Bread Baking: An Artisan's Perspective

A guide to making artisan breads practically and profitably, Bread Baking: An Artisan's Perspective includes step-by-step instructions on mixing, fermentation, shaping, proofing and retarding, and baking. Written for both experienced and novice bakers, Bread Baking contains more than 150 helpful photos and drawings that illustrate techniques and showcase beautiful artisan bread products. Covering the business of bread-making, this book features practical advice from successful artisan bakers as well as forty plus tested artisan bread formulas, including ciabatta, pain au levain, bagels, honey whole wheat, croissants, and many more. Artisan bread baker and teacher Dan DiMuzio provides invaluable information on troubleshooting, ingredients, laminated dough, and creating dough formulas. Professional bakers and baking and pastry students will benefit from this practical resource to artisan breads.

Table of Contents:
Preface ix 1 The History of Bread Making 1 A Brief History of Bread Making 2 Bread’s Impact on Basic Survival 2 A Cornerstone of Civilization 2 How Bread Began 3 Bread: An Accidental Creation 3 Mechanized Bread Making 6 Direct Mixing Method 7 World War II and Its Aftermath 7 The Intensive Mix Method 8 Rescue Arrives—The Improved Mix Method 9 Renewed Interest in Great Bread 11 2 Ingredients and Their Effects 13 Ingredients for Baking Bread 14 The Most Important Ingredient: Flour 14 Wheat Dough Can Inflate 15 The Wheat Berry 15 Wheat Classification 16 Other Grains 18 Water 19 Salt 20 Yeast 21 Sweeteners 23 Fats and Oils 23 Milk Products 24 Eggs 24 Nuts, Seeds, Grains, and Dried Fruits 25 Using Whole Grains 25 Herbs and Spices 27 3 Basic Baker’s Percentage (Baker’s Math) 31 An International Language for Bakers 32 It’s All in the Percentages 32 Changing Batch Sizes 35 Find the Total Flour Weight: Using the Percentage Sum 36 Discrepancies in Batch Size 38 When You Have Two or More Flours 38 4 Mixing Methods 41 The First 10,000 Years: Hand Mixing 42 Two Stages in the Dough Mixing Process 42 Dough Transformation During Mixing 43 Precursors to Mechanized Mixing 43 Mechanization Arrives: The Short Mix Method 44 Intensive Mix Method 44 The Improved Mix Method 47 Is There a Best Mixing Method? 47 Special Circumstances or Exceptions 50 5 Fermentation 61 Fermentation: A Process of Transformation 62 Does Fermentation Create or Destroy? 62 Fermentation of Bread Dough 63 Yeast Fermentation: Produces Carbon Dioxide and Alcohol 64 Bacterial Fermentation: Produces Organic Acids 65 Nonliving Organic Substances: Esters and Enzymes 66 Manipulating Fermentation: Time, Temperature, and Hydration 67 Pre-Ferments: How to Shorten Fermentation Time While Increasing Strength and Flavor 68 Natural Pre-Ferments 70 6 Division and Shaping of Loaves and Rolls 77 Giving Form to Dough 78 The First Step: Division 78 Shaping Loaves and Rolls 82 7 Proofing and Retarding 105 Proofing Defined 106 Judging the Readiness of Proofed Loaves 106 Proofing versus Bulk Fermentation 107 Collapse of Overproofed Dough 107 Gas Production in Successful Proofing 107 Changing the Temperature of Dough 108 Yeast Quantity in Dough 110 The Degradation of Dough Structure 110 Retarding Loaves of Bread 111 Dough Degradation in Retarding 113 Specialized Equipment for Proofing and Retarding Loaves of Bread 113 8 Baking 121 Baking Transforms Raw Dough 122 Recognizing When Loaves Are Ready to Be Baked 122 Scoring Loaves 122 Baking Temperature 125 Using Steam 127 How to Judge the Doneness of Bread 130 The Importance of Cooling Bread after Baking 131 9 Rich and Laminated Doughs 137 The Effects Ingredients Have on Dough 138 Strategies for Turning Lean Dough into Rich Dough 139 Why Not Just Add the Fat to the Dough? 139 Lamination Defined 140 The Lamination Process 142 Differences between Croissant Dough and Danish Dough 148 Some Caveats in Working with Laminated Dough Products 149 Shaping Croissants and Danish 149 10 Creating Dough Formulas 155 Formulation: How Can We Design Our Own Reliable Bread Dough? 156 Choose Your Ingredients 157 Create a Formula, Not Just a Recipe 159 Advanced Topic #1: Flour Composition and Milling Technology 173 Elements of the Wheat Endosperm 173 The Milling Process 178 Advanced Topic #2: Advanced Baker’s Percentage 181 Using Pre-Ferments in Formula Creation 181 Which Pre-Ferment Should You Use? 183 Advanced Topic #3: Controlling Fermentation: Living and Nonliving Players 185 Controlling Yeast Activity 185 Controlling Bacterial Activity 186 Enzymes: Amylase and Protease 187 Advanced Topic #4: Decorative Dough Pieces 189 Working with Decorative Dough 189 Types of Decorative Dough 189 Appendix: Formulas 193 Glossary 237 Bibliography 247 Index 249

About the Author :
Daniel T. DiMuzio is formerly a baker and a bakery consultant, and is currently Chef Instructor at Culinard, The Culinary Institute of Virginia College. DiMuzio teaches a number of courses in the Baking and Pastry curriculum, including Artisan Bread, Essentials of Bread Baking, Introductory Pastry Skills, and Baking Science. He is a member of the Bread Baker's Guild of America, and has studied with such bread baking luminaries as Michel Suas, Didier Rosada, Jeffrey Hamelman, and Lionel Vatinet.