Bittman Bread: No-Knead Whole Grain Baking for Every Day: A Bread Recipe Cookbook

First off, I haven't tried anything out of this book yet. But..I would like to rebut some of the negative comments. This is basically a sourdough book. That means no commercial yeast and it's going to take time. You don't need to spend hours obsessing with the dough but it needs time to do its thing. More time than yeast breads. Accept that or pass on this book.

I have been following Mark Bittman since way back when he wrote for the NYTimes. For a while now my son and I have been on and off baking bread using the methods from "The New Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day". That felt groundbreaking too, but it was messy (flour all over the kitchen even with no kneading) and I really wanted whole grain bread and that book was mostly about white bread. I pre-ordered this book because it was Bittman and because of the emphasis on whole wheat bread. So far I have made bread from this book 4 times.First the beginner bread which is a white loaf which I devoured in 2 or 3 days. The lovely open texture and the crackling crispy crust were irresistible. (but it was a white loaf). Next Bittman bread: Crust wasn't quite as crispy but so much more crispy than any whole wheat loaf I have ever eaten before. Same inside: the crumb was not quite as open as in the beginner bread but still very good. The bottom crust was a bit tough though. Could have been the pan I used. My son liked the bread but didn't like the boule shape. So next was Kerri's sandwich loaf. Delicious, easy to slice, and keeps well in the fridge. It was a bit more dense than the Bittman bread. (could have been due to my lack of skills at slashing the top) My son likes this one. He has had sandwiches with it and also made French toast. I eat a lot of plain cheese sandwiches and this is excellent for that. I have also sliced it as thin as possible with a knife (3/16 of an inch!) and toasted it lightly and it was very crispy and made great open face sandwiches. Regular toast is really good too. And today I made the focaccia. Followed instructions exactly and baked it in a 10 inch cast iron frying pan. I must be getting better at this because this one was so light in texture with nice big holes in the crumb, and the crust was crisp without being tough, and the flavor was wonderful (it did have olive oil, fresh rosemary and sea salt... but yeah.) I think I may use my 12 inch cast iron next time because it was quite lofty for foccacia. I will have a hard time not devouring this one, but at least its whole wheat. I love that he uses metric measurements (except in the very beginning). So easy to measure with a scale. I found the starter jar they use here on Amazon. It is the Weck brand. I worried about the pot, but didn't want another heavy kitchen device (the Lodge 2 quart dutch oven) and I just used a covered stainless steel saucepan that was oven proof. I do wonder it the focaccia came out so good because it was made in cast iron though. It may have been the oil in the pan that fixed the tough bottom crust. I have been trying to source Kerri's big ceramic dough bowl, but I am going to stay with my very large stainless steel mixing bowl. It is plenty big enough to do all the mixing and folding and shaping (except maybe the shaping for the sandwich loaf). It is not as pretty on the counter as Kerri's bowl though. I made my own dough slasher (the lame). I took a wood chopstick and whittled it down a bit so I could stick a razor blade to the end. Works perfectly. It is so wonderful to be able to make bread from scratch without making a giant mess with all that flour on the counter! This is such a clean process. Even the pan is not a pain to clean because of the parchment lining. As for the lengthy time frame, it is hard to wait so long for the finished bread when you are excited about it. However, I am getting used to it and I can make my jumpstarter the night before I want to make bread. It only takes a few minutes. There are many small steps with specific amounts of time in between, but all these steps are so easy. I use timers for everything so this was a no brainer. My apartment is kind of cold so I use the max time for every step. I actually enjoy the folding process (repeated 4 times). It is kind of like kneading but it goes so quickly and you can feel the changes in the dough from one fold to another and your arms don't get tired... its a gentle process. In between steps I always have something to do in the kitchen or at my desk or cleaning something or making some art so this long drawn out process is not a problem at all. I read the book through as soon as I got it, and then re-read some parts over many times, especially the parts at the beginning. I had so many questions, but in my re-reading found the answers to nearly all of them. Answers to other questions came as AHA moments during the baking process. I feel pretty solid on this now. Its written in a very conversational way, almost like having Mark or Kerri next to you in the kitchen. With the foccacia, the recipe said to let the loaf cool for a "bit" before eating, and my son had a problem with that because he likes things precise. (We hacked into the loaf within 5 minutes of coming out of the oven.....) They say in the book that your first loaf will be good, but maybe not great, but that you will improve with practice. This has be so true in my short experience.

I've seen this book recommended in a couple Facebook groups I'm apart of. I use freshly milled flour which is not quite as easy to use as store bought flour. My husband enjoys making bread so I bought him this book when it was on sale. He has raved about it ever since (a couple months ago). I still hear how great this book is. The recipes are really tasty. The book itself is educational and has recipes. It's a must for anyone using sourdough.

This bread recipe is for people who have half a day to be near the kitchen. There are 4 folds every 30 minutes and then baking (taking it out during baking to remove the lid.) The results are wonderful though you just need to have the time. I give it 4 stars rather than 5 because other recipes (like pizza dough) are really time consuming and a lot of work for items that you tend to want to be quick and easy.

I have been baking breads for over 40 years. Long enough to learn that sourdough isn't as difficult to maintain and bake with as generally though of.But it gets to be even easier. Never thought I would be baking for 40 years and still have such a revelation. The only downside for me is that I have to read too much. This book is for beginners, so I have to scan through a lot of information to get to what I need.Everybody should get this book and start baking. It really can't get any easier or better.

I've been baking for many decades and as I age I want to avoid diabetes and obesity. Baking breads, rolls, pizza, and similar foods using only whole grains is the way to go. I finally discovered this book and will donate all my other bread books to the library fund for resale.I invested in a grain mill (the Nutrimill) and have gone through 5 lbs of hard red winter wheat and some rye. Next up is hard red spring wheat, followed by einkorn. Using Bittman and Conan's book I've learned that I can bake every type of bread, roll, muffin, biscuit, and bun that I want using only whole grains, in any combination I want. I'll experiment with different degrees of milling, from extra fine to coarse, and learn what I prefer for all my baked goods.I highly recommend their book. You'll learn a lot and enjoy baking healthful breads with only whole grains.

I had tried to make whole grain sourdough bread for at least a year before trying this method, and it was always disappointing. It did take me 2-3 loaves before I got the results I wanted, but this wasn’t a fault of the book. Any new skill takes practice. I was not using enough water, and I had to make adjustments due to the temperature we keep our house (66). This you can figure out by trial and error, and the resulting bread was always edible.Those who are complaining that this takes time… I mean, it’s sourdough bread. It’s fermentation. That’s the whole point. I am a homeschooling mother of 4, and while I am home pretty often, I do not always have time to devote to the bread. I find it so useful that I can stick the loaf in the fridge at almost any point during the process and take it out, let it come to room temp-ish, and keep going. You can also, then, let it ferment some more of the long ferment of all the flour is important to you.I probably shouldn’t have given it 5 stars without trying the other recipes yet, but honestly the bread recipe is worth the price of the book to me. I have made probably 10-15 loaves at this point and have no desire to search for a new recipe. I am excited, though, to try the rye bread, and the sandwich bread. I’m hoping my sourdough-disliking son will not be able to tell its sourdough sandwich bread….

Much simpler method for “jump start” (ie “sourdough”) no knead baking . Have my starter made and first loaf was wonderful. Can’t wait to try more of the recipes.

I borrowed this book from the library originally and finally bought it on amazon. I bake 100% wholegrain bread all the time and got the basic white sourdough down, but my expirements with wholegrain sourdough were dense and confusing until this book. I highly recommend it to anyone looking to use freshly ground whole grains especially to avoid the frustrations and failure.

Good pictures and explanation as well as where you can fiddle with the variations.

Easy to read just hope it's as easy to use the recipes!