HN Books @HNBooksMonth

On blenders, I've never had luck with a < $100 blender and my vitamix would be on my short list of "If you were stuck on an island with 1 kitchen electric ..."

I cook a lot (for a family of 5) and my minimum/essential kitchen items for us are:

- 2 knives (I use Global but I like Victorinox too) + Henckels sharpener

- Cast iron skillet

- Wok

- Small non-stick pan (my wife prefers little/no oils)

- 2 Pots

- 1 steamer basket

- 1 baking sheet

- 1 pizza stone (or some unglazed tiles from Home Depot)

- KitchenAid stand mixer

- Vitamix 5200 blender

- 1 large Rubbermaid tub/lid for rising bread dough

- 1 slow cooker / crock pot (you can get em for as little as $20)

As for books, I've collected a few here and there but the ones I refer to the most are The Professional Chef (referenced in article), The Magnolia Bakery cookbooks, and Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day (amazing bread a pizza dough for busy people).

http://www.amazon.com/Artisan-Bread-Five-Minutes-Revolutioni...

http://www.amazon.com/The-Magnolia-Bakery-Cookbook-Old-Fashi...

http://www.amazon.com/Zwilling-J-A-Henckels-Sharp-Sharpener/...

⬐ vecinu

Thanks for these great suggestions.

What do you think about slow cookers destroying vital nutrients? This is the only thing keeping me from buying one.

I read some more serious research a while back but a quick search on Google got these 2 (not so great) sources:

http://whfoods.org/genpage.php?tname=dailytip&dbid=45 http://www.livestrong.com/article/129000-slow-cookers-nutrit...

⬐ callmeed

It's an interesting topic and I honestly haven't done much research on it.

I really only cook 2 things in our slow cooker: (1) meats in some sort of sauce (usually chicken or pork) which we use with chopped/raw veggies for tacos or salads and (2) steel cut oatmeal (we set it on low the night before with diced apples + cinnamon).

This is a silly weekend project I put out last Wednesday night. I presented it at a lightning talk at Minnebar (Barcamp in Minneapolis) and it got a surprisingly warm reception. So thought I'd share it here.

Platform is: Bootstrap, Django, Pinax. Hosting it on webfaction.

And if there are any bakers out there or you are interested, I highly recommend this book by authors here in Minneapolis:

http://www.amazon.com/Artisan-Bread-Five-Minutes-Revolutioni...

They have a no-knead bread method that is appeals to the hacker mindset; heavily optimized and efficient.

I second your Ratio plug. I'd also recommend adding Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day to the mix, another great (easy!) bread book.

http://www.amazon.com/Artisan-Bread-Five-Minutes-Revolutioni...

⬐ bendotc

A thousand times this!

I know we all work hard here and HN and most of us don't have time to make everything (or sometimes anything) from scratch, but this takes next to no time to prepare and you can go from dough-sitting-in-the-fridge to loaf-cooling-on-the-rack in about 70 minutes, and of that, it probably really is about 5 minutes active prep time (as in, the rest of the time, you can be doing whatever you'd rather be doing).

The process of making the dough is just as simple and quick: toss together the ingredients, stir until they've come together, let sit for 2-5 hours, and then throw the whole thing in the fridge.

Oh, and here are some freebies to get you hooked (not that the book costs much):

Deli-style rye: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/5621/jeff-hertzbergs-delist...

The basic, all-purpose rustic white-bread recipe: http://splendidtable.publicradio.org/recipes/accompaniments_...

It is wonderful and really useful in a pinch. How so? Tonight, I plan to pull off half a pound of dough and make a neopolitan pizza. The whole thing will take maybe 10 minutes of active prep and maybe 40 minutes for the oven to come up to temp and then cook the thing. Not bad.

Of course, if you like softer (enriched) breads, brioche, multigrain, etc., you can experiment off these, but at that point, I'd encourage you to just buy the book, since it's cheap and has all that stuff in it.

I'm not getting paid for this or anything, I just really like this method of making bread.

⬐ mark_h

Not necessarily easy, but I cannot recommend "Bread" by Hamelman enough: http://www.amazon.com/Bread-Bakers-Book-Techniques-Recipes/d...

It's actually geared towards professional (artisanal) bakers, but all recipes include home proportions as well. I've baked a lot from it, and never had a failure. It manages to be both incredibly thorough and scientific, yet convey the passion and craft side of it as well.

I'm not sure there's any book in my home that I'd keep in its place if I had to choose.

⬐ Daemmerung

Amen. This book is wonderfully quantitative, and in my experience discusses rye doughs like no other.

I am also very fond of Emily Buehler's "Bread Science" (http://www.twobluebooks.com/book.php), particularly as a gift for precise individuals new to bread baking who might be put off by the length and depth of Hamelman.