Modernist Bread at Home
Scraped from the part of the NY Times page I could read without subscribing...
The latest hefty volume quarried by the team at Modernist Cuisine, the research kitchen, photography studio and cookbook publisher founded by Nathan Myhrvold, is “Modernist Bread at Home.” It’s a follow-up for nonprofessionals to “Modernist Bread,” published seven years ago. Lavishly photographed with step-by-step instructions for hundreds of breadstuffs, it includes scientific and practical techniques, details about ingredients and even a dozen patterns for scoring a loaf. Recipes are geared to the home cook. As a companion to the 420-page book and a 172-page recipe manual, there is also a series of free monthly email courses. They will be available through August; it is not necessary to own the book, though it will be referenced throughout the courses. “Getting Started With Bread Basics” is running this month, and “Navigating Bread Making From Start to Finish” will be covered in April. Those who enroll will receive one lesson per day in their inbox, for five to seven sessions, as well as a recap.
“Modernist Bread at Home” by Nathan Myhrvold and Francisco Migoya (Modernist Cuisine, $140), modernistcuisine.com.
I'd be very interested at $60, but for $140??
the online promotional material says they kneaded their way through 40 tons of flour while researching the book.😮
A check with chatgpt told me that would make more than 80,000 1lb loaves of bread 😵💫
Unfortunately, the AI seems not to realize that 40 tons of flour would need around 30 tons of water to make a loaf, so the true number of loaves produced would be more than 100,000 🤣
I mean, they gotta recoup that cost somehow🤑.
But tbh, both the price & 40 tons of flour seems excessive & unsustainable, no?
I mean, I thought modernism was minimalism.
Having more disposable income than good sense, I ordered Modernist Bread at Home from Amazon (price is $126.00). Will review later.
Like Petek I have more disposable income than sense!
It is BEAUTIFUL! Wow.
And think of it this way. At $126 it is only 3 cents per gram! 😊
And the packaging! Another wow! I should have done an unboxing video!
It will be a while before I have any useful comments on the content.
I gotta think of something to sell...
I'm looking forward to both of your assessments, when you're ready.
Rob
It is BIG and heavy. 21" x 13" when opened. You aren't leaning back in your easy chair to enjoy this monster volume. Happily, there is a much smaller spiral bound kitchen manual with the recipes and most tables.
I find it difficult to read for my old and very nearsighted eyes. The black print on white pages is fine. But the colored letters on black are difficult for me to read. Even worse is the text over photos. Younger eyes may not have a problem.
Yudane/Tangzhong gets mentioned on a single page.
Whole grain recipes are mostly > 50% bread flour. Their "Complete Wheat" idea is interesting.
A nice chart "Where to start" with headings like "I need it tonight", "Beginners", "I have time", "Modernist", "Favorite Flavors" each with 5 photos and 15 or so pointers to recipes later in the book.
I found the section on Inclusions very interesting. "Pressure-Caramelized Inclusions" sounds really good. A nice chart on cooking grains and such in an instant pot.
Debugging tips throughout.
Second-Chance Sourdough - freeze leaven to use for flavor and IDY for lift.
Several interesting ideas on proofing. "Microwave proofing"??
The sourdough section is narrowly focused on daily feeding.
Lots of recipes.
I was able to find a digital copy of the older 6 volume Modernist bread. I am thinking this new volume is not much different from the original. Maybe some new formulas? IDK.
I haven't seen the original but I think it is intended for professionals and this one for home bakers. This one has considerable background for beginners.
I have time, I need it tonight, bla, bla bla. I only so far looked at the recipe books (2) And the kitchen manual with the formulas . The other volumes offer a lot of information on the process,. Details about time/ temperature. Proofing. Shaping. Seems geared to beginners too. But hey what do I know. What I got was a File of pictures of the pages in PDF . You think your hard copy is hard to read! OMG!
Though I certainly can afford this book, I see no reason for the purchase. I've been baking bread for lots of years and find that most of my questions are easily answered in either Hammelman's book or on this website. The second source is "almost free" (just the monthly ISP cost) and the first has paid for itself multiple times since I purchased it. Pretty much the same thing can be said for the multiple volume set, "Modernist Cuisine."
I remember a long ago New Yorker article by John McPhee on his favorite, unnamed, restaurant. The chef mentioned that the only cookbook one needed was "The Joy of Cooking!" Article is here but may be behind a paywall: Brigade de Cuisine | The New Yorker Well worth reading if you can.
Received my copy yesterday (March 20). Here are my comments:
The set includes a main volume and a Kitchen Manual. The spiral-bound Kitchen Manual contains the same Topics as the main volume, but no pictures or illustrations. Its purpose is to provide brief instructions for the information in the (large and heavy) main volume, suitable to use in the kitchen.
Modernist Bread at home is suitable both for a beginning bread baker and an experienced one. It goes into more detail than most bread books (but not as much detail as its predecessor volume Modernist Bread). The introduction to this book states that it contains the essential recipes from Modernist Bread. If you already own Modernist Bread, you probably don't need this book.
I bake mostly 100% whole wheat bread, so I was interested in similar recipes here. I found only one such recipe: Compleat Wheat. Instead of using whole wheat flour, the recipe includes bread flour, wheat germ and wheat bran (in the proper proportions). The bran and germ are toasted and hydrated before being added to the dough. The purpose of this technique is to make a lighter and higher-rising loaf. I plan to try out this recipe soon.
Following is a list of the main section headings of the main volume:
Part 1: Techniques
Making Bread
Dough Inclusions
Fermentation
Mixing
Dividing and Shaping
Final Proofing
Scoring and Finishing
Baking
Cooling and Serving
Part 2: Recipes
Lean Breads
Enriched Breads
Rye Breads
Brick-Like Breads
Bagels and Bao
Gluten-Free Breads
I'd be glad to try to answer any questions.
I always thought that the original Modernist bread was more relevant to keen amateurs rather than professionals; after all, pro bakers need to have a fairly limited repertoire of products that they make week in week out, because that is mostly what their customers expect. Plus a few specials, of course.
So what need would they have for the full gamut of Myhrvold and Migoyas' product?
Lance
You can read the introduction to Modernist Bread on Amazon: Modernist Bread: Myhrvold, Nathan, Francisco Migoya: 9780982761052: Amazon.com: Books. It contains information why a pro might find the contents useful. In brief, the book contains loads of scientific and technical information that might interest a professional more than an amateur baker.
Now that you have had the book for a while, any thoughts about whether you would recommend it to someone who primarily bakes whole wheat sourdough?
I didn't find the content useful. Beautiful pictures and layout. Crazy big and heavy further limiting its usefulness
Gary, thanks for the info. I liked the idea that they did rigorous testing, but was concerned there would not be much to justify the price.
As mentioned above, I made the Compleat Wheat recipe (uses white flour, wheat germ and wheat bran to replace whole wheat flour and produce a lighter loaf). The loaf turned out fine, but no better (IMHO) than various other techniques to make lighter loaves using just whole wheat flour. I'm an inveterate collector of books about bread, so I consider Modernist Bread at Home to be a worthy addition to my collection.