At almost any time of the day, people are lined up on
the sidewalk outside the La Brea Bakery waiting to buy
its extraordinary bread. Connected to Campanile, the
successful Los Angeles restaurant, the bakery has grown
by leaps and bounds since it opened in 1989. Now Nancy
Silverton, a onetime pastry chef at Michael's, the
original pastry chef at the world-famous Spago, and
today quite simply the best bread baker in the country,
shares her magical La Brea Bakery recipes, painstakingly
crafted during years of trial and error, here perfected
and adapted for home bakers.This beautifully
illustrated, ultrasophisticated cook-book is also
accessible and user-friendly. Before the baking even
begins, Silverton carefully and lovingly explains the
wonder of bread alchemy: how to grow a yeasted starter
(the secret of truly great bread), and how that starter
interacts with a bread's other elements to bring about a
firm yet light inside and a crispy, crusty outside. Then
come the recipes, which range from the whimsical (Raisin
Brioche, Red Pepper-Scallion Bread, and Fig-Anise Bread)
to the practical (Baguettes, Bagels, and Hamburger Buns)
to the sublime (Pumpkin Bread, Mushroom Bread, and,
perhaps best of all, Chocolate-Sour Cherry Bread).
Silverton even creates incomparable pretzels,
croissants, onion rings, and dog biscuits (which can
double as infant teething biscuits).Designed for the
novice and expert baker alike, Nancy Silverton's Breads
from the La Brea Bakery is an instant must-have classic
- a back-to-basics approach that will delight, inspire,
and satisfy bread lovers everywhere. |
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