HN Books @HNBooksMonth

Somewhat unrelated, but my wife has recently found a way to make _awesome_ European (aka actually edible) bread at home, using a very simple recipe. The protip is you need to bake it in a well pre-heated Dutch oven, that's how you get the crust right. Commercial ovens inject steam for the same purpose, but you can't do that at home. Dutch oven apparently simulates the same effect. A $5 loaf of "fancy" bread can be baked at home easily with ~50c worth of ingredients. She used this book to figure this out: https://www.amazon.com/Tartine-Bread-Chad-Robertson/dp/08118.... She tried numerous recipes from it (some of which were ridiculously elaborate), but the simplest and least time consuming one turned out to also be the best, not to mention the most practical on the day-to-day basis.

⬐ datene

I started baking bread after coming across this article on HN https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22625590 I found it to be a nice, accessible way to get started, with clear and simple instructions. Later on I cultivated a sourdough starter and am using that instead of instant yeast, but still following the same steps. (One learning point that took me too long to realize is that everything becomes much easier if you use high protein flour, more rise. Healthier starter.)

⬐ jcims

I just got done feeding my first attempts at making a starter from scratch. One thing I didn't realize is how important it is to clean all of the discarded starter from every surface while its still wet. It's kinda messy haha.

⬐ datene

Oh yeah that stuff is like concrete when it dries up. Already had to replace my bin. Good luck with your starter, exciting! Mine is a year and a half old now. Amazing how it just keeps going

⬐ jillesvangurp

Yes, read up on varieties of flour used by professional bakers and buy some on online instead of your local super market (hint most supermarkets don't even have the right flour). It makes a lot of difference. Alternatively, find some local mill and source from there. It's worth the extra money. Also learn about the different ways flour is processed at industrial scale. Basically bleaching and sterilization are two things you don't want as a home baker. You can make it work if you really have nothing else but why go through the trouble?

Another good tip is to feed your starter with whole wheat or rye flour. It has more nutrition and especially Reye has a lot of natural sugars in it too.

There are a lot of recipes out there obsessing about weights, timings, etc. The important thing to realize is that you need to adjust those numbers to the flour used, the ambient temperature, humidity, the state your starter is in when you start, and probably a dozen other factors. In other words the numbers are not actually that important and you can totally wing it if you know what you are doing.

The importance of measuring is not repeating what the recipe says but doing the same things consistently between bakes and adjusting as you go in a semi data-driven way. In my case, I take 60 grams of starter (which is 50/50 water and flour) and add 70 grams of water and flour to make what is known as a levain (basically a glass of starter that I let ferment on the counter). The rest of the starter is replenished and goes back in the fridge.

The significant thing here is that I end up with a 100 grams of flour and a 100 grams of water. These are just nice numbers to work with when I have to calculate the hydration. That's the only reason for those numbers. Cup measurements are not precise enough, even if you are in the US. Using volumetric measurements for weight has a very high margin of error in a process with a low tolerance for exactly that.

How high you can push your hydration is a function of what flour you use and how much skill you have handling the dough. Too low and you end up with a brick instead of a bread. Too high and you're making focacia instead of a nice puffy bread. This is why you want to get the right flour. It will allow you to push the hydration higher. Also the flavor profile benefits. Good flour makes things easier and tastier.

⬐ phonypc

>Basically bleaching and sterilization are two things you don't want as a home baker. You can make it work if you really have nothing else but why go through the trouble?

Hard disagree. Bleached flour is much easier to work with for the home/inexperienced baker. Hydrates easily, dough tends to be less tacky, better volume etc. It's only when you've got the basics down and want to get into the weeds with details that I'd recommend getting into specialty flours that are less likely to be chemically bleached.

⬐ OJFord

> Commercial ovens inject steam for the same purpose, but you can't do that at home. Dutch oven apparently simulates the same effect.

At least in the UK, consumer ovens are available (starting at the low-mid end) with water reservoirs and a steam function.

But you don't need that, if you don't have a casserole (aka 'Dutch oven') you can put a tray over the bread, and a container of water underneath. Remove them when you'd remove the casserole lid.

I bake a loaf slightly more often than weekly, and do this occasionally because my casserole isn't large enough, and usually squashes the top flat.

⬐ kwhitefoot

> in the UK, consumer ovens are available (starting at the low-mid end) with water reservoirs and a steam function.

Same here in Norway so I suspect that they must be available all over Europe as they are made by companies like AEG, Miele, and so on. They aren't even desperately expensive any more.

But I bake a loaf in a cast iron casserole at 250 C in a conventional oven. Lid on for the first half hour, take off the lid and bake for a further 15 minutes. Makes a nice crust.

⬐ OJFord

Yep I do the same. Though I've been erring shorter with the lid on (and experimenting with a tray of water as I mentioned) trying to save it from being squashed.. really I should just buy a bigger casserole! (And a bigger kitchen with space for it when not in use..)

⬐ th0ma5

Here is a short video series about the process https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0owQi_U44c&list=PLWqTac5vy0...

⬐ jeramey

Using a dutch oven is indeed a fantastic way to get a lovely crust and good oven spring in your bread! I often will mist the loaf before putting it in which I find helps a little with a good rise.

I do occasionally like to make longer loaves such as baguettes which aren’t really easy to fit inside of a dutch oven, especially if I am using a forming pan. One method I have used to get good oven spring and a nice crust at home in those cases is to place a large cast iron griddle on the bottom rack of the oven, and a few minutes before baking, placing a pan of water—a square bread pan works great for this—on it and wait for it to come to a visible simmer. The cast iron does a good job of retaining and re-radiating heat quickly after opening the oven, and the pan of water adds enough steam into the baking chamber to help get a good rise during the bake. Bake on a middle rack of the oven and remove the pan of water after 10-12 minutes of baking to finish the bake with a dry oven, and you’ll still end up with good color and a nice, crunchy crust.

This method has worked pretty well in a variety of standard electric home ovens new and old that I’ve used over the years.

And 100% agreed on simple recipes being best! The loaves I’ve made with just flour, water, salt, and yeast have tended to be the crowd-pleasers. Thousands of years of bread and beer being diet staples have definitely made their mark, I suppose.

⬐ lostlogin

You can steam up the Dutch oven by chucking in a few ice cubes as the loaf goes into the pot.

I generally put the load into the pot on a bit of baking paper (to save my knuckles touching the hot pot) and I put ice cubes into the pot, down the side of the paper so that water doesn’t pool under the dough.

Probably not need to a baker, but if you add a bit of fat (butter or oil) and some honey you can get a thick, dark crust and tasty crust.

I can recommend two books: Tartine I and Italian Baker. There are many like this but these two I used and liked.

https://www.amazon.com/Tartine-Bread-Chad-Robertson/dp/08118...

https://www.amazon.com/Italian-Baker-Revised-Countryside-Its...

Tartine Bread, ISBN: 0811870413

There are a few in the series, but get the first one.

https://www.amazon.com/Tartine-Bread-Chad-Robertson/dp/08118... (not an affiliate link)

Tartine Bread http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0811870413

The Bread Baker's Apprentice http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1580082688/ref=mp_s_a_1?pi=SL7...

⬐ vectorbunny

Both of the above are excellent. Harold McGee's 'On Food and Cooking' is the foundational classic of the genre.