Hacker News Reader

Comment by keithpeter | Hacker News Reader

Interesting: so when you say 'no added oil' you mean just the fresh-milled flour, salt, water and sourdough/yeast?

Pretty sure GP means yes. Bread literally just needs flour, salt, yeast, and water. White flour has little to no oil. Whole wheat flour does but the oils to go rancid too quickly. You don't need just-milled whole wheat flour to make good whole wheat bread. White flour doesn't need any added oil.

Edit: Anyone interested in learning to cook, Americas Test Kitchen Cooking School (And also Cooks Illustrated Cooking Science and Science of Good Cooking) would probably be good for much of HN's audience. It is much more of a cooking "textbook" than most cookbooks. It explains what you are doing and why you do it instead of just a big list of recipes. There is also Modernist Cuisine but those are really pricey.

The Food Lab is a great resource that also delves into the science behind the recipes and experiments to see what works, e.g. taller popovers, best taste and texture for chocolate chip cookies, etc.

For bread, I don't think you can get much better than Tartine Bread [1]. Chad Robertson takes you through making bread from just flour, salt and water by making your own yeast starter.

For general cooking, I will also recommend La Technique [2], its short and digestible (puns always intended) increments of learning that, while old, are fundamental and classic.

If you can work through La Technique and something like Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking [3] (Which is great, but, very dense) you could move on to (and invest in -- they really are expensive) Modernist Cuisine [4], for which I think you need a good basic education on the fundamental building blocks of cooking.

[1] https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00F8H0FNW

[2] https://www.amazon.com/dp/0812906101

[3] https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00WTIW93C/

[4] https://www.amazon.com/dp/0982761007

Anyone interested in the Modernist Cuisine might check their public library.

We've got copies here in the Seattle system.

These are great book recommendations!

I've been looking for stuff like this after reading "Cooking Comics" (by Lauren Thompson (Author) and Tsukuru Anderson (Illustrator)). It's a graphic novel/comic book but what's nice about it (beyond being aimed at beginners) is that they have this nice, systematic approach.

Start with stock, talk about why it's important and how it's done, move on to soups, demonstrate two types of soups, etc, etc. Each one has a simple recipe (and the ones I used worked well)

After reading it I'm totally jazzed about a 'cooking school textbook' sort of approach :)

I've found that the real skills gained with baking and cooking is when you stop and ask why. Anyone can follow a recipe. But books that explain the method behind the madness teach you more than simply how to make that one recipe.

I'm also a huge fan of America's Test Kitchen/Cook's Illustrated/Cook's Country (and I've found them to be extremely popular amongst engineers and science-types). During college a friend and I shared a subscription to their website catalog of recipes.

I'm ordering the Cooking School book as we speak. I'm currently trying to teach the bf how to cook and this seems like the perfect tool to go through.

Another recommendation I'd make for improvisational cooks/bakers is The Flavor Bible. It's great for "what do I do with these random ingredients in the fridge"?

Yeah! So the bakery's speciality was whole wheat, which has lots of natural oils. You'll find that a lot of recipes for home using store-bought flour (whether whole wheat or white) usually throw in few few tablespoons of melted butter or oil. My understanding is that this helps prevent the bread from drying out.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com