Description
This article is from the How to Make Basic
Bread FAQ, by Darrell Greenwood darrell.faq@telus.invalid with
numerous contributions by others.
23 The Tassajara Bread Book by E. Brown
Whenever I hear someone saying that they would like to learn how to make
their own bread, this is always the first book that I suggest. Perhaps
because it was this book that convinced me that I could bake bread. The
first thing you will find in the Tassajara Bread Book is a description of
ingredients (flours, yeast, milk, eggs and oil) that can be added to bread
dough, and what they will do for your bread. The second section in the
book is 'General Directions for Tassajara Basic Yeasted Bread'. This is
the section most needed by new bread bakers. It goes through the bread
making procedure, step by step, and there are even illustrations to help
you through. All of the later recipes are based on this one.
What I really like about this is that he tries to take some of the
mysteries out of making bread. Instead of just telling you to knead x
number of times, or for x number of minutes, he describes what the dough
should be doing when it has been kneaded properly. You will also find the
mysteries of shaping loaves, and rolls of different types, explained.
The next section of the book consists of a number of yeasted breads, based
on the basic recipe, with a variety of flours, seeds, and other things
added to the dough. Each recipe is preceded by a quick description of what
the bread will be like. The next section is yeasted pastry, also based on
the basic yeast bread recipe. As he says in the intro to Cinnamon Rolls
'What a revelation, making cinnamon rolls for the first time.'
Then comes other recipes. There is a section for unyeasted bread, one on
sourdough bread (though sourdough fanatics may disagree with one of his
methods for making a sourdough starter), one on breakfast stuff (including
pancakes, popovers, scones, and biscuits), one on muffins and quick breads
(we use the basic muffin recipe regularly), and the last section is on
desserts.
A good book, that you will use again and again. I find that no matter
which bread recipe I use (i.e. from other sources), I always use the method
from the basic Bread recipe in this book.
Highly Recommended
(Reviewed by Lynn Alford) cplma@marlin.jcu.edu.au
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