My Bread: The Revolutionary No-Work, No-Knead Method
by Jim Lahey
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Book Summary Information
Author: Jim LaheyContributor: Rick Flaste
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2009-10-05
ISBN: 0393066304
Number of pages: 224
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Book Reviews of My Bread: The Revolutionary No-Work, No-Knead Method
Book Review: The technique I love, the book I don't
Summary: 2 Stars
With the no-knead approach so widely represented on the Web and other sources, I expected that this book would provide significant value-added over just recipes. Instead I needed to consult other books and the Web to have confidence about what I should be doing. I had already learned basic baking, mostly desserts, rolls, muffins, ... but not bread.
I had a series of problems with the recipes (details below), starting with the basic recipe where I found I needed to add about 25% more water because of the brand of flour I was using. The book stresses the importance of careful measurement, encouraging the use of a scale because volume measurements have too much variability. Consequently, its failure to even note this potential adjustment is very troubling, especially when the bread flour I was using is reportedly _the_ national best seller. These problems made me doubt there had been adequate testing and adaptation of the recipes for the home baker. The cookbook market is large enough that I would have expected the publishers to have the infrastructure to support their authors in this regard.
The bread recipes are disappointingly few. First, they are restricted to the Italian style (not noted in the book's description). And then they are few in absolute number, and many of those are just minor variations. These variations were presented as standalones, rather than providing background on how one might make additional variations (some do provide some explanation, but not enough to help). The primary recipe I am now using was adapted from the Web, not from one of those in this book. The book's deficiency in helping the reader "get it right" is demonstrated by its too brief explanation of the bread-making process centering on a quote from a Mark Bittman article quoting Harold "The Curious Cook" McGee. There is little of the information commonly available in other sources to help you anticipate and diagnose problems.
I accumulated the knowledge I needed in bits and pieces from a range of sources, none of which I regarded as good enough to serve a standalone reference that I would recommend. There were a number of books that seemed promising but were not immediately available to me, so I skipped them for the time being.
CONTENTS: There is a substantial chapter on sandwich fillings: 39 pages long (versus 55 for the chapter on breads). The majority of the chapter on pizza is toppings. The final chapter is on uses for stale bread--conceptually interesting, but not something I have considered yet. The opening chapter is biographic and seems intended for the reader interested in foodie celebrities--it provides no insights into _baking_.
----- Examples of Problems I Encountered ----
Water: I had a serious problem with the basic recipe--the specified amount of water (1-1/3 cups) didn't wet the dough, much less make it the "wet sticky dough" described. I wound up adding about 1/3 cup more (25%) to reach that consistency. The pictures in the book were not detailed enough for me to confirm my interpretation, but I found some on the Web that were slightly better, but enough to give me confidence to add that much additional water. Later, when I was poking around of the Web for other information on flour, I stumbled across the information that higher protein flours require additional water: about 2 teaspoons per cup (at 120 grams per cup) per additional 1% protein. I was using King Arthur Unbleached Bread Flour which is 12.7% protein versus the 8.6-10.5% protein flour that the author apparently uses (calculated from the book's mention of 11.5-14 grams/cup and the recipes having a cup equivalent to 133 grams). For the 400 grams of flour called for in the recipe, this difference is 11-31%, or 7-20 teaspoons more than the specified 64 teaspoons (48 tsp/cup).
Second Rise: My understanding of the role of the second rise is to restart the aerobic action of the yeast. The _textual_ instructions say to remove the dough from the bowl and just fold in the edges to make it round. However, the _pictures_ suggest more folding than that. Unable to find meaningful advice from my available sources, I decided that a reasonable measure of when the dough had been adequately re-oxygenated was when most of the bubbles had popped (I couldn't find whether the CO2 bubbles were simply a measure of how much oxygen the yeast had converted or were themselves an inhibitor). I found that gently folding the dough a little more than indicated by the pictures produced a very noticeable consistency change (firmer) suggestive of the bubbles being reduced/eliminated. Since I got a strong second rise, I assume that this is not-wrong, but don't know if there was something better.
Temperature: The basic recipe calls for 20 hours at roughly 72 degrees F (18 for initial rise, 2 for second). While it is usually easy to find a location at that temperature for several hours, having such for an extended period can be difficult. Going back 30 years, the energy savings advice for houses has been to set the thermostat no lower than 76 in the summer and no higher than 68 in the winter, cycling lower at night and when you are away during the day. My house's interior routinely sees temperature fluctuations of 10-15 degrees over the course of a day--It _is_ climate controlled rather than _having_ climate control. While the book notes the generic cooler=slower/warmer=faster, it doesn't give any guidance on what is the good-enough range and how to adapt. In his bio chapter, the author notes that professional bakers modify the water temperature to accommodate non-optimal room temperatures, but gives no pointers, although I don't know if I would avail myself of such adjustments.
Covering for the first rise: The book showed using plastic wrap over the bowl for the first rise but said a tea towel was an alternative. However, when I tried the tea towel, the top of the dough dried out--not a crust, but a thick layer--which I fixed with some extra working of the dough before the second rise. In retrospect, this was obvious, but indicated to me that the book had not been adequately tested.
Weighing ingredients: The book makes a big point of measuring ingredients by weight, not volume. I have a small kitchen and am loathe to lose counter space to a scale that I would not otherwise be using. First, with my discovery of the variability of flours, I don't understand why weighing the flour and water produces a better result than look-and-feel. Second, all the subsequent steps allow substantial variability (for good or bad) that would seem to accommodate minor deviations in the initial proportions. Aside: I can understand how weighing would provide consistency when baking multiple loaves at the same time, but that isn't the audience for this book.
Measuring flour: My training was to "fluff" flour before doing a volume measurement. This book seems to be based upon measuring flour straight from the bag/container. I discovered this when I spotted that other sources equated a cup to 120 grams whereas this book has it at 133 grams. Again this suggests inadequate testing with home bakers.
Recipe inconsistencies: I considering trying the recipe for Pizza Bianca but it had two errors suggesting that the recipe was not tested after being rewritten. First, the list of ingredients included one (sugar) that was not mentioned in the steps for the basic recipe, but was included in a variant. Second, the step after the second rise calls for using _the_remainder_ of the olive oil, but all the other uses of olive oil are accounted for separately. Besides, I don't like the idea of having a partially used measure of olive oil sit around for the hours it takes the dough to rise.
Excessive equipment/unexplained variation: The Pizza Bianca recipe calls for a pizza stone and peel without suggesting any alternatives (would a pizza screen suffice?). For someone like me with a small kitchen, this additional hard-to-store equipment tends to be a non-starter. Also, this was surprising because the other pizza recipes in the book specify using a metal pan, and I couldn't see what it was about this recipe that required different treatment (I do know what a pizza stone is supposed to do). Some of the bread recipes require clay bakers (hard to store). For a well-adapted cookbook, my rule on special equipment is that either the recipes using such must be a small enough proportion that they won't be missed or that there be a wide enough range of recipes using the equipment to warrant purchasing and storing it. This book satisfies neither of these.
Food Safety: The recipe for "Jones Beach Bread" calls for ocean water and states "... was just fine--as it probably is at a clean beach near you". To me, this is irresponsible. Regardless of what portion of the intended audience does in fact live near an ocean, I would note that ocean water near population centers tends to have significant biological and chemical pollution--from direct (untreated) runoff, treatment plant overflows...--and that currents may take this along the coast rather that quickly out to sea. Food poisoning has two basic causes: infectious agents and toxic agents. Most people tend to think of it as only the former, where the organisms can be killed by proper cooking. In the later case, although the organisms are killed, cooking does not destroy the toxins they have already produced (which is why foods that were not refrigerated properly can kill even though they were well cooked). Integral to the rising of dough is _encouraging_ a class of yeast and bacteria to rapidly multiply and digest the provided food. This is not an environment into which I would want to introduce unknown, potentially dangerous organisms. The recipe does not even suggest boiling the ocean water before using it.
Summary of My Bread: The Revolutionary No-Work, No-Knead Method
Lahey?s ?breathtaking, miraculous, no-work, no-knead bread? (Vogue) has revolutionized the food world.
When he wrote about Jim Lahey?s bread in the New York Times, Mark Bittman?s excitement was palpable: ?The loaf is incredible, a fine-bakery quality, European-style boule that is produced more easily than by any other technique I?ve used, and it will blow your mind.? Here, thanks to Jim Lahey, New York?s premier baker, is a way to make bread at home that doesn?t rely on a fancy bread machine or complicated kneading techniques. Witnessing the excitement that Bittman?s initial piece unleashed worldwide among bakers experienced and beginner alike, Jim grew convinced that home cooks were eager for a no-fuss way to make bread, and so now, in this eagerly anticipated collection of recipes, Jim shares his one-of-a-kind method for baking rustic, deep-flavored bread in your own oven.The secret to Jim Lahey?s bread is slow-rise fermentation. As Jim shows in My Bread, with step-by-step instructions followed by step-by-step pictures, the amount of labor you put in amounts to 5 minutes: mix water, flour, yeast, and salt, and then let time work its magic?no kneading necessary. Wait 12 to 18 hours for the bread to rise, developing structure and flavor; then, after another short rise, briefly bake the bread in a covered cast-iron pot.
The process couldn?t be more simple, or the results more inspiring. My Bread devotes chapters to Jim?s variations on the basic loaf, including an olive loaf, pecorino cheese bread, pancetta rolls, the classic Italian baguette (stirato), and the stunning bread stick studded with tomatoes, olives, or garlic (stecca). He gets even more creative with loaves like Peanut Butter and Jelly Bread, others that use juice instead of water, and his Irish Brown Bread, which calls for Guinness stout. For any leftover loaves, Jim includes what to do with old bread (try bread soup or a chocolate torte) and how to make truly special sandwiches.
And no book by Jim Lahey would be complete without his Sullivan Street Bakery signature, pizza Bianca?light, crispy flatbread with olive oil and rosemary that Jim has made even better than that of Italy?s finest bakeries. Other pizza recipes, like a pomodoro (tomato), only require you to spread the risen dough across a baking sheet and add toppings before baking.
Here?finally?Jim Lahey gives us a cookbook that enables us to fit quality bread into our lives at home. color photos throughout
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