Slow Dough: Real Bread

OUTSTANDING! This book just gives and gives! An honest, friendly narration which you can relate to - none of the BBC educational guidance many modern cookery books now feature (sorry Delia). Photography is excellent, directions clear and the nuggets of stories behind the breads are an excellent touch. I particularly liked the attitude of the author. statements like 'you can use another hard cheese, but you'll have to change the name of the bread' really give the passion behind the local-centric rawness that is portrayed in the book. And the book builds up to a wonderful unexpected feature, from bread as process and art, to bread as ingredient in other foods. Just wonderful! This book can be your secret recipe book, your breads at dinner parties or breakfast indulgence will be ones which you can pull out and carefully dismiss as "just a little recipe I know" when the key ingredient was time - time to prove and mature. Buy this book, and be VERY selective about who you allow to borrow it.

If you’ve ever eaten bread in Europe, you know there’s no comparison to what is offered in America except in a few exclusive, and usually expensive, bakeries. Why is European bread so much better? Of course part of it is the flour, since the flour in the US has been genetically altered, but most American bakeries are too lazy to make bread the proper way. Slow Dough: Real Bread by British baker Chris Young is a great, easy-to-understand primer on proper bread making at home. Not all of the recipes take a long time, and some can be started early and left to sit while the home baker spends time running errands, cleaning, gardening, or at work.

Once I saw the mouthwatering breads in this book, I started baking, one recipe at a time. My family swooned, and I found that with Chris Young’s complete, but simple instructions, even I (a baker who is usually in a hurry or traveling for my job) can turn out incredible breads that taste just like those I’ve often sampled in London, Paris, Amsterdam and Rome. The first recipe I prepared was the Cheese-Topped Chilli and Onion Boule. The word I would use to describe the finished product is Magnifique. I waited for my next London trip to pick up some Lincolnshire Poacher cheese before I made the Rustic Lincolnshire Poacher and Onion Bread, and it was well-worth waiting for the cheese. Other breads I love that are included in the book are Middle Eastern rolls called Simit that are coated with grape molasses (available at Middle Eastern groceries or online) which are incredible, and Finnish Pulla which were easy and good.

In the early chapters of the book there are very detailed instructions that are easy for everyone - beginning bakers to veterans – to understand, and not only does the book contain incredible breads, but also an entire chapter dedicated to using up leftovers, which will certainly come in handy since you may not finish the entire loaf before baking another. There is an excellent recipe for Lahmacun, the Turkish or Armenian thin-crusted pizza, and an excellent recipe for Appley Village Buns and Cinnamon and Hazelnut Knots. The recipes have a decidedly British flare, and even though some take a while to prepare, the end result is well-worth it.

The pictures are beautiful, the prose is well-written, and this is a book that anyone who loves good bread and is willing to spend time making it should include in their cookbook collection. I love you Chris Young!

Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying a review copy of this excellent book.

Our family have been organic and then biodynamic farmers for many years, and I used to make my own sour-dough starter bread, so I was interested in this book, as my bread was pretty basic and "boring".
This beautifully produced book goes beyond basic, it show such a fabulous variety of breads that can be made without additives. Beautifully photographs which will make your mouth water, the instructions and information is well laid out and simple to follow. Yes it does take time, but as they say all good things come to those that wait. Me? I going back to the kitchen to make a loaf or two.

Due to food intolerances, I've been baking all our bread for quite some time now and I've read a fair number of books about bread and baking and everything around it as well. When I got the chance to read this book, I was really curious and eager to try new recipes. And I must say that this book is simply amazing! In here you will find everything you need to know about bread and the different kinds of bread whether it be pre-ferment, long-ferment or sourdough. You will learn how to make them from scratch, how to nurture your own sourdough and much more. Then you get the chance to use this new knowledge to bake a bunch of delicious breads, some simple but savory, some intriguing, some sweet, some tart, some...no matter what, they all look and sound delicious. I couldn't try all of them yet but up to now I was never disappointed. The recipes are easy to follow and the photos are just gorgeous. All recipes are donated by Real Bread bakers who are also part of the Real Bread Campaign. So...if you want to bake your own bread or want to try other recipes, other varieties of bread, this is the book to turn to. Oh, and don't worry if you tried too many recipes at once, there's a whole section with recipes for leftovers, be it leftover bread or leftover sourdough. I can wholeheartedly recommend this book and if you still wonder if it is worth all the work - yes, it is. My family loves the freshly baked bread and even the kids from the neighbourhood come in when I am baking, hoping to be in time for a slice of fresh bread.

This book is a baker's dream. They try to make things that sound really hard, seem really easy. They are all about small batch homemade bread over the store bought processed type. I have to say, the bread they bake looks delish, and when I once again have a kitchen and time, I will be trying some of these recipes. And that is coming from someone who has never had real bread not turn hard as stone.
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I am a bread lover. A great book for bread making tutorial with clear explanation and wonderful pictures.......

Really enjoyed this book, great helpful teqniques which I will defintley be using lovely pictures and fabulous recipes. Some great inspirations with lots of recipes from easy to technical which I will be trying next week when I'm on holiday.

Enjoyed reading but was expecting a very different book from the description -- this has very, very little about long-fermentation techniques, finding/using sourdough cultures, etc., and many more basic bread recipes than expected. Would've preferred more leavening/culturing/handling technique and fewer random photogenic recipes.

Slow Dough: Real Bread is an excellent book for home bakers with some degree of experience. While novices may easily become overwhelmed, Slow Dough: Real Bread has a lot to offer bakers looking to expand their horizons. I liked the wide variety of bread recipes, as well as the assortment of recipes that use bread as an ingredient. Being from the New Orleans area, bread pudding is a perennial favorite, and Slow Dough has two great recipes -Kate De Syllas’s Savory Bread and Butter Pudding (which can easily be adapted with different meats and cheeses) and Chris Young’s Masala Chai Spiced Bread and Butter Pudding. I was also thrilled by the inclusion of Peter Cook’s Crumpet recipe, as good crumpets are rarely found in the US and they are a delectable treat.

I only had a few minor complaints. Fresh yeast is hard to find in the US, so it would be nice if there was more information about how to use active dry or instant in its place. Information is available on the internet, so don’t let this prevent you from buying the book. Some of the recipes are complicated and ingredients can be hard to find, but the results are worth it.

Slow Dough: Real Bread is the product of Great Britain’s Real Bread movement celebrating artisan breads that use a variety of starters and pre-ferments. This book is best for those who already have some experience baking bread at home.

4/5

I received a copy of Slow Dough: Real Bread from the publisher and netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review.

—Crittermom
(11/7/16)

This bread recipe collection all pretty much follow from having a starter dough, to both save time and to make healthier bread. If that's something you like, then you'll love this book! I like some of the more innovative parts of the book, like the "Leftovers" sections and showing how to do very simple parts of the baking in great detail. But of course, if you don't like breads made with starter dough (like my husband, just for example), then this isn't the most useful bread-making companion! The photography and layout are both beautifully done.

The Real Bread Campaign has existed since 2008. Kneading, stretching, and punching dough is wonderful experience where you also touch and feel. Making bread is so fulfilling and of course eating something that you have made is amazing. A wonderful book about the craftsmanship of making bread.

Easy to understand, great photos and delicious recipes....this is the one you need to buy and keep in the kitchen at all times

This book tells you more about bread than you probably knew there was to know. It's just astounding. I was really pleased to see the recipe from old dough. I've heard of it, but didn't really know how to do it. It's too much for a grade school, but it should be in every library of cookbooks. It's hard to imagine any sort of bread that isn't in this book. I have already ordered a copy for myself.

The Real Bread Campaign champions real bread - bread made without additives. This book by Chris Young shares his and Real Bread Campaign's recipes for making bread in slow traditional ways to maximise flavour. A must for anyone who loves good bread and aspires to make a great loaf.

A beautiful and well-done book with oodles of great recipes for sourdough and other slow rise breads. Unlike other similar books, this one has a wide variety of interesting and unique recipes in it. Each recipe is well explained, and there is a good introductory section for those who are new to sourdoughs, or bread baking in general. Highly recommended for novice or experienced bakers.

The Fig and Fennel Sourdough is a must try!

Thoughtful design and layout. The unique makeup of the recipes - including lahmacun, which I made several times with ease (it was delicious), distinguish this book from the many excellent bread books out there so far. Recipes are spot-on so far.