Here’s a list of books that I found of most use while learning how to bake bread. The list is in order of ‘usefulness’, starting with the books I found most useful.
Bread: A Baker’s book of Recipes and Techniques by Jeffrey Hamelman. This books has, by far, been my greatest source of inspiration when I started baking sourdough breads. I find that the book has a nice balance between background information and recipes and is therefore quite suitable for the beginner. What I very much enjoy is that, next to an actual weight, the book always gives formulas in ‘bakers percentages’, which makes comparing recipes so much easier! In the 2nd version of the book, the recipes have improved and many mistakes have been corrected.
Bread Science by Emily Buehler. This is the only book I have ever come across that goes into the chemistry and physics of baking bread. I finished the book in a single day, so much I like finally reading some science about bread baking. If a thorough understanding is your cup of tea, go and get this book. You can buy the e-book though Emily’s website: https://emilybuehler.com/books-2/
The Rye Baker by Stanley Ginsberg. This book is all about rye and if you like to bake with that, I quite recommend this book. Especially the background about rye and rye baking is useful. There’re also quite a few nice recipes in the book.
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