Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads: New Techniques, Extraordinary Flavor
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Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads: New Techniques, Extraordinary Flavor |
PETER REINHART is widely acknowledged as one of the world's leading authorities on bread. He is the author of six books on bread baking, including the 2008 James Beard Award-winning Whole Grain Breads; the 2002 James Beard and IACP Cookbook of the Year, The Bread Baker's Apprentice; and the 1999 James Beard Award-winning Crust and Crumb. He is a full-time baking instructor at Johnson and Wales University and the owner of Pie Town restaurant in Charlotte, North Carolina, and is the host of the popular video website, PizzaQuest.com.
It took me a while to love this book. There is a lot to read before you make that first loaf, and then when you get there you find a giant time management issue if you work full time. So, I started with an easier straight dough recipe. Eventually curiosity got the best of me and I tired the sandwich recipe in here. Wow! The difference between a a straight dough made in 2hours or do and this is significant. Straight dough makes tasty bread compared to the junk in the grocery store if you use fresh milled flour. This book though will ramp you up to a while different level. My family all noticed on the first but the huge difference. Technique is not hard, but does require you to plan ahead. I now do 6lives on a weekend and freeze 5, so not much of a hassle at all. The bread is totally worth it, as it's purchasing this book!-Idateacher2
If you want to make reliably delicious, 100% whole wheat bread, this is your book. I use it frequently, as Reinhart's overnight soaking methods are so easy to learn. The only thing I would say is that the book's strength is in his sandwich bread and rustic bread recipes. His desert recipes and recipes from specific traditions (challah, et. al.) sometimes needed modification. But once you have mastered his method with the sandwich and lean doughs, it's easy to make your own changes to improve the density of those specialty breads. I have this book to thank for the fact that we now eat mostly whole wheat bread at home and would absolutely give it to any fellow baker.-Jenifer Stark
I have always been a very good cookie and pie baker; but yeast breads were not my thing. And I never believed that 100% whole wheat could ever be light and delicious. But I got this book and dove right into the Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread. OMG!!! Success on my first try. I don’t know why it worked since I haven’t read the book yet. But it does. Using my freshly ground grains the taste is heavenly. Chef Reinhardt provides a recipe for BIGA, whatever that is; but says I can substitute my own sourdough (wild yeast) starter...which I did. Chef says cut up the BIGA, but I’ve never heard of a starter that was firm enough to cut. So I ended up adding almost 1/4C extra flour to get it workable. Other than that followed the recipe exactly. And life just got better.-Sharon Wikinson
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