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.

Discoveries

• Bread is lighter than whipped cream
• How to optimize levain for sweet breads
• The sad tale of North American rye
• How many bubbles are in a loaf of bread
• The real reason steam makes bread crispy
• How to rescue overproofed dough

New Techniques

• Bread in a jar
• Easy high-hydration doughs
• Sweet-and-sour levain
• 55°F sourdough
• Challah braiding made easy with fruit juice
• Compleat Wheat

History

• What bread looked like through the ages
• Which came first, bread or beer?
• Reconstructing bread from Pompeii
• The history of industrialized bread
• The modern invention of baguettes
• The artisanal bread movement

Experiments

• Weird stuff in starters
• How long does bread last in the freezer?
• How much water is too much?
• What is the best temperature for baking?
• How much payload can dough handle?
• Our take on autolyse

Debunking

• Do you need to make dough with purified water?
• Do you really need to knead?
• Is whole-grain bread better for you than white bread?
• To age or not age flour?
• Is NYC tap water the key to making good bagels?
• What’s really in Grandma’s starter?