Yeast, water, flour, and heat. How could this simple mixture have been the cause of war and plague, celebration and victory supernatural vision and more? In this remarkable and all-encompassing volume, H. E. Jacob takes us through six thousand dynamic years of bread’s role in politics, religion, technology, and beyond. Who were the first bakers? Why were bakers distrusted during the Middle Ages? How did bread cause Napoleon’s defeat? Why were people buried with bread? SIX THOUSAND YEARS OF BREAD has the answers. Jacob follows the story from its beginning in ancient Egypt and continues through to modern times. The poignant and inspiring conclusion of the book relays the author’s experiences in a Nazi concentration camp, subsisting on bread made of sawdust.

While thousands of books on baking are in print aimed at food service operators, culinary art instruction, and consumers, relatively few professional publications exist that cover the science and technology of baking. In Bakery Products: Science and Technology, nearly 50 professionals from industry, government, and academia contribute their perspectives on the state of baking today. The latest scientific developments, technological processes, and engineering principles are described as they relate to the essentials of baking. Coverage is extensive and includes: raw materials and ingredients, from wheat flours to sweeteners, yeast, and functional additives; the principles of baking, such as mixing processes, doughmaking, fermentation, and sensory evaluation; manufacturing considerations for bread and other bakery products, including quality control and enzymes; special bakery products, ranging from manufacture of cakes, cookies, muffins, bagels, and pretzels to dietetic bakery products, gluten-free cereal-based products; and specialty bakery items from around the world, including Italian bakery foods. Blending the technical aspects of baking with the freshest scientific research, Bakery Products: Science and Technology has all the finest ingredients to serve the most demanding appetites of food science professionals, researchers, and students.

From a master of the artisan bread movement comes a comprehensive guide to making incredible bread at home, featuring more than 70 delicious recipes NAMED ONE OF THE BEST COOKBOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION “Here, finally, is the one bread book that every cook needs on their kitchen worktable.”—Andrew Zimmern, host of Bizarre Foods The Vetri Cucina Bread Program began over a decade ago and has been part of the American movement to reclaim high-quality bread as a cornerstone of our food culture. In Mastering Bread, Marc Vetri and his former head baker, Claire Kopp McWilliams, show home cooks how to create simple breads with unique flavors in a home oven. Included are more than seventy recipes for their bestselling sourdough and yeast loaves as well as accompaniments to serve with the breads. Their process of bread-making is broken down into three easy-to-digest chapters: Mix, Shape, and Bake. Another chapter includes recipes for enjoying breadin dishes such as Bruschetta, Panzanella, and Ribollita. There’s even a bonus chapter revealing the secrets of Vetri’s coveted Panettone. This book shares everything that Vetri and McWilliams have learned over the years about the art and science of making incredible bread. They explain how to use fresh milled and whole-grain flours as well as local and regional wheat varieties, with easy instructions for adapting bread recipes for success with whatever flour is available in your market. Included throughout are bios and interviews with grain farmers, millers, and bread bakers from around the nation. Mastering Bread is a master class from an award-winning chef who makes world-class artisan bread easy to bake for both home cooks and professionals alike.

If you think sumptuous desserts and healthy eating don't go together, you'll change your mind when you see the tempting, yet delightfully healthy desserts that Bo Friberg has added to the Third Edition of this ever-popular pastry cookbook. The Light Desserts chapter now offers twice as many mouth-watering desserts that will please your palate, your heart, and your waistline. The Third Edition on The Professional Pastry Chef offers hundreds of tempting, easy-to-follow recipes that range from classical to contemporary favorites. Here is a complete guide to the preparation and artful presentation of a bounty of pastries and desserts, including breads, cakes, cookies, pastries, ice creams, candies, and restaurant desserts. Instructions for every recipe have been rewritten using shortened, numbered steps to make them as easy to follow as possible. Each recipe - thoroughly tested by the author and thousands of his students - has been refined to perfection and is virtually foolproof. In brand new, consolidated introductions to each recipe, Master Pastry Chef Bo Friberg carefully explains the proper blending of ingredients, use of pastry equipment, alternate presentations, and professional techniques so you can produce professional results the first time.

When Bread was first published in 2004, it received the Julia Child Award for best First Book and became an instant classic. Hailed as a “masterwork of bread baking literature,” Jeffrey Hamelman’s Bread features 140 detailed, step-by-step formulas for versatile sourdough ryes; numerous breads made with pre-ferments; and simple, straight dough loaves. Here, the bread baker and student will discover a diverse collection of flavors, tastes, and textures; hundreds of drawings that vividly illustrate techniques; and four-color photographs of finished and decorative breads.

A kitchen classic for over 35 years, and hailed by Time magazine as "a minor masterpiece" when it first appeared in 1984, On Food and Cooking is the bible which food lovers and professional chefs worldwide turn to for an understanding of where our foods come from, what exactly they're made of, and how cooking transforms them into something new and delicious. For its twentieth anniversary, Harold McGee prepared a new, fully revised and updated edition of On Food and Cooking. He has rewritten the text almost completely, expanded it by two-thirds, and commissioned more than 100 new illustrations. As compulsively readable and engaging as ever, the new On Food and Cooking provides countless eye-opening insights into food, its preparation, and its enjoyment. On Food and Cooking pioneered the translation of technical food science into cook-friendly kitchen science and helped birth the inventive culinary movement known as "molecular gastronomy." Though other books have been written about kitchen science, On Food and Cooking remains unmatched in the accuracy, clarity, and thoroughness of its explanations, and the intriguing way in which it blends science with the historical evolution of foods and cooking techniques. Among the major themes addressed throughout the new edition are: · Traditional and modern methods of food production and their influences on food quality · The great diversity of methods by which people in different places and times have prepared the same ingredients · Tips for selecting the best ingredients and preparing them successfully · The particular substances that give foods their flavors, and that give us pleasure · Our evolving knowledge of the health benefits and risks of foods On Food and Cooking is an invaluable and monumental compendium of basic information about ingredients, cooking methods, and the pleasures of eating. It will delight and fascinate anyone who has ever cooked, savored, or wondered about food.