Flour Water Salt Yeast: The Fundamentals of Artisan Bread and Pizza [A Cookbook]

If I had to choose only 3 cookbooks to take with me to a new home, this would be my bread book. A close runner up would be Chad Robertson's Tartine Bread, but I give the edge to Ken Folkish's book based on the variety of recipes, the precision of the instructions, and the consistent excellence of the outcomes.In my review of Tartine Bread, I called this book by Ken Forkish the "Algorithm of Bread", written by an ex-software engineer. Forkish is meticulous in his description of how to bake each loaf, as if he were writing a detailed algorithm for a baker to follow. Starting by defining his bread baking objects in early chapters, he proceeds by chapter from straight bread, to preferments, to natural yeast hybrids, to pure leavened breads, a journey that allows intermediate (and even beginner) bakers to follow a natural bread learning progression. The recipes for all his bread variants produce consistently top-quality loaves. I was shocked when my first preferment loaf turned out nearly perfect, in both form and taste. The algorithm worked.Chapter 2 is great background on bread and Folkish's methods; the why's and how's of his bread. Chapter 4 describes the core methods used in all of his breads: mixing, folding, dividing, proofing and baking. These are the essential programming (bread baking) objects that are arranged in the bread algorithms (recipes) which compose the rest of the book.The book has a limited but sufficient repertoire of classic breads. You won't find recipes for esoteric ingredients and combinations. That is not Forkish's intent, nor if I understand correctly is that what he offers in his Portland bakery. What you will find is a beautiful exposition of standard and classic breads: whites, whole wheats and browns; both commercially and naturally leavened. At the end of the book are two chapters on pizza, which I must say I have not read because I don't care for pizza. Forkish has a new book out (or due out soon) devoted to pizza, for the devoti di pizza.The naturally leavened (sourdough) breads in Flour Water Salt Yeast are better than Peter Reinhart's. They are on par with Chad Robertson's. The results with Forkish recipes are more consistent than with Robertson. The difference between the Zen of Bread (Robertson) and the Algorithm of Bread Baking (Forkish) is that Robertson is less directive and less precise, encouraging the baker to 'feel' what is going on and adjust, while Forkish basically says, "Do this, this and this, and you will get very good bread." ---very much like a conditional statement in programming. And he is right, you do get very good, more likely 'excellent', bread. Interestingly, in a couple places in the book, Ken Forkish credits Chad Robertson for helping him out with technique and ideas when Forkish was learning to bake bread. Nice when the results of the student match or exceed those of the master.Once I started making the hybrid and pure leavened breads in this book, only occasionally do I go back and make the pre-fermented breads. The hybrids and pure leavens have more complex flavor and last longer on the countertop. I never tried the straight yeasted breads in the book, going right to the preferments. I can truly recommend ALL the hybrid and naturally leavened recipes, with my favorite being the Overnight Country Brown (and also the companion Overnight Country Blonde). The pure leaven breads last for 3-4 days on the countertop under a tea towel and are still great. No other bread I bake is so durable.Both Forkish and Robertson use the Dutch Over method of baking for wet doughs. That was a brilliant innovation. It is the only way I have found to get the kind of internal moistness and external crispness in leavened breads baked at home. I have tried all the steam and spray techniques without the success of baking an a dutch oven or perhaps a cloche.Since I have baked with a few bread books, I want to offer my take on how they compare/rank (for me) to give others who might be looking for bread books the benefit of what I have learned. It can be tough wading through bread books, and this is just another (personal) view on what is out there.Highly Recommended (5-stars)Flour Water Salt Yeast: The Fundamentals of Artisan Bread and Pizza - best all around artisan bread for home baking, consistently very good to excellent bread. No worries, just follow the directions, it will turn out fine.Tartine Bread - beautiful exposition of how to bake artisan bread the 'Tartine Way'. Very Zen-like in the emphasis on repetition and feeling/sensing what is going on, placing the onus on the baker to think, intuit and adapt. A close second to Flour Water Salt Yeast. Robertson's signature 'Country Loaf' is still my favorite bread.Recommended (4-stars)Bread: A Baker's Book of Techniques and Recipes - literally a textbook on baking bread, ideal for culinary students or small-scale commercial bakers who have already practiced/learned the fundamentals. I use this book occasionally for rye and other non-wheat breads. It is 'THE Book' of bread, but is not as detailed and instructional as Flour Water Salt Yeast. Not a good first book of bread by itself. It is a reference book for me. The recipes are well-tested and delicious.Good (3-stars)Bread Matters: The State of Modern Bread and a Definitive Guide to Baking Your Own - an iconoclastic and sometimes pedantic denunciation of commercial (unnatural) bread, with gobs of excellent information about bread and method and a stable of recipes, though not as foolproof as Flour Water Salt Yeast. A bit British in its context, since the English author writes for a mainly British audience. And the author is a bit cranky sometimes. There are some great rye and alternative grain recipes. The wheat breads are okay/good, but because they are not fired (kiln or dutch oven method), they don't have the wonderful crust of the Forkish breads.How to Make Bread - not as much description as Forkish but great photos, a clean, easy, consistent format. More bread variety (grains and flavor ingredients) than Forkish and very good results by an excellent international baker and teacher. But here is the problem with the non-Dutch Oven (or Cloche) method --it's all just bread. No caramelized, crisp crust the way you get in a bakery. If you can't bake in a kiln or a modern day equivalent, it just isn't the same.Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads: New Techniques, Extraordinary Flavor - Reinhart's previous Bread Baker's Apprentice updated for whole grains. Generally an improvement over the prior book. Same format but healthier recipes and more of them, with less of the instructional detail and background on bread.The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread - good for beginners. Recipes okay, but not great and a lot of stuff other than core bread. The real benefit its the 100 page background to bread and technique. If you are serious about bread, you will outgrow this book quicklyInteresting Books I Am Still Working Through [update to follow]Tartine Book No. 3: Modern Ancient Classic Whole - the first book, Tartine Bread, is so great, the third Tartine volume is a natural extensionDella Fattoria Bread: 63 Foolproof Recipes for Yeasted, Enriched & Naturally Leavened Breads - reading through it with interest, but have not baked anything yet. Like Forkish, the author uses a dutch oven on some breads.Specialized Books For Bread-Bakers -- RecommendedThe Bread Builders: Hearth Loaves and Masonry Ovens - the best treatise on the subject of fermentingBread Science: The Chemistry and Craft of Making Bread - all sorts of helpful hints buried in this bread-baker's dissertation on bread. Well worth purchasing as a Kindle book.Books I Would Like to TryThe Italian Baker, Revised: The Classic Tastes of the Italian Countryside--Its Breads, Pizza, Focaccia, Cakes, Pastries, and Cookies - I have the author's book on Italian grandmother's cooking and love it.The Fundamental Techniques of Classic Bread Baking - when I think I know everything there is to know about bread, I want to read this tome.There are also many good baking books with bread-making sections, like Dori Greenspan's Baking with Julia: Savor the Joys of Baking with America's Best Bakers and King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking: Delicious Recipes Using Nutritious Whole Grains (King Arthur Flour Cookbooks), which I have used for non-bread recipes but not baked bread from. So many bread books, so little time...I have very little criticism of Ken Forkish's book. I wouldn't mind some more naturally leavened recipes, and some alternative grain formulations. Maybe that is stuff for his next book. And I am kind of amazed how much leaven/starter is thrown away after daily feeding and care. As I understand it, the reason for the big dose of flour, when you wind up throwing most of it out is so the bacteria can really bloom. But that doesn't quite make sense to me, because it feels like it should all be scaleable. Andrew Whitley Bread Matters: The State of Modern Bread and a Definitive Guide to Baking Your Own and Emmanuel Hadjiandreou How to Make Bread have much more sensible and less wasteful leaven development / maintenance programs. And in my daily starter maintenance program, I have scaled back the Forkish program by a factor of about 10.Personal Favorite: Pain au Bacon. A killer recipe!

This is one of the best written technique-based cookbooks I have ever read. It is like a well-written textbook, with the first 80 pages diving deep into technique and how to develop feel and intuition while baking. It is also worth checking out the accompanying youtube videos on technique.Topics covered in this section include :• Basic mixing technique• Understanding fermentation timeline• How to read and develop dough recipes• Understanding pre-ferments and sourdough starters• Equipment neededand much more.While the recipes in this book are also great, once you work your way through this book you will be more than comfortable developing your own recipes, unlocking entirely new possibilities in flavors and textures of bread. My only critique of the book is in his instructions on developing and maintaining your own sourdough starter at home--he recommends doing so on a scale that is entirely too large and wastes a lot of flour. He has since followed up on this and confirmed that you can follow the same instructions on 1/10th the scale.I have been baking for 8 years now, and this was the first book I purchased on the topic. All these years later, I recently bought a new copy after lending my original to a friend who lost it. I still use it as a resource to refer back to when troubleshooting new recipes. I've read at least 6 other books on bread baking (including well-regarded classics like Robertson's "Tartine" and " Reinholdt's "Bread Baker's Apprentice") but this is by far the best in terms of developing an understanding and intuition on how to master the art of bread baking. This is the first book I recommend to anyone who is interested in baking.

This book is in better condition than advertised. I will buy from them again.

Great book about different bread making recipes with concepts and ideas about recipes. I have tried a couple of recipes and the bread was great, easy to understand.