Newly Published Bread Books
Hi Everyone,
My wife, Tina and I have recently published three books on Amazon.com and believe they can be helpful to just about all levels of bread makers. The following is a brief overview, with a link to review each on Amazon.
Bread Defined: Terms, Tips & Troubleshooting (Amazon.com $10.95). The initial process of creating a list of relevant terms expanded into a glossary and then into a reference guide including bread related terms, tips and troubleshooting. A number of the terms have elaborations that range from simple and concise all the way to expansive and wordy. In our selection and elaboration of terms we have included key ingredients used in all kinds of breads, and in many instances we provide the why and how they are used. Oh, I know it is possible to make a loaf of bread or a batch of rolls without understanding anything (I'm sure you know someone who is a perfect example of this), but the "tweaking" that is often needed to make a good formula great, or the recognizing and correcting of recipe errors requires understanding of ingredients, processes and the development of some basic skills.
Mastering Sourdough: Trapping, Taming & Training Wild Yeast (Amazon.com $17.95). Our journey into pre-ferments evolved through the research and experimentation with all types of pre-ferments. It was initially very confusing and painful, but soon, with the help of Bread Defined, it became enlightening and very rewarding. We take the reader through the basics of direct and indirect breads and progress to a point of true understanding and skill development with sourdough breads. You are shown how to create a starter (Trap), and stabilize (Tame) and bring it to a flexible maturity (Train) including, but not limited to, topics such as: hydration, baker's percentages, refreshment schedules, starter to dough ratios, manipulating "sourness," and sourdough storage. The recipes range from those enhancing direct bread making to those using mother directly and end with creating and using levains through the elaboration of mother.
Delicious Direct Breads: Tempting, Tender & Tasty (Amazon.com $15.95). Our return to direct breads led us to a focus on increasing clarity in the preparation of breads. Select your bread from thirty one formulas in the categories of: Our Daily Breads, Flatbreads, French, German, Holiday, Italian, and Rolls. Proceed with confidence using our unique ingredient and activity tables, and an overall presentation format that utilizes easy to read type size and style.
Thanks to all of you as information from this website helped us to achieve greater clarity in our bread making and writing adventure. Clarity Maximizes Comprehension, Confidence, and Competence
I am not sure how I feel about people profiting financially from the expertise on this site. I was fine reading your post til I got to your thank you. We all share to help each other but when one starts profiting from that and has contributed zero to this site, I don’t like it. Sorry but it seems not right somehow.
Danni3ll3
Thanks for taking the time and posting your point of view. I am not sure how to properly respond to your uncertainty about profiting from this site. I, like many, have learned quite a bit from this site, other forums, books, videos and a multitude of educational sources, and I am actually proud of taking what I have learned and applied it in a positive way. Also, I reviewed thefreshloaf.com FAQ, "Can I post about a book I've published or a product I'm selling?" and "I have a book or product I'd like you to review. Where do I send it?" And before I took any action, I emailed Floyd Mann to see if the policies still apply today. I will be soon be sending a copy of each of my books to Mr. Mann for him to review and comment.
Serge
but I needed to express what my reaction was when I read your thank you. We have other people who have published books and they are active participants in the forums. I think my issue is with the fact you come out of the blue, let us know that you took information from this site, used it in your books and the first we hear of you is with you trying to sell your books. The other authors that I know on this site contribute and help others. Feel free to ignore me and my comments.
Don't respond favourably, if at all, to a sales pitch. We kinda just like it as amateur bread enthusiasts helping each other out. I've been here a few years and only seen one book being advertised but like Danni said it was from a well known fellow TFL'er whom we all knew and respected. He also had a history of joining us in this forum as a fellow baker and has helped us all out on a non professional basis. Perhaps a better way is for this forum topic to be deleted, Floyd reviews the books and if he chooses he can put an ad on TFL as recommended books for the bread enthusiast. Or you could even choose a select few to "test" the books out and report back. Also an example of another product brought to the public through this website. Just thought I'd explain how your post might be received and how better you can get your books out there. Your books might be well deserving good recommendation but we just don't know you.
FWIW Serge contacted me about the books he and his wife have been working on and asked if I minded if he posted about. I said I did not mind and welcome posts from people trying to provide goods, services, or learning resources that would likely be of interest to community members here. He also asked if I was interested in reviewing them.
Lots of people visit this site and walk away without actively participating. That is normal in a public forum. Consider how much information most of us take from Wikipedia vs. how much we contribute: I know I take away far more than I give back. Straight up plagiarizing a source isn't cool but taking ideas from/being influenced by sources like TFL is typical and, frankly, rather flattering.
I haven't seen the books yet. Perhaps I'd have criticisms but for now I wish Serge and Tina the best with this endeavour.
I had the exact same reaction reading the post. I can wax on as to why, but they both were clear in their point of view and I full agree with them.
Floyd, the fact you were approached and you agree with him is fine but not the point. You/Floyd put in a huge amount of time and sweat equity into the site and hopefully make a tidy little sum (or at least enough to buy a few bags of flour now and then!) for all your efforts with all the ads that keep bombarding us as we browse the forums or write posts. I've even answered Alfonso's year end call to make a small monetary donation to you to support the site because I appreciate your work and the community I'm part of in my quest for the next great loaf. But this post isn't about that.
I'm not saying anyone has to agree with Floyd, but it seems like quite a stretch to suggest that his opinion isn't to the point.
Their book announcement would have been better received if they had been contributing members, no doubt. But I do feel they appreciated the boundaries by reviewing the TFL guidelines and contacted Floyd to get his blessing. We just didn't know about that up front and I agree with Danni at that point in time-I would have reacted the same. Now, knowing they respected the boundaries and guidelines I feel more charitable but I would have felt better if they had established a relationship first.
But lets give them the benfit of the doubt and give the a chance to establish a relationship from this point forward. So I welcome Sergei and Tina to the forum and look forward to future posts.