Flour Water Salt Yeast The Fundamentals of Artisan Bread and Pizza by Ken Forkish - Hardcover

Very nice book

very useful tips.

I have lots of the all well known backing books All good But this is my favorite of them all The only book you need

A lot of flour waste,1kg per recipe. Lots of repetition and name dropping unnecessarily. Quite complicated to follow. Returned the book.

Great book for amazing rustic bread. Very well explained

I've been making the bread about 3 - 4 years before buying this book. But this book has opened my eyes about possibilities and techniques of bread making. I know this is the 1 book from many but I recommend it to anyone who wants to learn or get some more info about bread making. There are nice receipts there and is divided to chapters from simple techniques (using yeast and brewing in the same day as making the dough, to the levain-based breads). The photos are so "provocative" that you want the fresh bread. NOW! With this book, my bread quality rises at least 1 level up. I appreciate that author has described not only receipts but also the practical steps he has been doing in his own bakery. I would recommend to also watch youtube videos that described the steps such as folding, proofing to check if you're doing it right.

I am absolutely in love with this book. I've had it for about 2 years, and I have never had a failed recipe. I'm a solid amateur baker. Prior to reading Flour, Water, Salt, Yeast, I had made the NYT no-knead loaf many times, had dabbled in various pizza dough recipes, and I had made a lot of bread-maker loaves and challah. When I wanted to try something new, I bought FWSY based on some research into good, reliable bread books. The book is a well-organized, easy read. It is divided into sections based around the preparation style for the bread, with some introductory chapters which will help you to understand the science of bread-making and improve your overall results. I would certainly recommend reading those before diving in. Forkish provides suggested schedules for your bread-making, which is very helpful if you want to plan your weekend (or weekday) and quickly know what kind of bread commitment you've made. He has suggestions for slowing down the proofing process, for folding the dough, and for equipment that are all very useful. He's also provided accompanying youtube videos to learn some of the techniques described in the book. Those were incredibly helpful and instructive. The results have been excellent. I've made most of the breads that call for autolyse, biga, and poolish. They are all incredible, with my personal favourite being the 50% whole wheat bread with biga. I have yet to venture into the world of sourdoughs since I don't have houseroom for the starter, but when I'm making bread regularly, I'm in the habit of saving a small piece of raw dough in a container one week so that I can add it to the dough the next week (after blitzing into the warm water) - a technique my father-in-law uses for his own bread to give it a little extra fermented flavour and a better shelf life. The only drawback to this book - which may be true of other bread books - is that it calls for a LOT of kitchen equipment that not everyone has readily available. I purchased an instant-read thermometer and a new kitchen scale so I could check my dough and water temperatures precisely. You'll definitely need a dutch oven if you don't already own one. Instead of banneton baskets, I use well-floured kitchen towels lining metal bowls, and it works ok but isn't perfect. Finally, Forkish calls for large plastic containers for mixing and proofing the dough. I had a large canning pot with a clear glass lid which I use instead, but if you don't have one of those, you may need new equipment. All in all, that brought the price up from around 40 CAD to about 70. However, since I already used a kitchen scale and needed a replacement, this wasn't a big deal for me. Additionally, the instant read digital thermometer has now become a household staple and is a huge improvement compared to our old one. I love this book and heartily recommend it to anyone willing to devote a little time, attention, and energy to learning beautiful bread-making techniques. Best of luck!

Book is amazing! Making bread is wonderful, relaxing, form of art. Not just book with the recipes but also an interesting read.

O livro é muito bom. Explica o uso da temperatura dos ingredientes e do tempo para fazer pães incríveis. A história de vida do Ken também é bem legal. O que esse livro me ajudou foi mais na teoria de como se fazer pães e na simplicidade das receitas. Ele só apresenta um jeito de incorporar ingredientes, um jeito de dobrar a massa, um jeito de dividir e formar os pães. E com essa base, apresenta receitas que variam de diversas maneiras (farinha, hidratação, tempo de fermentação e etc) mas possuem a mesma estrutura. Sem as "firulas" (que são indispensáveis mas não essenciais per se) fica mais tranquilo fazer aquele pão gostoso e bonito. As outras técnicas (batard vs boule) como usar a navalha para fazer a arte no pão (que ele não apresenta), massas com ingredientes adicionais, é melhor ver em outro livro, pois nesse não tem. E no fim de tudo isso, ainda tem receitas de pizza e foccacia, o que é bem legal :D