Breaking Bread: A Baker's Journey Home in 75 Recipes

I am what they call a "serious" home baker. I have been buying bread books for more than thirty years (Nancy Silverton's Breads of the La Brea Bakery is what got me making my own starter back in the 90’s,) I have taken classes, I have access to hundreds of recipes either on paper or online, I even like developing my own, in other words I need a new bread book as much as a carpenter ant needs a saw. Yet when I learned that Martin was working on one, I knew I would buy it.I had met Martin at a grain event, I was familiar with parts of his story and curious to hear the rest of it and, most of all, I had seen him bake: I remember his fingers barely touching the bubbly dough in front of him before baguettes emerged fully shaped. I had been awed.So I got the book and after baking from it for a while, I am giving it five stars. Let me tell you why.I like the weaving together together of people, events and recipes. I come from a French family where food was definitely the glue that held us all together, sometimes the only way we knew how to express love. I read the book as an invitation to retrace my own journey. One star.Right off the bat, looking at the table of contents, I liked how diverse the recipes were. Although bakers might not like to acknowledge it, they don’t live by bread alone. Flowing from the story as it does, each non-bread recipe (for lemon-blackberry jam, for raita, for tapenade, for coconut curry soup, etc.) seems like an organic addition, the opposite of didactic. Two stars.Because I am running out of shelf space, I got the kindle version of the book (which I read on my tablet.) I normally don’t like cooking or baking from an e-book (I find it hugely frustrating) but this one is the exception, maybe because the recipes are so clearly put forward and the formulas so simply presented that there is no risk of confusion or error. The big plus is of course portability. Since I always have my tablet (and my two hands) with me, I can make most of the recipes anywhere, even at our camp in the summer. Three stars.Interesting as the life story is, no one wants to read through it again every time they need to check a piece of information. A thorough recap of the technical stuff has wisely been put in its own separate section in the second half of the book (with the caveat that the section must be read and understood for the recipes to work as intended.) Four stars.The recipes I have made so far are wonderfully reliable. Follow the instructions and you’ll be a happy baker. My first inkling of this came when I made the Poolish Bagels. As former New Yorkers now living on the other coast, we have a natural craving for bagels. Nothing of what passes for bagels in our area comes even close. I made the recipe. To my surprise the hydration is such that the dough is perfectly manageable even without a mixer (development relies mostly on folds) and the bagels are excellent. I had a similar experience with the baguette formulas (although I must admit to my chagrin that no baguette has yet sprung ready-shaped from my hands.) Whatever professional detours Martin Philip took to get to bread, he didn’t come to be head baker at King Arthur Flour bakery by chance. He is a darn good baker and his recipes are excellent. He is also a compelling writer. Five stars!

I absolutely loved reading about Martin's culinary journey and the recipes he relates to each era. This is the perfect book for those of us that enjoy reading cookbooks for pleasure. Martin is a wonderful writer and I greatly enjoyed the poetry of his writing. On the baking side, the complexity of the recipes increases over time as he became more proficient at bread baking, so the recipes can be followed chronologically to build upon one's own skill. And just when I thought the story was ending, the entire second half of the book appeared (I was reading on my iPad) filled with techniques and in-depth details on the bread baking process. The only small critique I have is that some of the tips (such as the type of salt he developed the recipes with) would have been good to know from the start as I tried following a recipe before getting to the technique section of the book. I love how he presents the recipes in a way that elevates most home bakers' practice, teaching us how professional bakers approach a recipe and familiarizing us with the process. Thus far, I have made the ginger scones and they were wondrously delicious! Overall, this is an amazing resource and I am anxiously awaiting my physical copy (set to arrive within the hour) after borrowing a digital copy from the library. (The digital copy read well but this is a book worthy of adding to my collection.) Although the title may be "Breaking Bread", I think Martin's term "breadwright" is a much better description of this book that elevates bread baking to a passionate lifetime pursuit of mastery and craft. Excellent job Martin!

This is a book for anyone interested in producing an impressive and successful tasty loaf of bread. Even with not quite the professional and precise ability to accomplish perfectly and dumping my loaf on its side from the banneton it came out beautifully and scrumptious. I had some experience with making bread but found the instructions so well described to help hone technique for a superior result. Highly recommend.

I'm still a bit undecided about this Book. It is definitely different than any other Cook Book I have ever bought. It tells a story before each set of recipes and as I am an avid reader, I sort of like that aspect of it. However, I'm not quite sure whether I am that impressed with the recipes. It is definitely NOT specifically a breads recipes book..it includes many other recipes that I will probably never try. But the book itself is very well put together (material-wise) and will last a very long time.