New European Baking: 99 Recipes for Breads, Brioches and Pastries by Laurel Kratochvila
| New European Baking: 99 Recipes for Breads, Brioches and Pastries by Laurel Kratochvila | |
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| Category: Cookery | |
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Reviewer: Sue Magee
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| Summary: A brilliant selection of recipes from across Europe backed up by excellent photography. Highly recommended. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 272 | Date: September 2022 |
| Publisher: Prestel | |
| External links: [Laurel Kratochvila Author's website] | |
| ISBN: 978-3791388397 | |
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This is probably one of the most unusual baking books I've encountered. It's built around 99 recipes for breads, brioches and pastries but the recipes are interwoven with some thought-provoking writing on how bread - and baking - have changed in the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. We start with the basics - the equipment you'll need (there's nothing extravagant or indulgent) and the ingredients, where the author is particular. You might not have realised that different salts can change the flavour and sensation on the tongue of the finished product but, apparently, they do.
Laurel Kratochvila gives some of the most explicit and straightforward instructions on preparing sourdough bases and starters that I've read. The analogy with rabbits left me smiling... Then we're into the recipes, starting with the more every day. What will become apparent from the get-go is that some of these breads are not of the 'whip them up quickly' variety. If you're happy to start the bread off one morning with the intention of baking it the following morning, you'll be fine but you are going to need organisation. You get a very useful timeline with each recipe.
I was seriously tempted by the malted oat loaf. Photography is by Malgosia Minta and her skill is such that my mouth was watering at the slice of bread, butter and jam - then I started thinking about how it would taste as a chicken, baby leaf and mayo sandwich. Nine sourdough recipes later, we meet the first of our featured bakers, Roberta Pezzella from Frosinone, Italy. As with all the bakers, we learn how they came to be where they are and then we sample one of her recipes. This time it's wild fennel bread. Diogo Amorin from Lisbon gives us a corn torte.
I was seriously tempted by the Neapolitan-style pizza but I lack the organisation to start the preparation one morning for something I'm going to eat on the evening of the following day. Xavier Netry from Paris gives us a recipe for pain café caramélisé. It requires a lot of effort, particularly if you're a sourdough purist but I suspect the effort would be worth it.
Monika Waleka from Warsaw shows us how to use older loaves and I loved her ratatouille béchamel toasts. That's a recipe I'm going to be using before too long. Recipes in this first chapter of the book used sourdough starters. In chapter two we move on to enriched doughs, which used instant yeast. We start with basic brioche, challah and milk doughs. There's a picture of a brioche Nanterre being torn in two which will leave your mouth watering.
Zara Boréas and Mia Boland from Copenhagen show us raspberry sugar Berliners. I think I put weight on just looking at the photograph. Alberto Miragoli is in Madrid and bakes maritozzi con la panna for us. They're milk dough buns filled with whipped cream and sugar. It's totally indulgent. Paula Gouveia and George Andreadis from Berlin deliver Portugese sweet breads - pão de Deus - which have a coconut topping. Julie Bouland of Chãtillon-en-Dios bypasses fussy shaping techniques but gives us deliciously curvy Danish cinnamon buns. Florian Domberger of Berlin introduces us to a German sugar cake which does require a sourdough starter.
Chapter three moves us on to laminated pastries and Viennoiseries. I liked the clarity of the instructions, which can be confusing for the novice. There's a good range of basic doughs which take you through the recipes in this chapter. I've always had a weakness for croissants, despite there being so heavy on butter and I felt confident with the recipe here. The recipe for baklava danishes is tempting too. Ben McKinnon and Eyal Schwartz from London bake Spelt fruit galettes. Peaches are used in the filling but it's versatile and could be sweet or savoury.
In chapter four we look at tartes and biscuits. Shortcrust pastry might sound basic and very simple but the instructions here for getting to the blind-baking stage are great and there's a good selection of basic tarte doughs. The picture of the salted caramel mousse tarte left me dribbling. The last of our guest bakers, Franck Perrault of Saint-Aubin-de-Luigné in France gives us pâte aux prunes, a traditional plum pie from the Anjou region.
The final chapter gives a selection of basic recipes for fillings. I was impressed by the book. The recipes are clear and varied, instructions should leave you in no doubt. The photography is brilliant and clear enough that they expand the instructions. I've much enjoyed the reading and I suspect that I'm going to appreciate some of the recipes too. I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to the Bookbag.
You might also enjoy Paul Hollywood's Bread: How to make great breads into even greater meals.
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You can read more book reviews or buy New European Baking: 99 Recipes for Breads, Brioches and Pastries by Laurel Kratochvila at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy New European Baking: 99 Recipes for Breads, Brioches and Pastries by Laurel Kratochvila at Amazon.com.
Check prices, read reviews or buy from Waterstones. Waterstones currently charges from £2.75 for orders under £20, over which delivery is free. You may also click and collect from a Waterstones bookshop at no charge.
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