Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Breads
by Bernard Clayton
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Book Summary Information
Author: Bernard ClaytonIllustrator: Donnie Cameron
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2006-10-03
ISBN: 0743287096
Number of pages: 704
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Book Reviews of Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Breads
Book Review: Poorly Organized!
Summary: 3 Stars
Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Breads has been at the top of my Wish List for some while now, so I was delighted when I received it recently as a surprise from a friend. Clayton's encyclopedic book is a nice addition to my rather extensive collection of cookbooks and the book does contain some real treasures, starting with REAL, no wheat flour in sight, Southern Cornbread. There are three specifics, however, that made me rate this three stars rather than four or five.
First,Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Breads is very poorly organized. There is no division between yeast breads and quick breads (those that use baking soda or baking powder). If you want a recipe for biscuits you'll have to use the index and then wander all over the book. One would expect a chapter entitled White Breads to contain only recipes for White Bread, but you would be wrong. Clayton's White Bread chapter, for example, contains, along with a number of recipes for variations of white bread, a recipe for white bread with chocolate, one with a swirl of walnuts & raisins and a third that contains Roman Meal cereal. This is not an easy book to navigate. If you bake much from this book, you'll be wanting to add sticky-notes in order to find the recipes you like.
Second, while Clayton does give instructions for both mixing/kneading by hand and using a food processor, and does set out a work outline in a left-hand column, the type face used is identical throughout, making it very easy to lose your place when following a recipe. Judicious use of bold headlines, similar to that used in Secrets of a Jewish Baker: Recipes for 125 Breads from Around the World or The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread, would make the book much more usable.
Last, but very far from least, Clayton has not done his research well over the last thirty years. He devotes but a single page (651 in the soft cover edition) to storing and freezing bread & bread dough. About freezing bread dough he writes: " Freezing dough is less than satisfactory. It can be done, of course, but you must watch it for hours as it thaws so that when it doubles in volume it can be shaped into loaves and placed in pans or on a baking sheet. Then it must be allowed to double or triple in volume before putting it in the oven. Considering the amount of time devoted to waiting for things to happen, it is hardly worth the bother."
Sorry Bernard. You should have kept up. Freezing bread dough was pioneered by the Farm Journal decades ago. You can freeze just the lump of dough if you're of a mind to - and I do when I freeze pizza dough - but you can also shape the dough and freeze immediately. There is no need whatever to watch the dough for hours when you want to bake it. Take the dough out of the freezer, put it in your prepared pans, cover, put it in the refrigerator to thaw overnight. In the morning set it on the counter until the dough has doubled or tripled, then pop it in the oven. Freezing bread dough is the most valuable technique in a home baker's arsenal, one that allows me to put pizza or Italian bread or hot biscuits or whatever else strikes my fancy fresh from the oven at almost the drop of a pin.
All in all, Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Breads is a nice addition to a library but if you are looking for a primary book to learn to bake bread from, buy Secrets of a Jewish Baker: Recipes for 125 Breads from Around the World.
Summary of Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Breads
From the bestselling author of The New Complete Book of Breads comes the thirtieth anniversary edition of this classic baking book, now in trade paperback. In this exhaustive volume, you'll find recipes for every imaginable type of bread, from white and rye to cheese, herb, French, and Italian breads. Croissants, brioches, flat breads, and crackers are covered in depth as well. Home bakers will find an extraordinary range of variety, nearly enough to supply a new bread a day for a year. There are wheat breads -- Honey-Lemon, Walnut, Buttermilk; sourdough breads; corn breads; breads flavored with herbs or spices or enriched with cheese or fruits and nuts; and little breads -- Kaiser Rolls, Grandmother's Southern Biscuits, English Muffins, and Popovers, to name a few. For the baker who observes the holidays with a fresh loaf there are Challah and Italian Panettone.Clayton also covers topics like starters and storing and freezing breads, and devotes an entire chapter to "What Went Wrong -- and How to Make It Right." Perfect for all levels of bakers, this book walks the novice through the steps and encourages the advanced baker to try new variations on recipes.
Devoted fans of Bernard Clayton will be thrilled with this easy-to-use paperback edition and delighted to see old favorites and try new ones. This is the definitive edition of the classic baking book that every good cook should own.
In the 1970s, Bernard Clayton's The Complete Book of Breads became the bible for bread bakers everywhere. In the years since its publication, however, new equipment such as dough-mixing attachments and food processors, and new products such as fast-acting yeast and specialty bread flour, have revolutionized the kitchen. A new era requires a new book, and Bernard Clayton has obliged with his New Complete Book of Breads. Here you'll find 200 of Clayton's original recipes from his earlier book, all revised with modern equipment and products in mind. In addition, Clayton includes 100 new recipes gathered during the course of his research and travels as well as his interactions with friends and readers. Whether you're hungry for breads, rolls, muffins, popovers, seasonal favorites, or exotic delights destined to become favorites, you'll find them all in the New Complete Book of Breads.
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