--- product_id: 1183327 title: "Flour Water Salt Yeast: The Fundamentals of Artisan Bread and Pizza [A Cookbook]" price: "$100.79" currency: USD in_stock: true reviews_count: 13 url: https://www.desertcart.ec/products/1183327-flour-water-salt-yeast-the-fundamentals-of-artisan-bread-pizza store_origin: EC region: Ecuador --- # Flour Water Salt Yeast: The Fundamentals of Artisan Bread and Pizza [A Cookbook] **Price:** $100.79 **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** Flour Water Salt Yeast: The Fundamentals of Artisan Bread and Pizza [A Cookbook] - **How much does it cost?** $100.79 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.ec](https://www.desertcart.ec/products/1183327-flour-water-salt-yeast-the-fundamentals-of-artisan-bread-pizza) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From Portland’s most acclaimed and beloved baker comes this must-have baking guide, featuring recipes for world-class breads and pizzas and a variety of schedules suited for the home baker. There are few things more satisfying than biting into a freshly made, crispy-on-the-outside, soft-and-supple-on-the-inside slice of perfectly baked bread. For Portland-based baker Ken Forkish, well-made bread is more than just a pleasure—it is a passion that has led him to create some of the best and most critically lauded breads and pizzas in the country. In Flour Water Salt Yeast , Forkish translates his obsessively honed craft into scores of recipes for rustic boules and Neapolitan-style pizzas, all suited for the home baker. Forkish developed and tested all of the recipes in his home oven, and his impeccable formulas and clear instructions result in top-quality artisan breads and pizzas that stand up against those sold in the best bakeries anywhere. Whether you’re a total beginner or a serious baker, Flour Water Salt Yeas t has a recipe that suits your skill level and time constraints: Start with a straight dough and have fresh bread ready by supper time, or explore pre-ferments with a bread that uses biga or poolish. If you’re ready to take your baking to the next level, follow Forkish’s step-by-step guide to making a levain starter with only flour and water, and be amazed by the delicious complexity of your naturally leavened bread. Pizza lovers can experiment with a variety of doughs and sauces to create the perfect pie using either a pizza stone or a cast-iron skillet. Flour Water Salt Yeast is more than just a collection of recipes for amazing bread and pizza—it offers a complete baking education, with a thorough yet accessible explanation of the tools and techniques that set artisan bread apart. Featuring a tutorial on baker’s percentages, advice for manipulating ingredients ratios to create custom doughs, tips for adapting bread baking schedules to fit your day-to-day life, and an entire chapter that demystifies the levain-making process, Flour Water Salt Yeast is an indispensable resource for bakers who want to make their daily bread exceptional bread. Review: Bake Your Own Slice Of Heaven - Overview I had been trying to make good artisan bread on my own by scouring blogs and websites for techniques and recipes, but nothing I found yielded the thick, crunchy, crusts and light, spongy crumbs that I was seeking to produce...that is until I found this book. I decided that combing through endless articles and the blog posts of amateurs and hobbyists was not going to cut it. So, I jumped on the Kindle store and began my search for the book that would give me the skills and knowledge I needed to bake the bread I dreamed about. I looked at various titles written by Peter Reinhart, but none of them stood out as a book just about the fundamentals. I thumbed through a few more titles, before I found Flour, Water, Salt, Yeast: The Fundamentals of Artisan Bread and Pizza. There it is...fundamentals right in the title...perfect! Organization This book is broken up into several sections. In the first chapters the author briefly goes over his transition from working in Silicon Valley, through his education in baking, to eventually opening his own bakery in Portland, OR. He had the privilege of learning the craft from several world renowned bakers and humorously tells the story of the hurdles he had to overcome to get to where he is today. One review on here called the author out for including the introduction, accusing him of being an egotistical narcissist. I don't know the author, therefore I cannot speak to his personal character, however, I found the introduction to be informative and fun to read. I for one thought it gave the reader a bit of insight into the author, who for the duration of the book becomes your mentor and guide. Chapter 3 covers the basic equipment you will need to get started. I had most everything in my kitchen already, except a 4qt dutch oven and proofing baskets, both of which I found readily available here on desertcart. Chapter 4 goes over basic techniques that will help you learn the proper methods of shaping, folding, and mixing doughs by hand. These techniques take time to get the hang of and I still am nowhere near mastering them, however, the author had provided multiple pictures in the book to help you get a visual reference of how things are supposed to look after each step. He has also posted a few videos on this bakery's website, kensartisan.com, that will help you if you need further guidance. The next chapters are organized into dough categories: Straight Doughs, Doughs with Preferments, Hybrid Levain Doughs, and Pure Levain Doughs. When you get to the chapter dealing with levain, the author educates you on what exactly a levain is and how to start and maintain your own levain. The last chapters deal with focaccia and pizza. The section on pizza includes recipes for sauces and even gives a crash course on shaping pizza dough. Scattered through the book are four essays the author has included spanning several related topics, such as the origin of the flour used at his bakery and the daily schedule of the professional baker. These essays round out the book and give additional insight into the world of baking. Recipes The recipes in this book are easy to follow and simply lay out the ingredients and the procedure for creating each bread. The author recommends measuring your ingredients by weight instead of by volume, however he also includes the approximate measurements in cups, tbs, tsps, etc. Each recipe is unique and will require different time commitments, so plan ahead to make sure your schedule can accommodate the recipe you want to try. Results I have tried almost half of the recipes in this book and most (despite my still raw technique) have looked and tasted amazing. No store-bought bread in our home anymore with these boules around. I take these artisan loaves to family parties and never have any to take home. I made several loaves for a bake sale recently and they lasted about 30 seconds before each was purchased. I got brave and tried one of the pizza recipes out on my aunt who is a self professed "foodie" and she claimed it was the best pizza she has ever had, even better than the pizza she had in Italy (she seemed sincere, however she has a talent for exaggeration). Conclusion After spending some time with this book and some time in the kitchen I am finally baking the bread that I've been wanting. I can say with out hesitation that if you're looking for a book to get you started baking superb breads and pizza...get this one. Is it the definitive book on the subject? No, but it covers the basics and from here you can go anywhere. If I can do it, you can too Review: An Algorithm for Great Bread: OOD + baker's experience + precise instructions = consistently superb artisan bread - 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 quickly Interesting 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 extension Della 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 -- Recommended The Bread Builders: Hearth Loaves and Masonry Ovens - the best treatise on the subject of fermenting Bread 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 Try The 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! ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #3,379 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #2 in Pizza Baking #7 in Bread Baking (Books) #55 in Culinary Arts & Techniques (Books) | | Customer Reviews | 4.7 out of 5 stars 15,339 Reviews | ## Images ![Flour Water Salt Yeast: The Fundamentals of Artisan Bread and Pizza [A Cookbook] - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/91jb9B+7IiL.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Bake Your Own Slice Of Heaven *by B***E on June 4, 2014* Overview I had been trying to make good artisan bread on my own by scouring blogs and websites for techniques and recipes, but nothing I found yielded the thick, crunchy, crusts and light, spongy crumbs that I was seeking to produce...that is until I found this book. I decided that combing through endless articles and the blog posts of amateurs and hobbyists was not going to cut it. So, I jumped on the Kindle store and began my search for the book that would give me the skills and knowledge I needed to bake the bread I dreamed about. I looked at various titles written by Peter Reinhart, but none of them stood out as a book just about the fundamentals. I thumbed through a few more titles, before I found Flour, Water, Salt, Yeast: The Fundamentals of Artisan Bread and Pizza. There it is...fundamentals right in the title...perfect! Organization This book is broken up into several sections. In the first chapters the author briefly goes over his transition from working in Silicon Valley, through his education in baking, to eventually opening his own bakery in Portland, OR. He had the privilege of learning the craft from several world renowned bakers and humorously tells the story of the hurdles he had to overcome to get to where he is today. One review on here called the author out for including the introduction, accusing him of being an egotistical narcissist. I don't know the author, therefore I cannot speak to his personal character, however, I found the introduction to be informative and fun to read. I for one thought it gave the reader a bit of insight into the author, who for the duration of the book becomes your mentor and guide. Chapter 3 covers the basic equipment you will need to get started. I had most everything in my kitchen already, except a 4qt dutch oven and proofing baskets, both of which I found readily available here on Amazon. Chapter 4 goes over basic techniques that will help you learn the proper methods of shaping, folding, and mixing doughs by hand. These techniques take time to get the hang of and I still am nowhere near mastering them, however, the author had provided multiple pictures in the book to help you get a visual reference of how things are supposed to look after each step. He has also posted a few videos on this bakery's website, kensartisan.com, that will help you if you need further guidance. The next chapters are organized into dough categories: Straight Doughs, Doughs with Preferments, Hybrid Levain Doughs, and Pure Levain Doughs. When you get to the chapter dealing with levain, the author educates you on what exactly a levain is and how to start and maintain your own levain. The last chapters deal with focaccia and pizza. The section on pizza includes recipes for sauces and even gives a crash course on shaping pizza dough. Scattered through the book are four essays the author has included spanning several related topics, such as the origin of the flour used at his bakery and the daily schedule of the professional baker. These essays round out the book and give additional insight into the world of baking. Recipes The recipes in this book are easy to follow and simply lay out the ingredients and the procedure for creating each bread. The author recommends measuring your ingredients by weight instead of by volume, however he also includes the approximate measurements in cups, tbs, tsps, etc. Each recipe is unique and will require different time commitments, so plan ahead to make sure your schedule can accommodate the recipe you want to try. Results I have tried almost half of the recipes in this book and most (despite my still raw technique) have looked and tasted amazing. No store-bought bread in our home anymore with these boules around. I take these artisan loaves to family parties and never have any to take home. I made several loaves for a bake sale recently and they lasted about 30 seconds before each was purchased. I got brave and tried one of the pizza recipes out on my aunt who is a self professed "foodie" and she claimed it was the best pizza she has ever had, even better than the pizza she had in Italy (she seemed sincere, however she has a talent for exaggeration). Conclusion After spending some time with this book and some time in the kitchen I am finally baking the bread that I've been wanting. I can say with out hesitation that if you're looking for a book to get you started baking superb breads and pizza...get this one. Is it the definitive book on the subject? No, but it covers the basics and from here you can go anywhere. If I can do it, you can too ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ An Algorithm for Great Bread: OOD + baker's experience + precise instructions = consistently superb artisan bread *by N***E on February 2, 2016* 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 quickly Interesting 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 extension Della 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 -- Recommended The Bread Builders: Hearth Loaves and Masonry Ovens - the best treatise on the subject of fermenting Bread 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 Try The 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! ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ The One Book to Succeed in Baking Bread *by L***. on April 9, 2021* I started baking bread out of necessity when the COVID-19 pandemic started. I wanted to have fresh artisanal bread to share with my family. I had no experience baking. I started by failing, over and over again. I made hard bricks, soft porridge, and mediocre loaves. Then I discovered Ken Forkish's FWSY and his Youtube videos accompanying the book. I watched the videos many times and read the various chapters in the book many times. I took careful notes. I started with the easiest recipe, the straight dough called "Overnight White Bread." It worked on the first try, making a nice loaf of bread. I gradually went through the pre-fermented recipes, the hybrid levain ones, and the full levain ones. They all worked. I took careful notes, like Ken suggested, and adjusted times, temperature, and quantities when needed. I got the knack of making bread. One year later, I still use Ken's methods even when trying some of the recipes from other books and other styles, the book gives solid building blocks that can help you make great bread. Ken is a great writer, a scientific mind and an artisan heart, and his techniques are clearly explained and easy to understand Some important tips: (1) buy Ken Forkish's "The Elements of Pizza" for his improved version of making and keeping a sourdough starter. It was thanks to that book that I finally succeeded in making a sourdough starter after many failures using other methods. (2) watch Ken's Youtube videos, the explanations in the book are not as clear the actual videos. (3) pay attention to what the books says needs to happen (e.g., dough must rise to three times the size) rather than the times stated in the book, the times are often wrong; I find that I often need a lot less time to get to the right result. There are some errors in the book. After many failed full levain loaves I finally understood that the times for the full levain bulk rise are too long for room temperature, I now believe they are supposed to be for a bulk raise in the refrigerator. I figured this out after reading other books and comparing and contrasting the various formulas. Having said that, the book recipes are fine, as long as you pay attention to how things are supposed to look/feel rather than the exact times. Thank you Ken -- you made me discover and enjoy a new hobby and share good bread with family and friends. ## Frequently Bought Together - Flour Water Salt Yeast: The Fundamentals of Artisan Bread and Pizza [A Cookbook] - The Perfect Loaf: The Craft and Science of Sourdough Breads, Sweets, and More: A Baking Book - The King Arthur Baking Company Big Book of Bread: 125+ Recipes for Every Baker (A Cookbook) --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.ec/products/1183327-flour-water-salt-yeast-the-fundamentals-of-artisan-bread-pizza](https://www.desertcart.ec/products/1183327-flour-water-salt-yeast-the-fundamentals-of-artisan-bread-pizza) --- *Product available on Desertcart Ecuador* *Store origin: EC* *Last updated: 2026-05-14*