves and Rolls
Giving Form to Dough
The First Step: Division
Shaping Loaves and Rolls

7 Proofing and Retarding
Proofing Defined
Judging the Readiness of Proofed Loaves
Proofi ng versus Bulk Fermentation
Collapse of Overproofed Dough
Gas Production in Successful Proofing
Changing the Temperature of Dough
Yeast Quantity in Dough
The Degradation of Dough Structure
Retarding Loaves of Bread
Dough Degradation in Retarding
Specialized Equipment for Proofing and Retarding
Loaves of Bread

8 Baking
Baking Transforms Raw Dough
Recognizing When Loaves Are Ready to Be Baked
Scoring Loaves
Baking Temperature
Using Steam
How to Judge the Doneness of Bread
The Importance of Cooling Bread after Baking

9 Rich and Laminated Doughs
The Effects Ingredients Have on Dough
Strategies for Turning Lean Dough into Rich Dough
Why Not Just Add the Fat to the Dough?
Lamination Defined
The Lamination Process
Differences between Croissant Dough and Danish Dough
Some Caveats in Working with Laminated Dough Products
Shaping Croissants and Danish

10 Creating Dough Formulas
Formulation: How Can We Design Our Own Reliable Bread Dough?
Choose Your Ingredients
Create a Formula, Not Just a Recipe

Advanced Topic #1: Flour Composition and Milling Technology
Elements of the Wheat Endosperm
The Milling Process

Advanced Topic #2: Advanced Baker’s Percentage
Using Pre-Ferments in Formula Creation
Which Pre-Ferment Should You Use?

Advanced Topic #3: Controlling Fermentation: Living and Nonliving Players
Controlling Yeast Activity
Controlling Bacterial Activity
Enzymes: Amylase and Protease

Advanced Topic #4: Decorative Dough Pieces
Working with Decorative Dough
Types of Decorative Dough

Appendix: Formulas

[heliman]

There is an interesting "biga" based pizza dough recipe in this book which I started last night. I intend making the rest of the recipe this evening to see how it turns out. Will report on my observations...

BTW - a nice feature of this book is that it encourages one to experiment with recipes, and in fact, shows you how to go about doing this and document the findings. I found that it is a great reference to be read together with the BBA. For example, for additional pointers on preparing the biga - I referred to BBA for a method comparison (and ended up using the BBA). Will switch back to DiMuzio's method for the rest of the process.

Another great thing too is that the "science" behind the bread making process is also explored. Whilst this info may not be of interest to everyone, I like to get as much "inside info" as possible as it is useful for overall understanding of what I am setting out to achieve.

Rossco

[heliman]

Another great book with lots of useful info and an informative section on breadmaking:

THE BAKER’S MANUAL
5th Edition
150 MASTER FORMULAS FOR BAKING
JOSEPH AMENDOLA
NICOLE REES

This book extends beyond the basics and covers techniques and the science behind baking all types of cakes, breads and more...

Rossco

[fornax hominus]

Since this is a 5th edition , you can find used [or new/old stock] copies at AbeBooks Official Site - New & Used Books, New & Used Textbooks, Rare & Out of Print Books .. I have been using them for years.. 7.000+ used bookstores all linked together.. fantastic!
tim