Fig-Anise Bread from How to make Bread
In a previous post I mentioned How to make bread by Emmanuel Hadjiandreou, a book which both beginners and more advanced bakers may find useful, inspiring and fun. I have already made half-a-dozen breads from the book and they came out really well, except for the last one I tried, Levain de campagne Bread (see Troubleshooting dough hydration: A trick “à la Gérard”). That last dough was so dry that there was no way it could be a simple matter of flour or weather differences.
So I wrote to the author who, to his credit, immediately emailed me back and subsequently called to ask which edition of the book I had. He then listed a few errors or omissions in the American edition (which is the one I have). I don’t know if the same errors are to be found in the British edition but those of you who have it may want to take a look.
Since quite a readers have written or commented that they ordered the book, in case you have the exact same edition as I do (and if you bought it from amazon.com, chances are you do), I thought it’d be useful to share the list of corrections:
Last edited March 13, 2014
- page 23: Step 24 reads, swivel the dough and 180˚ then repeat Step 22. It should read, Swivel the dough 180 and then repeat Step 22 and 23.
- Page 44: Pecan Raisin Bread: spelling mistake golen should read golden.
- page 47: Beer Bread: In the list of ingredients, 10g/1 teaspoon should read 10g/ 2 teaspoons
- page 61: Bagels: In step 1, add the softened butter to the dry mixture
- page 65: Armenian Flatbread: Step 9 reads. Cover the bowl again and let rise for 30 minutes. It should read: Cover the bowl again and let rest not rise for 30 minutes, as there is no rising agent in the dough
- page 81: Gluten-free Bread with two variations: read “potato starch” instead of “potato flour”
- page 82: Gluten-free Cornbread: read “potato starch” instead of “potato flour”
- page 94: Levain de campagne Bread: replace “150 g warm water” by “250 g to 300 g warm water” (the author cannot be more specific as a lot depends on the capacity of your wholegrain flours to absorb water. Generally speaking American flours are stronger -have a higher protein content- than their British equivalent and therefore require more water;
- page 109: Beetroot Sourdough: In step 3, add the oil to the wet mixture
- page 115: Potato Sourdough Bread: In the list of ingredients, proofing/ dough rising basket (500g/ 1-lb. capacity) should be 1000g/ 2-lb. capacity. Step 17: Should read Bake for about 40-50 minutes, or until golden brown. (M: shows 2 small loaves one made with raw, grated potato & another made with roasted potato;)
- page 129: Semolina Bread: In the list of ingredients, add 15 g of olive oil for folding
- page 138: Croissants: Step 23 should read, Remove the dough from the refrigerator and repeat Steps 17-22 (not Remove the dough from the refrigerator and repeat Steps 17-21).
If you notice anything else that doesn’t seem to make sense or if you have trouble with one of the recipes, Emmanuel Hadjiandreou says he can always be reached for questions through the School of Artisan Food (info@schoolofartisanfood.org). If you do contact him, please let me know what you learn so that I can update the list as necessary.
If you are on facebook, you might also wish to comment on the book’s page and start a discussion.
In case you are wondering, I should specify that I have no financial or other interest in the book except that I like it and that I paid for my copy out of my own pocket.
In case you are wondering, I should specify that I have no financial or other interest in the book except that I like it and that I paid for my copy out of my own pocket.
Happy baking!
Thank you.
You are welcome, Gill!
Hi MC,
Feels good to be communicating again! Please forgive my absence for so long. This subject is of great interest to me, since I too became painfully aware of some recipes/formulas in some of the more popular bread books as being problematic. Daniel Leader goes so far as to have a section on his website with corrections to the errors in his books (http://www.breadalone.com/PDF/local-breads-corrections.pdf) but strangely only on 1 of his books – however, I think to do so is injurious to many authors' egos, and simply ignored.
Last year I bought a an electric grain grinder and have been 'playing' with the many new challenges using fresh ground grain brings to bread making – I find that this element makes it almost impossible for me to find fault – is it the recipe? – is it my fresh flour? etc. So, I find myself more and more simply using the recipes from books as guidelines or ideas to build on. And I'm much more likely to take one formula, and bake it dozens of times, each time with small, subtle changes.
I find this more satisfying, and less problematic too – maybe not as exciting – but then the excitement is what we make it – who says consistent success is not exciting?
Hey Doc, good to see you on Farine again! Glad to hear about your mill. I have the exact same experience: when using freshly milled flour, it is really a matter of experimenting until you get the dough consistency you need (and it varies from one batch of grains to the next). Do you bake with local grains? I seem to remember you live in Oregon. Is there a specific source that you like and use? I'll be in Oregon for a few days next month (coast, Corvallis, Portland) and I am wondering if you have any recommendation.
I loved the cat story by the way. Too bad Muffy's feelings got hurt. Do you think she'll relent?
Hi MC,
That fig-anise bread is beautiful and looks delectable!
Thanks for listing the errata here – very helpful, and considerate of you.
:^) breadsong
Hello breadsong, thank you! The bread was very good although I am beginning to suspect I like fennel better than anise with figs. But that's easy enough to change, isn't it?
Thanks so much!
As you know, I bought the book per your recommendation, and will update the changes – I also wrote him to ask permission to publish one of his recipes and he immediately emailed me back too, nice guy!
I made the tomato sourdough and the multigrain, both turned out really well… will be blogging probably on the sourdough perhaps next week!
Hi Sally, yes, the author is very eager to help his readers make the most of his recipes. He comes across as a true teacher and I really like that. I'll be on the lookout for your post.
Hi, thanks for this to you and EH. We have one small thing we can add which is that the crossing paste for the hot cross buns is incredibly runny and we found that we had to reduce the liquid content massively to make something that would pipe and hold a bit of shape. I also note, though I can't comment, that someone who commented on my hot cross bun post thought that the cup conversions were off in that recipe too. She was however working from a copy of the recipe on the internet and not the book.
On the subject of errata, I was recently sounding off about this on Twitter and wondering if maybe there could be a central place where all the bread authors' and / or their publishers would be able to put their errata's and update them. Jeffrey Hamelman gave Mellow Bakers his errata for Bread and you now have this one and it would seem to make sense if we could somehow centralise and publicise where they all 'live'. I can only think this would be of benefit to both the authors and the bakers who buy and recommend their books, but maybe I am naive? kind regards always, Joanna
Hi Joanna, thanks for your input. I will contact EH about the crossing paste and ask if he can check the recipe again (it may take a few days before I can do it though). A central place for bread books errata is a terrific idea. Now we need to put our heads together to see how it could be done. By the way I don't have the Hamelman errata list and would be very grateful if you could point me towards it. Thanks!
Sorry MC, I have just been looking and there is a more recent errata than the one I put in that comment so I've deleted the original comment (I didn't know I could do that on someone else's blog? ) and here is the most recent version I know of.
I have loaded the .pdf onto my blog's pages here I have loaded the .pdf onto my blog's pages here http://zebbakes.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/erratasheetjune2010.pdf but you can also find it and further discussion of any that have come up since on Mellow Bakers who are currently baking through Bread and the Handmade Loaf in this section here http://mellowbakers.com/HB/index.php?board=25.0 Bread has gone through many reprints and it does seem to depend which version you have as to what has been corrected or not. I suspect that in the UK we are still working through an older print set from the Amazon warehouse. Hope this is of use. I might create a basic page at the top of my blog with links to this and any other posts and references I find to errata for the time being. All best wishes, Jobut you can also find it and further discussion of any that have come up since on Mellow Bakers who are currently baking through Bread and the Handmade Loaf in this section here http://mellowbakers.com/HB/index.php?board=25.0 Bread has gone through many reprints and it does seem to depend which version you have as to what has been corrected or not. I suspect that in the UK we are still working through an older print set from the Amazon warehouse. Hope this is of use. I might create a basic page at the top of my blog with links to this and any other posts and references I find to errata for the time being. All best wishes, Jo
And now that comment looks a complete mess. Feel free to edit it down to the relevant bits, sorry about that 🙁
Hi Jo and thank you very much. I am sorry it took me a while to respond but I am traveling with limited access to the Internet. I will definitely download the pdf file and the mellow baker one too. I have an early edition of Bread as well (but Jeff wrote a dedicate in it when I took his class so it is still precious to me). I will just correct the errata with a pencil. That will be a great help, thank you! Don't worry about the look of the comment. It doesn't matter in the least!
I hope you are having lovely travels and look forward to hearing about them on your return. In the meantime I have put a rudimentary Page on my blog with links to the Errata that I know of. If anyone wants to add to it please feel free to comment on it. I am sure we can find a better way to centralise this information though. Maybe Amazon should do it? http://zebbakes.com/published-errata-for-baking-books/
Thanks for posting the errata page. I had a go at the levain de campagne this morning and noted that it was very dry so added more water. Still a little stiffer than i was used to but it came out just fine. Love the Hadjiandreou book – beautiful and instructive.
Hello Ray, thanks for visiting! I'm glad you like the book. Can't wait to hear more about the breads you makel…
Hi! Your website saved my Levain the Campagne a few weeks ago, thanks! I contacted the author via the e-mail address you provided to ask if he had an up to date errata (or "official errata") but got no answer, unfortunately! I was wondering if you have found any other problems as it's better to know in advance rather than googling when you notice things are looking strange!:) I have the impression that the baking time for the "Dark rye bread" is way off. I gave it a go according to the recipe and it was very soggy when baking for 30 minutes. Tried again this weekend and left 50 min with much better results, but could probably have left for 60. I read in another book that rye retains a lot of moisture and requires longer baking times.. the book in question actually has a recipe very similar to Emmanuel's with a recommended baking time of 1h.
Cheers.
Sorry you got no reply. The author might have been on vacation (it is August after all and as you know, August is sacred in a large part of Europe). I don't know of an official errata page for the book. But as far as the rye goes, I too would go for a longer bake. I made the bread a few months ago and can't find my notes but I seem to remember I increased the baking time as well. The bread came out very good indeed.
MC-
I just got this book and the first recipes I tried were the gluten free breads (page 81). The dough came out like wet (damp) sand as opposed to the consistency of "soft yogurt" as described in the recipe. I just found your blog and see that the potato flour was supposed to be potato starch. Before I start these over, I'd like to ask, in your experience would subbing the potato starch for potato flour change the texture of the dough that considerably?
Thanks,
Brian
Brian,
I am having the same problem.
Did you try to substitute potato flour with potato starch? Any luck?
Thank you,
Oleg
Sorry, I see I forgot to answer Brian's initial question. I would imagine the answer is yes. From what I understand, our potato starch is what is called potato flour in the UK. If you use the right ingredient, you should get the desired result. But for clarification, I never made any of the gluten-free recipes in the book.
hi all.
just noticed this book in a shop, and was eager to try some recipes from this guy.
i have tried soda bread, and didnt came well.
first time i used normal flour and bread came "ruberry" (i belive my mistake, i had steam in owen..i belive thats the reason..)
second time i mixed diferent kinds of flour and added warm milk, and i had watery paste, not dough.
dont know whats the problem, 250gr flour and 250ml milk sounds..
kinda too much (milk) i dont know.
ill try 300gr to 200ml, as his original normal bread recipe sais.
dont know what else
help?
I had a problem with the soda bread too. The dough came out too runny and I added about 60 gr more flour. I e mailed the author who claims the recipe is good as it is. So I think the reason for having a runny dough might be the difference of the flour quality (gluten percentage) or weather conditions like humidity.
I must agree that it is a beautiful book with a lot of nice techniques illustrated so that even the beginner can take a bash at it with some confidence. However, there are a number of errors… starting with the sourdough starters which come out to be watery mess. I assume that it should read 2 tbs of flour (you pick it) and 1 tbs of water. This would equate to 100% hydration on a mass basis (water is ca. twice the density of flour). As currently written, with 2 tbl water, 1 tbl flour, you have approximately 400% hydration…
The marzipan stollen recipe requires only 20ml of milk. I believe it should be 200 ml!
Hello Veljko, I contacted Emmanuel Hadjiandreou and here is his reply: "20g or 20ml milk is right, if they use 200ml the dough would be too soft. Also remind them to drain the soaked fruit so that the mixture does not become too soft." I hope this helps!
If only I had found your web site before trying the Levain recipe. Got the book out of the local library and tried it yesterday before baking this morning. However I added about another 80ml (40 starter, 40 water) and managed to get a good result – proof will be in the eating. Hence my search on the internet. Looks a great book – also added steam for the first time, though I have already heard about this.
Tried Levain Bread recipe a couple of times and realised right away 150 water was not enough and added more, especially when recipe said “Mixture will be soft” which was not the case and way too dry. google searched to see if recipe was wrong and came to your website. For baking use cast-iron dutch oven for best crust outcome.