Name: Modernist bread
ISBN: 9780982761052

Modernist bread

"Making good bread is both an art and a science--Modernist Bread is a 2,642-page celebration of that and more, including bread's future. The culmination of over four years of nonstop research, photography, experiments, writing, and baking, Modernist Bread isn't just about new recipes, though--it's about the way we think of bread from the ground up. In the space of five volumes plus a recipe manual, this groundbreaking set tells the story of one of the world's most important foods in new and different ways. Inside this book you'll discover the science, history, cultures, and personalities behind bread, along with tools you can use to shape its future. Learn what really happens when dough is mixed, new techniques for working with preferments, strategies for making bread in any kind of oven, and innovative approaches to developing flavor--all through more than 1,200 recipes and variations to master and inspire."--Publisher's web site.

What Hacker News says

CSMastermindJun 2023

I'm reading Nathan Myhrvold's excellent Book Modernist Pizza at the moment: https://modernistcuisine.com/books/modernist-pizza/

The book along with its excellent predecessor Modernist Bread and the companion podcasts to both do a great job of both illustrating the history of bread and pizza but also debunking a lot of popular myths about their origin.

A lot of pizza (and bread for that matter) traditions and styles are much more recent than you might think. I'd highly recommend the volumes to anyone curious about the topic.

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mcaraveyOct 2022

Commercial baker here. One place where this kind of math gets really weird is when the recipe uses multiple kinds of flours. We make a loaf that uses three kinds of flour, so this means a recipe will have flour percentages that are less than 100%, but that sum to 100% so the hydration percentage works.

For example, the recipe might say: Bread Flour 80%, Whole Wheat Flour 15%, and Rye Flour 5%. Personally I prefer just treating all ingredients as relative weights, and only convert to bakers math if needed. That is in large part because I wrote the software that is used on the production floor which spits out ingredient weights in grams, and no bakers math needed. It also keeps it simple for the employees, so they don’t have to learn how these ratios work.

I’ll also mention that the absolute best book on bread ever is the Modernist Bread set [0]. It’s pricey, but there are extremely well explained reasons behind certain methods, and debunking a lot of long held beliefs such as the efficacy of the autolyse.

[0] https://modernistcuisine.com/books/modernist-bread/

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bborudJun 2021

Modernist Cuisine and Modernist Bread by Nathan Myhrvold.

And pretty much any formal chef education.

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dlkinneyOct 2018

Serious Eats Food Lab [1] Egullet [2]

I can also recommend Modernist Cuisine, which is a sort of text book version of On Food and Cooking. Though it has a lot of industrial equipment and ingredients that aren't applicable to home cooks, it has excellent photos and diagrams that illustrate the cooking process from a biological and physical level. (Modernist Cuisine at Home isn't nearly as comprehensive, though it shirks a lot of the weird/expensive equipment and additives.)

Also Modernist Bread for breads is fantastic and comprehensive.

1. https://www.seriouseats.com/the-food-lab

2. https://forums.egullet.org/

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MegaDeKayApr 2018

Jeffrey Hamelman's "Bread" is also a great book. He really digs into the science of bread, and he also offers up an incredibly wide variety of techniques that will really expand your repertoire.

Unfortunately, I can't come up with the dough (ha ha) for Modernist Bread...

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turnsoutFeb 2025

This comment is gold, and helps me contextualize a “book” which has always intrigued me. What are your takes on the later additions, Modernist Bread and Modernist Pizza? I have the Bread tome, and some of the base recipes have worked out.

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