Flour Water Salt Yeast: The Fundamentals of Artisan Bread and Pizza [A Cookbook] Hardcover – September 18, 2012

I've been making very good sourdough bread regularly for years, but I had stagnated, wanted to take it to the next level, and was attracted to Flour Water Salt Yeast by the cover photo and reviews. I bought it and read it almost cover-to-cover, invested in the recommended equipment (12 quart tubs, Lodge dutch ovens, bannetons, etc.), followed Forkish's methods, and immediately and consistently began making artisan quality bread that looked just like the cover photo with dark brown beautiful crust, soft elastic crumb with huge holes, and beautiful flavor. As a bonus, I also went from making unsatisfying pizza to making some of the best pizza I've ever had. Since then I've made almost every recipe in the book (something that just doesn't happen for me, usually), bought Forkish's next book, The Elements of Pizza, and when wowed friends and family ask for my bread recipe, I buy them a copy of this book, because it's not a collection of recipes, it's a system.Besides the quality of the results, there are several things that are noteworthy or remarkable about this book. For one thing, despite the beautiful photography, it is very no-nonsense, with very common ingredients, and doesn't bother with fluffy decorations of the loaves with stencils or cuts. I really appreciate the omission of such distractions, and appreciate being "allowed" to focus on the recipes and bread as they pertain to eating. Why is this so rare?As noted elsewhere, this is not a general purpose book in that it just tells you how to make round boules like the photo, and pizza. Again, Forkish focuses in on one thing, explores it thoroughly, and omits distractions. This is so rare, and having explored it well, I appreciate it immensely. The net result is basically a study of how minor variations in nothing more than flour, water, salt and yeast can create very different quality breads.All of the bread recipes in this book use very high hydration doughs, and are worked with pinch and fold methods rather than kneading. Though I had been making bread for years, both of these concepts were new to me (okay, I had heard of stretch & fold, but as more of an emergency maneuver), but Forkish explains them thoroughly.For educational value, this book includes a very useful section on customizing recipes, and discusses how to improvise or adapt to circumstances by thinking of time, temperature and leavening as ingredients. While this seemed obvious on first reading, I've found that applying it in practice has revolutionized my bread making. And then there's Forkish's Youtube channel where he demonstrates numerous techniques using recipes directly from this book, just to really give you no excuse not to make amazing bread.I even enjoyed Forkish's amusing, humorous and unpretentious back story, all the more since I lived in Portland for a time. He does a good job of delivering reality checks, dispelling myths and reaffirming a few truths about the romantic notions of owning a bakery.Some criticisms I have include the amount of wasted of flour in feeding starter noted in other reviews (which Forkish actually admits in his follow-up book The Elements of Pizza; I use about 1/4 the quantity of the called-for ingredients when making these recipes, and they work out great), I wish there were more pure sourdough recipes, more recipes with higher whole wheat percentages, and some discussion of fresh milled wheat, but these are extremely minor issues. Between the existing recipes and the section on designing my own, I can and will make my own customized recipes to suit myself.I should also add a footnote that I live at an elevation over 7000 feet, adjusted nothing, and had no problems.

I'm not new to fermentation. I ferment my own milk kefir, sauerkraut, sumac onion and pickles. But, I have never expanded that into sourdough bread. I took a class at my local library recently and decided to give it a try. This book and Ken Forkish in general was recommended to me by the instructor, and I'm glad I went with her recommendation. He has videos on youtube that are wonderful. And, you can take these recipes, use a bit of math and make them match your baking habits. I bake once a week -- only two of us, that's all I need. And I keep my discard and use to make crackers and all sorts of other goodies. Saw a negative review about waste -- you DO NOT have to throw the discard away. Forkish runs a restaurant and bakes many, many loaves. He can't use all that discard so throws it away. If you are a home baker, there are hundreds of recipes online for things you can make using that discarded levain/starter. I find his instructions easy to follow, interesting and very informative, so I welcome his extra information and in-depth discussion. Levain dough is a bit different from other starters -- it will be a bit wetter dough but it's lovely, a resilient ferment, and makes wonderful bread! And the discard, makes the best crackers I have ever baked!! And the bread is vegan!! :) Baking my own bread just seemed so intimidating before....but with simple ingredients, a bit of knowledge, and basic math skills.....anyone can do it!

If I had to choose only 3 cookbooks to take with me to a new home, this would be my bread book. A close runner up would be Chad Robertson's Tartine Bread, but I give the edge to Ken Folkish's book based on the variety of recipes, the precision of the instructions, and the consistent excellence of the outcomes.In my review of Tartine Bread, I called this book by Ken Forkish the "Algorithm of Bread", written by an ex-software engineer. Forkish is meticulous in his description of how to bake each loaf, as if he were writing a detailed algorithm for a baker to follow. Starting by defining his bread baking objects in early chapters, he proceeds by chapter from straight bread, to preferments, to natural yeast hybrids, to pure leavened breads, a journey that allows intermediate (and even beginner) bakers to follow a natural bread learning progression. The recipes for all his bread variants produce consistently top-quality loaves. I was shocked when my first preferment loaf turned out nearly perfect, in both form and taste. The algorithm worked.Chapter 2 is great background on bread and Folkish's methods; the why's and how's of his bread. Chapter 4 describes the core methods used in all of his breads: mixing, folding, dividing, proofing and baking. These are the essential programming (bread baking) objects that are arranged in the bread algorithms (recipes) which compose the rest of the book.The book has a limited but sufficient repertoire of classic breads. You won't find recipes for esoteric ingredients and combinations. That is not Forkish's intent, nor if I understand correctly is that what he offers in his Portland bakery. What you will find is a beautiful exposition of standard and classic breads: whites, whole wheats and browns; both commercially and naturally leavened. At the end of the book are two chapters on pizza, which I must say I have not read because I don't care for pizza. Forkish has a new book out (or due out soon) devoted to pizza, for the devoti di pizza.The naturally leavened (sourdough) breads in Flour Water Salt Yeast are better than Peter Reinhart's. They are on par with Chad Robertson's. The results with Forkish recipes are more consistent than with Robertson. The difference between the Zen of Bread (Robertson) and the Algorithm of Bread Baking (Forkish) is that Robertson is less directive and less precise, encouraging the baker to 'feel' what is going on and adjust, while Forkish basically says, "Do this, this and this, and you will get very good bread." ---very much like a conditional statement in programming. And he is right, you do get very good, more likely 'excellent', bread. Interestingly, in a couple places in the book, Ken Forkish credits Chad Robertson for helping him out with technique and ideas when Forkish was learning to bake bread. Nice when the results of the student match or exceed those of the master.Once I started making the hybrid and pure leavened breads in this book, only occasionally do I go back and make the pre-fermented breads. The hybrids and pure leavens have more complex flavor and last longer on the countertop. I never tried the straight yeasted breads in the book, going right to the preferments. I can truly recommend ALL the hybrid and naturally leavened recipes, with my favorite being the Overnight Country Brown (and also the companion Overnight Country Blonde). The pure leaven breads last for 3-4 days on the countertop under a tea towel and are still great. No other bread I bake is so durable.Both Forkish and Robertson use the Dutch Over method of baking for wet doughs. That was a brilliant innovation. It is the only way I have found to get the kind of internal moistness and external crispness in leavened breads baked at home. I have tried all the steam and spray techniques without the success of baking an a dutch oven or perhaps a cloche.Since I have baked with a few bread books, I want to offer my take on how they compare/rank (for me) to give others who might be looking for bread books the benefit of what I have learned. It can be tough wading through bread books, and this is just another (personal) view on what is out there.Highly Recommended (5-stars)Flour Water Salt Yeast: The Fundamentals of Artisan Bread and Pizza - best all around artisan bread for home baking, consistently very good to excellent bread. No worries, just follow the directions, it will turn out fine.Tartine Bread - beautiful exposition of how to bake artisan bread the 'Tartine Way'. Very Zen-like in the emphasis on repetition and feeling/sensing what is going on, placing the onus on the baker to think, intuit and adapt. A close second to Flour Water Salt Yeast. Robertson's signature 'Country Loaf' is still my favorite bread.Recommended (4-stars)Bread: A Baker's Book of Techniques and Recipes - literally a textbook on baking bread, ideal for culinary students or small-scale commercial bakers who have already practiced/learned the fundamentals. I use this book occasionally for rye and other non-wheat breads. It is 'THE Book' of bread, but is not as detailed and instructional as Flour Water Salt Yeast. Not a good first book of bread by itself. It is a reference book for me. The recipes are well-tested and delicious.Good (3-stars)Bread Matters: The State of Modern Bread and a Definitive Guide to Baking Your Own - an iconoclastic and sometimes pedantic denunciation of commercial (unnatural) bread, with gobs of excellent information about bread and method and a stable of recipes, though not as foolproof as Flour Water Salt Yeast. A bit British in its context, since the English author writes for a mainly British audience. And the author is a bit cranky sometimes. There are some great rye and alternative grain recipes. The wheat breads are okay/good, but because they are not fired (kiln or dutch oven method), they don't have the wonderful crust of the Forkish breads.How to Make Bread - not as much description as Forkish but great photos, a clean, easy, consistent format. More bread variety (grains and flavor ingredients) than Forkish and very good results by an excellent international baker and teacher. But here is the problem with the non-Dutch Oven (or Cloche) method --it's all just bread. No caramelized, crisp crust the way you get in a bakery. If you can't bake in a kiln or a modern day equivalent, it just isn't the same.Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads: New Techniques, Extraordinary Flavor - Reinhart's previous Bread Baker's Apprentice updated for whole grains. Generally an improvement over the prior book. Same format but healthier recipes and more of them, with less of the instructional detail and background on bread.The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread - good for beginners. Recipes okay, but not great and a lot of stuff other than core bread. The real benefit its the 100 page background to bread and technique. If you are serious about bread, you will outgrow this book quicklyInteresting Books I Am Still Working Through [update to follow]Tartine Book No. 3: Modern Ancient Classic Whole - the first book, Tartine Bread, is so great, the third Tartine volume is a natural extensionDella Fattoria Bread: 63 Foolproof Recipes for Yeasted, Enriched & Naturally Leavened Breads - reading through it with interest, but have not baked anything yet. Like Forkish, the author uses a dutch oven on some breads.Specialized Books For Bread-Bakers -- RecommendedThe Bread Builders: Hearth Loaves and Masonry Ovens - the best treatise on the subject of fermentingBread Science: The Chemistry and Craft of Making Bread - all sorts of helpful hints buried in this bread-baker's dissertation on bread. Well worth purchasing as a Kindle book.Books I Would Like to TryThe Italian Baker, Revised: The Classic Tastes of the Italian Countryside--Its Breads, Pizza, Focaccia, Cakes, Pastries, and Cookies - I have the author's book on Italian grandmother's cooking and love it.The Fundamental Techniques of Classic Bread Baking - when I think I know everything there is to know about bread, I want to read this tome.There are also many good baking books with bread-making sections, like Dori Greenspan's Baking with Julia: Savor the Joys of Baking with America's Best Bakers and King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking: Delicious Recipes Using Nutritious Whole Grains (King Arthur Flour Cookbooks), which I have used for non-bread recipes but not baked bread from. So many bread books, so little time...I have very little criticism of Ken Forkish's book. I wouldn't mind some more naturally leavened recipes, and some alternative grain formulations. Maybe that is stuff for his next book. And I am kind of amazed how much leaven/starter is thrown away after daily feeding and care. As I understand it, the reason for the big dose of flour, when you wind up throwing most of it out is so the bacteria can really bloom. But that doesn't quite make sense to me, because it feels like it should all be scaleable. Andrew Whitley Bread Matters: The State of Modern Bread and a Definitive Guide to Baking Your Own and Emmanuel Hadjiandreou How to Make Bread have much more sensible and less wasteful leaven development / maintenance programs. And in my daily starter maintenance program, I have scaled back the Forkish program by a factor of about 10.Personal Favorite: Pain au Bacon. A killer recipe!