The Handmade Loaf: The book that started a baking revolution - Softcover

Lepard, Dan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1845333896 ISBN 13: 9781845333898

Publisher: Mitchell Beazley, 2008

Synopsis

The Handmade Loaf is a collection of recipes, personal stories and photographs that capture both the breads and the bakers of Europe. With over 80 recipes, many inspired by the bakers profiled, The Handmade Loaf provides a variety of bread staples that range from the rustic to the artisan. They tap into an older knowledge of bread baking while looking at local ingredients and traditional methods with fresh eyes.

Dan Lepard presents a unique way of looking at bread while providing recipes that are natural, achievable and delicious. Their blend of history and innovation will appeal to both the experienced baker, and to a generation ready to discover the simple pleasure of baking their first loaf at home.

The Handmade Loaf provides a beautiful, photographic experience that captures the individual processes of bread baking. Shot in real time, the photographs place the reader beside the baker as the dough is mixed and the bread is removed from the oven. The images are purposefully detailed and raw so that we understand perfectly how crumb structure and crust vary from recipe to recipe.

About this title

Review

'As fresh and as mouth-watering as a loaf straight from the oven... the author's own step-by-step photographs are genuinely educational.' -- Jenni Muir, The Independent Review

'(Lepard's) supreme skill is his empathy with people who bake, from grandmothers using ancient ovens to cutting-edge chefs.' -- Sheila Keating, The Times Magazine

'It oozes knowledge, curiosity and love for its subject... I doubt a better book will be written on the subject for a few years to come.' -- Tom Jaine, The Guardian --Tom Jaine, The Guardian

From the Author

"I wanted an honest breadmaking book," says Dan, "and that meant baking from the recipes printed, in my own kitchen and in other peoples' ovens, and then photograph those result. They're not plastic perfect loaves, but achievable breads from detailed recipes. A natural leaven is made from scratch and photographed each day so the reader can see the changes that are visible,and not imagine things that aren't there. I wanted to keep it real."

"I've tried to keep the recipe photography brutally clear and sharp, to explain rather than hide with each picture. There's so much that can be learned looking at the crumb structure and the crust, and the reader loses that detail when we hide it in soft focus. The pictures are rough and hard edged, taken as soon as the bread can be sliced which captures the vibrancy just-baked crust colour, and the moistness in the crumb."

"I didn't want to write a book that the home baker got quickly bored with," says Dan, "that just rehashed bad science on highly decorated but tasteless breads. There are many home bakers who have already made their first loaf,or people who are good with their bread machine and want to bake more, or just bright passionate cooks who love books and learning. This book is for them. These are the recipes I use at home, that I find quick, that give me the best results in my domestic oven."

"Though the countries have been an inspiration, and their bakers have advised and guided me," says Dan, "I wanted to avoid writing recipes that suggested, say, that you can make a perfect baguette using generic supermarket flour and a sachet of easy-blend yeast. This just isn't true. But how about teaching how to bake a beautiful, good flavoured loaf with the flour that you have, with the grain that grows in the region around you. By moving the focus from the bread name to the grain, then making the best use of local ingredients becomes the goal."

"Let's encourage people to be thoughtful, intelligent bakers too. The word 'Organic' is not a brand, but a responsibility towards the environment we all must share. There are farmers, millers and bakers who care about the soil that grows the grain we use, and I'm adamant we will support them. These stories and recipes encourage readers to do just that."

Edition details

• Publisher: Mitchell Beazley
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 1845333896
• ISBN 13: 9781845333898
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 192