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| Local Breads: Sourdough and Whole-Grain Recipes from Europe's Best Artisan Bakers | 
 enlarge | Authors: Daniel Leader, Lauren Chattman
Publisher: W. W. Norton
Category: Book
List Price: $35.00
Buy New: $18.90
You Save: $16.10 (46%)
New (43) Used (10) Collectible (1) from $18.90
Avg. Customer Rating:  17 reviews
Sales Rank: 14134
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 448
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.6
Dimensions (in): 10.1 x 8.1 x 1.4
ISBN: 0393050556
Dewey Decimal Number: 641.815
EAN: 9780393050554
ASIN: 0393050556
Publication Date: August 13, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
| Showing reviews 1-5 of 17 | | NEXT » |
 Fabulous resource for the artisinal baker October 26, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
A wonderful, extremely well-written book that should be on the bookshelf of any bread baking fanatic, or anyone who wants to delve into the world of artisinal breads. I would give it 4.5 stars, but that is not an option here.
The book focuses on breads made with starters and sourdoughs, and provides easy, step-by-step instructions to make them. Leader's book covers some of the breads of specific regions of France, Italy, Germany, Austria, Poland, and the Czech Republic. If you area looking for European breads from other regions, they are not in the book.
Overall, the recipes are clearly written. Even the most complicated recipes are very doable because Leader provides clear instructions. Novice bakers may have a bit of trouble if they stick to the recipes exactly, because anyone who bakes bread for a while will tell you that flour measurements are ESTIMATES, so be ready to add a bit more flour than called for in the recipes, especially if you live in a humid climate.
There are also some problems with typos. For example, in his recipe for Flax, Sesame, and Sunflower Rye (Dreikornbrot) pg p. 282, Leader calls for 22 CUPS of water - a pretty significant typo. There are also errors in baker's percentages. Luckily, one of the strengths of the book is that it provides measurements in US volumes, US weights, metric weights, and baker's percentages. So, I would recommend reading the recipes carefully before starting, and while you don't need a kitchen scale, it would be a great investment for anyone who is serious about bread baking. I also think that a few photos of properly kneaded bread dough would be very helpful for a future edition - the rye breads look a lot different than the semolina breads, and photos of this (and more detailed descriptions) would help.
I've made about 6 different breads from the book so far, and they have ALL been absolutely outstanding. My family raves about them, and even though I've had the book for only a few months, it's already looking pretty worn. I highly recommend this book, and hold back on a full 5 stars is because it could use a few more photos, and needs some more careful editing of the amounts and baker's percentages.
 Good book; Very poor editing October 24, 2008
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
This is a book that I have mixed feelings about. If you are comfortable working with weights, understand the concepts of dough hydration, and are prepared to think while you bake then it is a keeper. Unfortunately, the recipes read as though they were rushed and, overall, the book suffers from very poor editing. There are numerous errors in the listed recipes. Ingredients are given in terms of weight (g), weight (oz), volume (cups/tbsp/tsp), and baker's percentage. In practice, however, you can only trust the metric weights as conversions to the others are haphazard and often completely nonsense. Similarly, you cannot always expect the weights/volumes/% listed in the tables to agree with that listed in the written instructions. The latter are clearly coppied and pasted between different recipes with a frustrating lack of care. My copy is now inscribed with more margin notes and corrections than any other cookbook I own. The low score reflects my belief that, more than the average cookbook, baking recipies need to be accurate as there is little margin for error.
Despite the above reservations, if you are capable of working around the editing issues, the resulting breads are excellent. The author is clearly knowledgable and enthusiastic about bread; I just wish he and the publisher were more careful in copy editing the book. I have shared a few (corrected) recipes from this book with friends, but I wouldn't recommend they purchase it themselves.
 One of my favorite bread books! September 27, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I love this book, I've made a few breads from this book, and they all came out great! (with minor flaws because of my inexperience)
What I really like is the care with which the book is written:
-it's very easy to understand for someone who never made bread before (like me), and written with almost motherly care meant to explain the process to the last detail without over-complicating it.
-great photos that include levains-so that if you never made levain before you can see what they look like when they're done. Also, sometimes it's difficult for me to select a bread based on the name of the recipe since I have no idea what the finished result would look like, so I select breads from the photos, and each bread photo has its name and a page # for the recipe which makes it so easy to find.
-finally I love many FAQ's that he has through out the book to help understand common questions that bakers have through all stages of bread making, including questions about what went wrong, why and how it can be fixed or avoided in the future.
love it!
Bread Baking September 1, 2008
I love the book although I have not used any of the recipes it is still to hot here. I am looking forward to trying the old recipes of Germany.
Worthwhile for the Home Baker... August 6, 2008
An excellent bread book to add to your baking library. Having baked a number of artisan breads, I found the recipes to be very good, although a bit on the dry side. I recommend adding a bit more water during the mixing/kneading process than the recipe calls for. This would not be my first choice for the home baker, but is definitely worth adding at some point to your collection of cookbooks.
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