“Bread Baking for Beginners” Will Give You All the Confidence You Need
Welcome to Cookbook of the Week . This is a series where I highlight cookbooks that are unique, easy to use, or just special to me. While searching for a specific recipe online serves a quick purpose, flipping through a truly excellent cookbook has its own magic.
Baking bread isn’t for everyone, and I get it: Spending hours (or days) making one “simple” staple that you can easily buy at the store for a few dollars is probably absurd. I fully acknowledge that I may never be able to convert people who feel that way, and that’s okay.
But what about home cooks who are intrigued rather than terrified by the idea of baking bread? Despite the recipes and advice accumulated over generations, yeast-raised bread is notoriously finicky, and nothing will break your spirit like trying to throw a third dense, doughy starter into the compost bin. That’s why I’ve decided to focus this week on Bread Baking for Beginners . This cookbook creates a safe space where you can gain the confidence and knowledge you need to have a bright future as a baker.
A little about the book
As you can tell from the title, Bread Baking for Beginners has a clear purpose. Author Bonnie Ohara has been the owner and baker of Alchemy Bread since 2014, and her experience with dough shows on every page. She teaches you how to bake bread in this cookbook in a kind and instructive way, and honestly, it’s a breath of fresh air compared to the aloof, know-it-all approach you’ll find all over the internet.
This cookbook has a curriculum-style progression without feeling like a textbook. In fact, it’s quite accessible: starting with terminology and equipment, then moving from simple no-knead breads to kneaded breads to enriched breads and sourdoughs, Ohara teaches you to walk before you run.
A great cookbook for bread lovers.
Being a beginner at anything is a vulnerable state. A bad loaf of bread is akin to rejection, and many people can’t handle that feeling. That’s why it’s important to have a good teacher. Throughout the pages of Bread Baking for Beginners, Ohara is always there to encourage you, and I fully believe that it’s that kind of support and encouragement that can keep a new baker coming back to the kitchen after a bad loaf or two.
Ohara’s encouragement is never overdone or insincere. She has a way of letting you know that perfection is not the goal. A little wiggle in your ficelle? That’s character! Your dough hasn’t risen enough? Don’t worry, it’s perfectly okay to adjust your proofing time as you go.
Each recipe is easy to follow, with a short title and an even shorter ingredient list, and the instructions are always clear. I appreciate that each recipe includes information on how to shape and how to check the proofing, because this can look and feel different depending on the type of bread you are making.
And what’s a lesson without a Q&A session? Throughout the lesson, there are sections with common problems and helpful FAQs. You’ll get probable answers to questions about why your dough was too dense and why it popped out of the bottom instead of the mark. She’ll give tips on what to do if your loaf seems ruined. Of course, this is useful for next time, but it also normalizes the act of ruining: it’s all part of learning. But unlike a math lesson, you can snack on your mistakes.
Bread I baked this week
I don’t usually choose no-knead breads, but I think these are the most welcoming recipes for beginning bakers. Apparently Ohara agrees, because they’re in the first chapter. From her suggestions, I made a Master Recipe for No-Knead Bread.
As expected, this is a classic four-ingredient Lenten bread. It doesn’t get much simpler than flour, water, salt, and yeast. I’m no stranger to bread baking (you can check out my boule sourdough recipe here ), so I was a little surprised to see all-purpose flour used. Bread flour is typically used because of its higher gluten content, which results in better structure and increased elasticity.
I flipped ahead to read the author’s thoughts on ingredient selection, and she made it clear that not only had she had success with regular all-purpose flour, but that it was more accessible to most home cooks. I respect that choice. If someone can succeed with fewer hurdles, they can make the switch themselves if and when they want. However, it also requires a kitchen scale (all measurements are in grams, with no volume option), so there’s still an expectation that you’ll have the right tools before you begin. (Personally, I’d switch to bread flour for this type of recipe.)
Her no-knead bread is as easy as promised. I weighed out all the ingredients and mashed them with a wooden spoon as best I could, but that didn’t count as kneading. Unless you’re using expired yeast, I can’t imagine this bread not coming alive. Ohara is very clear about ambient temperature and reminds you of ideal conditions for the best rise. Even with that advice and a decade of bread baking under my belt, I managed to over-proof my no-knead dough, but I’m not mad about it. The loaf was light and evenly aerated. I think it would make a good sandwich bread. And that’s the ABC of bread baking, it takes a few tries to get the hang of a new bread recipe. I’ll try it again soon enough.
How to buy
I usually go for hardcover for cookbooks, but this week I went for paperback . It’s a great price, and since it’s more of an instructional cookbook than a display copy, I don’t think I’ll feel too bad if the pages get stained with flour, oil, or water. If you haven’t been there in a while, take a stroll to your local bookstore and see if you can find it on the shelves.