Home Bread-Bakers v097.n026.15
[Advanced]

Comments on Silverton; book recommendations

Jay Hosler <jhosler@cisco.com>
Sun, 23 Mar 1997 12:18:20 -0800 (PST)
v097.n026.15
> music_class@earthlink.net (Katja) wrote:
> 
> John Levin (great name for a baker, no? ;)) said:  << While a good source
> of recipes and technique, the Silverton book is oriented more towards
> commercial sourdough baking, and her advice on starting new sourdough
> starter is a bit eccentric.  There are several good books on the subject,
> check the King Arthur Flour catalog.>>
> 
> Having invested in Nancy Silverton's book and regularly tasted her bread
> from La Brea Bakery which is *outrageously* good, IMO (but not having baked
> from the book yet), which specific books would you recommend for home
> baking, John?  I haven't looked lately, but hers is probably among those in
> the catalog .. so more specific info would be really welcome to distinguish
> the eccentric from the valuable, in your opinion, anyway.  I have a chance
> to buy a number of bread books I'd like at discount at the moment and ..
> well, let's just say I have a propensity for over-collecting (no abm books,
> though .. no machine).

I have the Silverton book and must agree with John Levin that its starter
instructions are less valuable than the recipes and techniques.  However, I
think the book works very well for the home baker.  Nearly every bread recipe
I've made from it has been a winner, but not one has worked out at the exact
times/temperatures volumes that she gives.  Despite her somewhat patronizing
instructions (such as for Pumpernickel bread), you have to be prepared to
adjust to get reasonable results.  I think most of the problem lies in the
great variability in the moisture content of starter, but she also specifies
temperatures from place to place ("mix until the internal temp of the dough
reaches 72") that never work out for me.

The recipes I've made from her book that have worked out best are Pumpernickel,
raisin currant (but I use sourdough instead of yeast in that), Potato dill. 
The normandy rye recipe didn't work out at all -- bland light-colored bread
with no trace of apple flavor -- but the basic recipe and technique turns out
to work extremely well for other rye-white recipes.  Her techniques produce
better-shaped more attractive bread.  I bought some baskets - ordinary wicker
round and oval baskets from an import store - and let the bread rise in them,
on a floured towel.  Refrigerating the dough produces better texture and better
shape.  It's a great book.

Of the many (too many) books I have, the one with the biggest proportion of
winners is "Rustic European Breads from your Bread Machine" by Linda Eckhardt. 
You don't need a bread machine to use the great recipes.  I recommend it highly.

Jay