My Bread: The Revolutionary No-Work, No-Knead Method [Hardcover]

There's been a lot of buzz about Jim Lahey's techniques over the last couple of years. There's no doubt that he's a dedicated baker, and that his approach is worth considering; not least because it's a set of simple rules that will give more consistent results, and good results, than a novice baker can hope to achieve without a lot of effort, practice, and guidance.

The book itself breaks down into three parts: the first section is the usual discussion of ingredients and inspirations, backed with the core no-knead recipe, with plenty of photographs of the stages to follow. The second part is a series of chapters with different bread recipes, largely based around a loose connection with Italian bread baking, but as applied to the New York market - lots of sandwich breads, for instance, and "white pizza". The final part is a series of non-bread recipes to make American-style deli sandwiches. In some ways, this is the part of the book I like the best, although it's not what you'd expect to find in here from the title or cover.

The central matter is the famous no knead recipe. This turns out to be a combination of several well known "tricks". The first is that, as Dan Lepard has espoused for years, a well mixed dough will develop its gluten given time, without kneading, although Lepard prefers to give short kneads over an extended rising period. Lahey goes for a very highly hydrated dough; most of his recipes are 75% (baker's percentage), whereas most domestic bread recipes are 60 - 65%. High hydration is desirable, as it gives a well textured end result, but a very wet dough is extremely hard to handle. Given that handling of the dough is kept to an absolute minimum, this shouldn't be a problem for the novice.

The next trick is an extended rising time, between 18 and 24 hours for most recipes. This allows more flavour to develop. Instead of giving a vague test like watching for doubling of the dough, or the time taken for a thumb dent to refill, Lahey's test is to watch for bubble on the surface and a slight change of colouration of the dough: much easier to use to stop at the ideal time. The next stage is tricky, shaping the loaf, as the dough is very loose and wet, but it works.

The final trick is to bake in a pre-heated cast iron pot - a dutch oven, in American terms, but a casserole works fine. In fact, a ceramic casserole works just as well, but cast iron is easier to handle. The effect is to control humidity to give a better quality finish to the crust, something that is very hard to achieve without using a commercial bread oven (or hand built brick oven). If your casserole has a plastic knob on the lid, it WILL burn at Lahey's baking temperatures, and the smell isn't pleasant (and is somewhat dangerous). I would strongly advise using a pot with a metal knob/handle if at all possible, or simply removing your plastic knob.

All in all, this book is a good buy for bread bakers, novice and experienced alike. The basic technique is the closest to fool-proof that I have ever come across, and the chapters of recipes are good - I particularly enjoyed the Pan co'Santi (walnut bread), and the sandwich recipes are excellent. But these are well known techniques, just used in an entirely novel way. I'd give it 4.5 stars if that were possible...

I had already been baking bread using Jim Lahey's no-knead bread method for over a year having discovered it on the internet. As I am hopeless at kneading dough his method appealed to me. It really is the simplest recipe ever but produces amazing bread, the best I've ever baked and the best home baked bread I've ever tasted. So when I saw that he had written a book I just had to buy it. And I am pleased that I did as it is an excellent book.

He has split the book into 6 chapters, each one on a different subject. Chapter 1 is a kind of bread making autobiography explaining how he got into making bread (to impress a girl!) and his visits to Italy to sample Italian bread baking.

Chapter 2 introduces his no-knead recipe and chapter 3 then builds on this with variations such as rye, olive, Irish and Apple versions amongst others. He also includes some recipes for traditional Italian breads such as Stecca (thin Italian baguettes), Stirato (larger Italian baguettes) and Ciabata (slipper loaf). These are all based on his no-knead method and I am pleased to report they involve no kneading whatsoever!

Chapter 4 is his pizza and focaccia sections. He gives a recipe for his pizza dough (which differs slightly from his bread recipe) and then recipes for lots of different pizza toppings and variations. His Pizza Bianca - kind of like a cross between focaccia and pizza - looks lovely and I shall be trying this one soon.

Chapter 5 is all about sandwiches, which initially struck me as odd and perhaps a bit of a filler but the chapter does make sense. This is an American book by a New Yorker and New Yorkers like nothing better than to go to a deli for a sandwich. So this chapter gives recipes for both sandwich fillings - eg roast beef, roast pork, aioli (garlic mayo), pickles etc - and also the best sandwich combos. I will also be trying these out too.

Finally chapter 6 deals with recipes to use up your left over bread. Again, on first inspection this seemed like a filler section but this has lots of lovely looking recipes in it too; I am looking forward to trying the chocolate torte made using no-knead breadcrumbs!

As I only had the book for about a week I have only had time to make one of the recipes so far - the Stirato. This recipe does involve slightly more work than the basic no-knead bread recipe I've been using this past year before I bought the book but the finished sticks are just as delicious as the bread was! I look forward to trying more of the recipes soon.

So overall, this is a great book full of interesting recipes and is a good read in its own right. It also features some excellent photography. The photos are either presented in a step-by-step fashion so you can see exactly what you need to do (and what the dough / bread should look like) at every stage or they are simply stunning photos of the finished breads themselves. I would wholly recommend this book to anyone interested in baking your own artisan bread that tastes as good as it looks.

I bought this book out of interest, as I've been using Jim's no-knead recipe for a while now, and I'm glad I did. I was fascinated to read the backgound to this method of baking bread and to learn more about Jim, himself.

Having tried unsuccessfully to make bread in the traditional way, (loaves always seemed to turn out like bricks), I was overwhelmed with the fantastic results from this no-knead method. It's extremely easy and the bread is superb - delicious chewy crust and a wonderful light and open crumb. It's hard to believe such an easy recipe can produce such a fantastic loaf. Don't worry if you don't have an iron pot in which to cook the bread - I use a glass pyrex casserole with a lid, and it works perfectly.

This book is a must for anyone who has been put off making bread. Buy it and see for yourself how easy it can be.