The Great Homemade Bread Book: Techniques, Fermentations, and Step-by-Step Recipes: from Biga to Sourdough Starter, Bread, Flatbreads, Pizzas, Leavened Specialties

You pull a loaf out of the oven and the bottom is pale, the crumb is tight, and the crust never crackled the way you hoped. Sound familiar? Most home bakers don't fail because they lack talent - they fail because the basics of fermentation, shaping, and oven behavior were never explained clearly. This book fixes that.The Great Homemade Bread Book is a practical, step-by-step guide that walks you through every technique you need to bake with confidence at home. Inside you will learn how to build flavor through direct dough, poolish, biga, and a living sourdough starter; how to mix, fold, shape, and score like a professional; and how to get a crackling crust from a home oven, a Dutch oven, a baking stone, or even an air fryer.Across 10 chapters and 24 tested recipes, you will explore regional Italian loaves, international breads and breakfast loaves, flatbreads and stuffed flatbreads, pizza and pizza-style doughs, and a final chapter dedicated to sweet and savory specialties such as panettone, brioche, baba, and croissants. A focused troubleshooting chapter helps you diagnose and fix the most common bread problems - from dense crumb to gummy interiors to flat loaves.Written for beginners who want a real foundation and for experienced home bakers who want to refine their craft, this 160-page book is your complete reference for the bread kitchen: tools, ingredients, measurements, techniques, and recipes from biga to sourdough, all in one place.