cover image The Easy Way to Artisan Breads & Pastries

The Easy Way to Artisan Breads & Pastries

Avner Laskin. Sterling Publishing (NY), $24.95 (160pp) ISBN 978-1-4027-1260-9

Artisan bread-baking is usually characterized as an arduous process, but Laskin, who trained at Paris's renowned Cordon Bleu culinary school, attempts to bring it to the masses-with mixed results-in this slim, highly visual baking book. After a brief overview of ingredients and techniques, he offers a wide range of appealing recipes, from Florida Citrus Brioche to Irish Potato Bread (though one might dispute whether some inclusions, such as pizza crust and blueberry muffins, are really ""artisan""). The recipes are divided into seven sections, with the first part concentrating on sweeter breads and pastries and the second part on international offerings like the dense, strongly flavored Pyrenees Mountain Bread and the simple but toothsome Tuscan Bread. Many of these are sourdoughs, and Laskin includes a fairly detailed primer on how to make the crucial initial sourdough starter. However, elsewhere he omits useful details like what to look for in the dough consistency while mixing or how much the bread should rise in a given period. He also uses more yeast than is usually called for; this can make dough rise faster, but one loses some of the flavor for which artisan breads are prized. Those with bread experience might add a few of these recipes to their repertoires (like the Delicate Butter Bread), but beginners will discover that, while many of these recipes seem simple, they lack the detail necessary to walk them through the baking process.