Flour Water Salt Yeast: The Fundamentals of Artisan Bread and Pizza [A Cookbook]
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 Yeast 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.
Reviews (202)
Too much flour wasted!
This book is fine for those who are interested in making fermented breads from a commercial yeast, but for those looking to make naturally leavened bread from a starter you would be better off trying a different method than the one described by Forkish. His method wastes way too much flour, over 1000 grams per day just to get the starter going! Completely unnecessary! All you really need is 100 grams of a 50/50 white and wheat blend and 100 grams of water, more or less depending on your baking schedule. That's it. The method in this book would have you go through a bag of flour a day. Try Chad Robertson's Tartine instead for a better daily method. I also have to wonder if all the 5 star reviews actually made some of the recipes as described or if they just glanced over it. If you try to make the Pain Au Bacon there is a typo that has you adding an unnecessary 604 grams of whole wheat flour in the method (it should read only 16 grams!). He also has you build a huge levain for this recipe and only use a fraction of it. There are much more economical recipes out there with much better methods. Other reviewers stated that a combo cooker is preferable to the Dutch oven method used here and they are absolutely right, a combo cooker is much easier to work with. Forkish also apparently isn't a fan of scoring bread instead advocating for using the natural seam, it's a personal preference but I quite like scoring and making unique designs. Forkish also claims that in order to have a good rise and taste out of bread you need a combination of natural leaven and commercial yeast. Not true at all, some of the best risen and tasting breads I have ever made have been from using my own starter alone. Commercial yeast has its place at times but you absolutely don't need it to make good bread. Humans have been doing it for thousands of years before yeast was sold and packaged. I do agree that bread needs to be cooked a lot longer than most people think, a dark flavorful crust is preferable to an under baked loaf any day, and most people negatively reviewing it for that reason probably don't know what good bread looks or tastes like. Overall, if you are dipping your toes into the water and trying out long fermentation methods with commercial yeast, this book should be fine, but be sure to do the math on the recipes and calculate the correct baker's percentages before you waste flour and time on a typo. If you are looking for a book to get started making naturally leavened bread, go buy Tartine by Chad Robertson.
Focuses on perfecting the country rustic boule, and it succeeds
I began baking bread about 7 years ago. The books that made the biggest influence on me on this journey have been "Artisan Breads in Five Minutes a Day" and "Bread Baker's Apprentice" and finally this book. "5 Minutes" turned out to not lead to the most satisfying of breads, just too many shortcuts were taken. But, "Apprentice" could sometimes just take too long, you had to spend practically all day with careful attention, but the results were incredible! I tried to find a middle ground using techniques from both, and developed my own style that could produce good results, but reduced the amount of labor since I have a day job after all. Particularly the recipes for ciabatta and pain l'ancienne were excellent in "Apprentice". Then I found this book. Ken confirms many of the techniques that I'd already been using, and then added a whole slew more that I could utilize. Note, this book focuses on baking one particular style of bread: the slack-dough (high hydration) country rustic boule. But, it does this very, very well. Also, after years of baking, this is the type of bread that I found to be the easiest, most flexible, and often the most rewarding to bake. It is also pleases everyone, bread aficionados and those who have never tasted artisan bread before. The real beauty lies in that you can use Forkish's techniques to bake bread regularly with very little work and get absolutely stunning, flavorful, and healthy results. Highly recommend his techniques for whole wheat breads, the 40 and 50% varieties are very healthy and so flavorful you would think you are eating a decadent white french bread. So, in short, if you want to bake incredibly delicious rustic breads regularly without much effort, this is the book to buy. But, if you have the time on your hands, and want to bake many other styles and types of breads, may want to also look up Reinheart's Bread Baker's Apprentice. But, I'll say this, after years of baking from "Apprentice", I hardly ever crack it open anymore now that I found this book unless I want to bake a specific type of bread like challah or need help with shaping for baguettes.
Terrible recipe construction
This book could be pared down to half the size if Forkish didn’t keep repeating the same information , stopped talking about how he is different from Lahey, and stopped name dropping and stroking his own ego. I am not a new bread baker and this book is complicated because he chose to write the recipes in the most asinine of ways. He can’t get out of his own way to write a descent book. Go buy Lahey’s book. No ego, little repetition, straightforward. I have no idea how this windbag got so many positive reviews.
Fantastic, but you should know . . .
This book could easily receive one or five stars, depending on what you are looking for. It was perfect for me, but I would like to clarify exactly what it is you would get out of this book, and what you would not. First off, if you are looking for a book of great, simple recipes that you can throw in the breadmaker real quick once you get home, this is NOT the book for you. If you're looking more for a diverse bread recipe book vs break knowledge, this is not the book for you. This is a very good equivalent of a breadcrafting 101 textbook. Now, I say 'breadcrafting' vs just 'baking' because this book takes you far beyond "mix X and Y, bake at Z, eat." Using the same very simple ingredients (see title), you will make a variety of different flavors, based on times, ferments, etc. You will learn how to literally use temperature and times as ingredients and how these can make bread made with the very same ingredients VERY different. You will truly learn the basics of making great bread. I would note that this book also calls for a covered dutch oven to finally bake these loaves in, which will replace much in the way of expensive baking equipment and give a lovely crust. For the book itself: There are literally over a hundred favored methods of breadmaking all over the world. This book contains a much smaller focused area than, say, Peter Reinhart's "Bread Baker's Apprentice". The recipes are for lean dough, non-enriched breads, made straight, with delayed fermentation, and finally as pure sourdough. The doughs he uses are very wet (usually well in excess of 70% hydration), and his preference to hand-forming everything in the bowl vs using a mixer, etc, will actually give some excellent groundwork in learning dough handling. An advantage to wet doughs (among other things like quality), is that you can most easily feel changes in the dough as you work it, teaching you to make bread by feel, and really KNOW when things are ready. The basic recipe is varied with different flours, bigas or poolishes, and finally making and using a sourdough culture. The variations one learns of a recipe are incredible in terms of taste and texture, when the main variables are time and temp. This book is a fantastic stepping stone for more varied texts (Bread Bible, Bread Baker's Apprentice, and the all but sacred bread text "The Taste of Bread" by Raymond Calvel). If you are looking to learn the basic knowledge needed to make truly magnificent bread in your home, this is the book to start with. If you are a more advanced baker, but still need to solidify the basics covered in this text, you will find that material familiar but new at the same time, and will get more than your money's worth. Happy reading!
Flour, Water, Salt, Yeast - Great Bread!
I love this book. I have made three of the bread recipes, each with increasing complexity, and they are great! It’s nice that each one makes two loaves since if something looks amiss with the first one, then you can tweak the baking of the second. Also, you can use the dough from the second half for pizza and focaccia – I have done both with really excellent = delicious results! I have to admit though, that I do not appreciate the very dark baking he encourages. While my over is very accurate, if I bake as dark as he suggests, the bottoms taste burned. All the breads in this book require that you use a Dutch oven. Kind of an important detail. I was at first skeptical since I just bought a baking stone, but these recipes are really different. You also do NOT need a stand mixer! I was really getting into baking breads using the dough hook of my stand mixer, so I was a little concerned at first. But now, I really enjoy the 100% hands on (hands in?) approach. Note, the methods are fairly technique intensive - the book has great and detailed descriptions, but I found the videos on his web site to be great to clearly show you what he is explaining in the book. Ken has a great section on required equipment and gives you specific descriptions of things he used for the recipes in this book, and they are available on Amazon. Some examples: For the Dutch Over, he recommends 2 brands, of which I got the Lodge since it was much less $. I also decided on the enameled version since I did not want to deal with the uncoated cast iron, and the seasoning process. It works great, and frankly is a thing of beauty in our kitchen: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004QM8SK2/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 He recommends Cambro plastic containers for mizing etc, 12 quart and 6 quart. I tried using just large bowls, but then could see the advantage of these so ordered them. No regrets! Also I did buy the set of two for the 6 quart and very glad I did. One is always good for your working hand water, and the other if you are making Poolish, Biga, etc. 12 Quart: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000KIE73I/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Plus the lid: http://www.amazon.com/Camwear-Cover-Quart-Storage-Containers/dp/B001E0FNCU/ref=pd_bxgy_k_text_y 6 Quart, set of 2 with lids: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002PMV77G/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1 He also suggests Banneton Baskets for proofing the loaves prior to baking. I bought one, tried it, decided I needed two (they are two loaves recipes after all) went back and could only find the set of two, so now I have three. My wife likes baskets anyways! http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006J7JWHU/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1 He also recommends a digital scale and specifically OXO brand. He actually recommends a cheaper one, but it had a lot of negative reviews so I bought this one and love it. It works perfectly! Weighing ingredients is a great way to go. There are a lot of digital scales out there – if you go with another brand, be sure to consider one that has a pull out display. You will need it for large mixing containers. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000WJMTNA/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 These all bake at 475 degrees F! Handling and manipulating a heavy 475 degree enamel coated cast iron Dutch Over is a challenge. My potholders and BBQ Gloves did not do the job comfortably = worried. SO I bought these and have been very happy with them. Still, exercise caution! http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CHO64NE/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Enjoy!
Don't waste your money.
The point of a cookbook is to make cooking understandable and approachable. This book does just the opposite. Recipes and methods provided in this book are arcane and impossible. Sometimes censorship is advisable-this book being a case in point.
Love it !
Great book, changed the way i do things in a profound way. Highly recommended. Not a lot of technical jargon, just good technique for making fine breads. Hope Ken keeps on writing. You won't go wrong with this book. Thanks Ken.
The new standard for artisan bread books.
I've read many of the usual suspects of this genre: Jim Lahey, Chad Robertson, Amy's Bread, Peter Reinhart. You would think that there wasn't that much room for improvement based on what those fine books have taught. But what Ken Forkish has done here is not simply to give you recipes, but to teach you to think with the flexibility that bread baking demands, and to also demand creativity out of you to go past what's in the book. One of the very best things about Ken's book is that he doesn't just throw recipes out there, then try to explain with a little blurb above them, or even, as Robertson did, to give an in-depth explanation after you've tried your hand at it. Instead, Ken goes and teaches you the concepts first, then goes and gives you a structure of recipe writing that helps you identify the concepts taught within the context of the recipe. You're going to feel more comfortable making the bread from the first attempt. There's a lot here for the experienced bread baker here. Different mixes of flours, double fed levains, hybrid levain-commercial yeast solutions. There's a fantastic section on how to make recipes your own, whether it be about flour choices (and the different hydration requirements that some flours require), rearranging schedules to make your bread revolve around your life, the various options you have with levains, how to document your experimentation so that you can reproduce the results the next time. Like Robertson and Lahey, he's baking in cast iron pots-- he prefers the smaller (and harder to find) 4 quart models, which contribute to higher rises in his opinion. The book, because of his structure, works exclusively in those pots, but he tells you how to adjust his system if you wanted to take a batch of dough meant for two loaves and turn it into one massive miche. There's also an excellent pizza making section, with sauce recipes, pizza tossing instructions, plus pan pizza recipes. He ends with a Lagniappe of some hazelnut butter cookies, but I have to admit, I was really hoping he'd share a baguette recipe since he'd referenced them so often in his own story. All in all, a superb book that adds a lot of depth to the genre.
A game changer.
This book completely makes you rethink the bread making process. It's simple, an easy read, and once you knock out the first few chapters the recipes could not be more simple to follow. I know it's asking you for a lot of equipment. But you can get by with the bare minimum. 4 quart dutch oven ($31 or optional)- I don't even have a dutch oven yet. I've just used 2 giant cast iron skillets and placed one on top of the other. I have replicated bread identical to the cover shot. Still it be useful to have, but even throwing it in the oven uncovered would work fine. You will not get a super nice beautiful crust, but will still get great bread from the recipes that's a simply softer. 12 and 6 quart buckets ($10-20 and optional)- You can get these cheap on amazon with the Rubbermaid brand, but if you wanna use what's in your kitchen....simply use giant bowels and cover with plastic wrap. Banneton baskets ($20 and optional)- I seriously throw the dough in a large soup bowel that's lightly coated in olive oil for proofing. It works, and it's free Digital thermometer $5-10 - Honestly doesn't even need to be instant read. Or Digital. Simply use what you make and make sure your water is the correct temp and that your loafs are done. Digital Kitchen scale $10- Go to Walmart and buy the cheapest one. This is seriously the 1 item that I would consider required. And it can cost you less than $10. Bottom line, buying everything he suggests will definitely simplify a few things for you and make your life easier. However if you want bread identical to the cover the bare minimum you need is the dutch oven and a digital scale (assuming you have an thermometer). You can even get beautiful tasting bread and a nice look without the dutch oven but it's not going to have crackling crust that shatters when you bite it. Get this book! It will make you rethink the way you bake bread and once you learn the technical stuff and the bakers percentage concept....you can create your own breads and make it your own. Edit: Its been 2 months and I have been baking bread every single day. This book has revolutionized my life. I eat fresh bread all the time, and my family loves the bread as well. I have started working on the sourdough recipes and it's incredible to watch. I have a very active starter and it amazes me how one can rise bread just using natural yeast that collects in your culture. I love the tools it gives you to simply make your own bread. Here is a photo of some wheat bread I made with flaxseed. Another shot of some sourdough crumb held to the light. Both were made not with the recipes found in the book but what I created with the knowledge gained.
Waaay tio complex for me
I have been baking with sourdough for the past eight years and have used the excellent “artisan sourdough made simple”. I wanted a book for my brother’s birthday as he got interested in baking with this home stay orders, so I got this new one. I deeply regret it. Don’t get me wrong it’s a beautiful table book, nice pictures and professionally looking. But just too complex. The intro part is very good if you are interested in the chemistry of bread making and want to go in depth into it all. If you just want to bake a nice loaf you can skip it. The two things that put me off this book are: 1) the very limited range of recipes (a few artisan loaves that are good and tasty but fairly similar) a few pizza recipes and that’s it. 2) recipes are too complex. The double fed sweet levain is unbelievably complicated. I’ve been baking for eight years, 2-3x/week and hard a hard time explaining to my brother when he asked me questions. Plus you throw away half the levain twice in the same recipe. Really?! Will likely return it.
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