Peter Reinhart's Artisan Breads Every Day Hardcover – September 29, 2009

I started my bread making adventure with the original 'Artisan bread in five minutes a day' book. That was a nice start, but for a perfectionist like me, it wasn't satisfying in the long run. I soon figured out that there was no way I could make a loaf of bread with dough that has been stored in the fridge for 2 weeks. I was never able to create a loaf of bread that came with both, oven spring and a nice tangy sour dough flavor. At best I got one of the two (a somewhat decent oven spring with new fresh dough, and better flavor with older dough), but never both.I soon figured out that dough older than 4 days doesn't hold any shape, and is best used as a pre-ferment mixed in a new batch.And I don't like volume measurements! I grew up with a cheap scale, simply dumping the ingredients into a mixing bowl on the scale, taring between measurements - so much faster and easier, and more precise, but not if the recipe doesn't come with weight measurements.I finally 'upgraded' to Peter Reinharts 'Artisan Bread Every Day' book, and have been much happier ever since. Not only does it come with measurements in grams and ounces (and volume too, if you must), I also believe that the 'stretch and fold' technique helps developing a better crumb, and thanks to the great instructions in this book I have been baking with pure sourdough starters ever since.Starting a wild yeast culture was really easy - only after baking happily with it for weeks I realized that many people online aren't quite that lucky with their 'catch' from the get go. Reinhart suggests to use pineapple juice to start the culture, or to try any acidic liquid like lemon or orange juice. I had an old organic grapefruit in the fridge that I had bought by accident, mistaking it for an orange, and used that for the initial mix, and plain orange juice on the second day. My seed culture broke all speed records in regards of foaming and bubbling from day one.I have had this first culture in my fridge for 1 1/2 years now, refeeding it on average once a week, and it still works great. In fact, it is so active and leavening that even in the recipes that call for commercial yeast on top of the pre-ferment due to eggs or fat, I get away with just the sourdough starter - I haven't bought instant yeast in a year (but if you don't want to bake with sourdough starter, there are plenty of recipes that use store bought yeast only, too).It still was a learning curve - it took me a while to ignore all the time cues and to just look at the dough. Living in an hot and humid climate like South Florida, I can easily cut all the proofing times stated in half. I ended up with tons of loaves flat and gummy simply because I always ended up over proofing the dough. Now I make sure that I proceed to the next step in the recipe after the starter doubled in size, the dough doubled in size, and the shaped loaf grew by 1 1/2 in size. If I let the shaped loaf grow any further, the yeast has nothing left to give in the oven for any oven spring. Best results always come if I stick the shaped loaves in the fridge and bake them cold the next day. But that is Florida, I might do it differently in a colder climate.All recipes I tried worked wonderful, provided I didn't end up over proofing, and I feel I was able to take my bread baking attempts to a whole new level. 'Artisan breads in Five' was great to get me into baking to begin with, but real good bread takes a little more effort, more so in managing time, temperatures and techniques than hands on work - but it is so worth it!(I uploaded a picture of crusty cheese bread, leavened with sourdough starter only, no yeast added)

I am a firm believer in the slow rise method of bread making, a technique author Peter Reinhart champions in all of his books, and when this book hit shelves I quickly snapped up a copy and set to work. My observation is that Reinhart has tried to simplify the process of making slow-rise breads, and for the most part he is successful.First and foremost, Reinhart has toned down the details in this book, making it more approachable for the more casual baker. That is, he spends a lot less time going over the chemistry and the theory, concentrating more on the formulas themselves. There is certainly nothing wrong with this, and it reflects a trend of having less and less time to work in the kitchen. I personally like the details and find they make the process of baking breads much more interesting. To be sure, this is the idea behind this book - bring the slow-rise methodology to the masses that have less time and/or interest in knowing all the behind-the-scenes happenings with the dough as it proofs.There are a lot of good formulas in this book and all of them (at least the ones I have tried, anyway) yield great results. The reader does need to understand that the vast majority of these require more than a single day to make and require some planning ahead. The subtitle on the book is "Fast and Easy Recipes for World-Class Breads", and this is not exactly true. They are certainly easy and the resulting breads are indeed world-class, but there's no "fast" about it.Reinhart's most successful book to date has been the Bread Baker's Apprentice, and in that book he introduces Pain a l'Ancienne, a rustic bread that requires cold fermentation and relies on cold water to activate the yeast - very different from the standard warm water proof. He has updated the formula in Artisan Breads Every Day, and it is now easier to handle and is more flexible. Comparing them side by side, though, I believe the new version is a step back, losing something flavor-wise in the resulting loaves. The loaves do have flavor and they are quite good - don't get me wrong on that point - but I just don't believe they're as astoundingly good as what comes from following his original formula. On many of his other formulas, though, he has definitely improved his methods and even the flavor.All of Reinhart's books follow the same basic format in terms of page layout, formula breakdown and graphic design, and this book is no exception. It's a format that works very well. There are a lot of excellent photographs that support the presentation of each formula and there are sections for variations on many of the formulas that expand the collection appreciably. Finding a good idea for a special bread is easy with this book.This is another successful book on the topic of slow-rise breads and it is a little easier to follow and use than many of Reinhart's other books on the topic. This is a very good introduction to the topic and will enable the home baker to create outstanding breads without requiring a degree in chemistry. If you want to create the kinds of breads that get raves and you're willing to spend a little more time on such loaves, this is a great starting point.