A comprehensive, illustrated bread-making reference from an award-winning master baker.

Interest in fresh-baked breads is on the rise both in restaurants and at home, where more and more people are turning to the age-old comforts of baking and breaking bread with family and friends–the perfect antidote to modern stress. This book puts perfect loaves within reach of serious home bakers and professionals, detailing how to create everything from Baguettes and Whole Wheat Bread with Hazelnuts and Currants to Semolina Bread and Focaccia con Formaggio. It contains more than 118 recipes, including a whole chapter on decorative breads, as well as detailed coverage of bread baking techniques, from scaling and mixing through shaping, scoring, and baking. Nearly 250 beautiful black-and-white illustrations demonstrate methods step by step, while full-color inserts throughout the book show a broad selection of both simple and decorative finished breads.

Jeffrey Hamelman (Hartland,VT) has been baking professionally for more than 25 years. He is the Director of the Bakery and the Baking Education Center at King Arthur Flour in Norwich, Vermont. He was the captain of the United States team that won the prestigious Coupe du Monde de la Boulangerie (the World Cup of Baking) in Paris. He became the 76th Certified Master Baker in the United States in 1998