Richard Hart Bread - by Richard Hart & Laurie Woolever (Hardcover)

About the Book

"A comprehensive guide to the art, craft, and joy of baking bread at home featuring 60 recipes for sweet and savory loaves, from the bread master behind Copenhagen's Hart Bageri and former head baker at San Francisco's Tartine. In Untitled A Book About Bread, Richard Hart lays out the art of baking artisanal breads using an intuitive roadmap. Rather than focusing obsessively on precise formulas and complicated shaping, Richard teaches aspiring bakers key techniques they can apply for all loaves. He also encourages them to be observant: to think about their environment (is it humid, hot, or cold?), notice their starter (how big are the bubbles?), consider the dough (is it sticky?), and pay attention to how it reacts when it's divided, shaped, scored, and baked. With a humorous and reassuring voice, Untitled A Book About Bread guides readers through making 60 different loaves, including Richard's signature sourdough city loaf, pan loaves, sweet breads, flatbreads, and more, without getting overly scientific. By learning how to see, taste, and touch like a master, bakers can trust their instincts to make wonderful breads from crackling sourdoughs to rich rye pan loaves. And Richard's world-class breads are often very simple to make, skipping laborious kneading and fussy shaping-he teaches readers how to let the dough do most of the work. In addition to gorgeous photos taken at the bakery, around Copenhagen, and in the wheat fields of Italy, this book includes QR codes linking to a variety of technique videos for additional support. For Richard, the secret to baking great bread is using touch and feel to understand your dough, embracing all the great loaves you'll make along the way"--

Book Synopsis

A comprehensive guide to the craft of baking bread, featuring more than 60 recipes filled with all the expertise and experience of the founder of Copenhagen's Hart Bageri and former head baker at San Francisco's Tartine.

"Sourdough bakers have a serious contender for a new bread bible."--Plate

"Richard Hart restores the heart to bread baking."--Yotam Ottolenghi

Richard Hart Bread is the guide to the intuitive art of baking bread. By learning how to see, taste, touch, and adapt, readers can find their own way to making truly wonderful bread--from blistering sourdoughs to rich rye pan loaves and more. Rather than focusing obsessively on precise formulas, Richard teaches both aspiring and seasoned bakers all his key techniques without holding anything back.

Through gorgeous photography, explanatory videos accessed on page through QR codes, and thorough descriptions of methods, you'll have all the tools you need to make great breads. Rich in stories and Richard's boundless enthusiasm, this book will make you fall ever deeper in love with bread.

Review Quotes

"Sourdough bakers have a serious contender for a new bread bible."--Plate

"What makes this book different from others on bread baking, as Hart addresses immediately in the introduction, is that he's 'more of a sensualist than a scientist.' So while there can be no circumnavigating the necessary sourdough starters, the weighing of ingredients and the precision of recipes, something of Hart's famous ebullience translates on the page. He is the guide who urges you to mix dough by hand, to inhale the aromas of bread through every step."--LA Times, "Best Cookbooks of 2024"

"This book is for all the dreamers. For people who aren't afraid of making mistakes. We need more touch and feel and smell and taste. This book will provide a path of love and misery in trying but if we don't try, we will never know so it's worth it! Break your brain or bake your heart."--Matty Matheson

"Richard Hart restores the heart to bread baking. He urges us to trust our senses over strict science. Like learning an instrument, baking bread demands patience, practice, precision, but above all, a passion. We're all safe in Hart's hands."--Yotam Ottolenghi

"Richard Hart Bread is in a league of its own. Undoubtedly one of the world's greatest bakers, I have two words of advice for you: Buy it. Even if you have already mastered the usual suspects--a baguette, pain au levain, a whole grain loaf--now it's time to earn your doctorate in baking. Richard's book will guide you to baking greatness."--Nancy Silverton

"Richard is the bread whisperer. Having been in the trenches with him, I've seen it firsthand. Next to his family, I don't think there's anything in the world Richard cares more about than bread--it's more than a job, breadmaking courses through his veins. So when diving into the pages of this book, you're getting a piece of his soul. Each word, each method, it's steeped in his essence. The passion, the meticulous care--it's all here. This book isn't just about bread; it's a type manifesto of Richard's lifelong quest for that fleeting (life affirming) moment of a perfect bake. It is a testament to the art and craft of baking. Trust me, you can taste the difference."--Rene Redzepi

"Even if you have shelves and shelves of bread books, you'll still want this one!"--Nigella Lawson

About the Author

Richard Hart is the founder of Hart Bageri, with multiple locations in Copenhagen, partnered with René Redzepi of Noma. Previously, he was the head baker at the legendary Tartine in San Francisco. Originally from London, England, he currently lives in Mexico City where he is opening his newest project Green Rhino.