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The Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book: A Guide to Whole-Grain Breadmaking
The Laurel’s Kitchen Bread Book is the classic bestselling cookbook devoted to baking light, healthful, delicious bread entirely from whole grains. This specially updated edition includes an entirely new chapter on making excellent whole-grain loaves in a bread machine. Now even the busiest among us can bake the delectable loaves for which Laurel’s Kitchen is famous.
New research proves what we’ve known all Eating whole grains really is better for your health! Here, the switch from “white” is made fun and easy.
Like a good friend, the “Loaf for Learning” tutorial guides you step-by-step through the baking process. You’ll make perfect loaves every time, right from the start.
Here you’ll find recipes for everything—from chewy Flemish Desem Bread and mouthwatering Hot Cross Buns to tender Buttermilk Rolls, foolproof Pita Pockets, tangy Cheese Muffins, and luscious Banana Bread—all with clear explanations and helpful woodcut illustrations.
The brand-new chapter on bread machines teaches you to make light “electric” loaves from whole-grain flour. No matter what your schedule, you can come home to the wonderful smell of baking bread, fresh, hot, and ready to enjoy.
New research proves what we’ve known all Eating whole grains really is better for your health! Here, the switch from “white” is made fun and easy.
Like a good friend, the “Loaf for Learning” tutorial guides you step-by-step through the baking process. You’ll make perfect loaves every time, right from the start.
Here you’ll find recipes for everything—from chewy Flemish Desem Bread and mouthwatering Hot Cross Buns to tender Buttermilk Rolls, foolproof Pita Pockets, tangy Cheese Muffins, and luscious Banana Bread—all with clear explanations and helpful woodcut illustrations.
The brand-new chapter on bread machines teaches you to make light “electric” loaves from whole-grain flour. No matter what your schedule, you can come home to the wonderful smell of baking bread, fresh, hot, and ready to enjoy.
465 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1984
53 people are currently reading
515 people want to read
About the author
Laurel Robertson
18 books11 followersLaurel Robertson is a seminal leader of whole-food cookery. She is a major contributor to the increasing awareness of vegetarian eating in the United States. With her co-contributors, including Carol Flinders, Bronwen Godfrey, and Brian Ruppenthal, she has written several iconic cook books.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews
April 14, 2008
Sigh. The bread wasn't nearly as good as my usual (modified) Tassajara loaf. It was, in fact, much denser and more brick-like. Of course, with bread, there are so many variables, you can't necessarily blame the recipe.
Okay, I can. You know what I think the problem is? No sponge. (Only serious bread-baking nerds will have any idea what I'm talking about now.)
Mark my words: 100% whole wheat bread should be started with a sponge.
However, that was one loaf, and this is still a great book. I'll still cherish the idea of baking every week while organizing my life on the side. You still get four stars from me, Laurel ... we'll bake together again.
(However, if you're new to bread-baking, the Tassajara bread book basic whole wheat recipes, with a few modifications - feel free to contact me regarding same - is still the way to go.)
______________________________________________
I have long been loyal to the Tassajara Bread Book, since that's the book my mother used when I was a child. However, I was very impressed by Laurel's introduction to this book. Essentially, she says that back in the 60s, when she wrote Laurel's kitchen, even the hippy foodies believed that a 100% whole wheat bread would be heavy as a brick, and it needed to be cut with white flour to be bearable. Well, this is in fact what I learned growing up on a commune, so I can vouch for this history.
But over the years, using trial and error, I've learned how to make lighter, fluffier whole wheat bread, using techniques talked about in the Tassajara bread book, but never fully discussed as such. I've learned that "quick" bread is the culprit (to say nothing of bread machines - God forbid) - the more kneading and rising, and the longer the whole thing takes, the better the bread. Quick white bread may be possible - but quick whole wheat bread is an anathema. Did our ancestors, who spent, what, 6,000 years perfecting yeasted bread, make "quick" or "no-knead" bread? Absolutely not. Who are we to think that high-technology could perfect a thing already so perfected? (As you can see, baking bread is not just baking - it's a political statement.)
Laurel's experience jibes with mine, it turns out. Also, she claims that she has further perfected (in the sense of - returned to the roots of the whole process) whole wheat bread to the point where it's as light and fluffy (but more flavorful) as white bread!! Well, that's quite a claim, and there's only one way to find out - the dough is in the oven right now, rising under the pilot light. By tonight, I'll be able to say whether she exaggerates.
However, she's getting a tentative five stars from me, for now, because I love the writing! She's funny and self-deprecating and real. I love the chapter about how to fit bread making into a busy lifestyle - her suggestions just might work! Forget about organizing my crap - maybe I'll just make bread every week instead. I mean, come on - priorities!
(However, since most of the time you spend baking bread it's actually just sitting and rising or baking (at least four or five hours, in my experience), I could have an immaculate house and productive garden in the time it takes to make bread every week. Baking the bread could be the BASIS for an orderly, lovely home.)
Okay, I can. You know what I think the problem is? No sponge. (Only serious bread-baking nerds will have any idea what I'm talking about now.)
Mark my words: 100% whole wheat bread should be started with a sponge.
However, that was one loaf, and this is still a great book. I'll still cherish the idea of baking every week while organizing my life on the side. You still get four stars from me, Laurel ... we'll bake together again.
(However, if you're new to bread-baking, the Tassajara bread book basic whole wheat recipes, with a few modifications - feel free to contact me regarding same - is still the way to go.)
______________________________________________
I have long been loyal to the Tassajara Bread Book, since that's the book my mother used when I was a child. However, I was very impressed by Laurel's introduction to this book. Essentially, she says that back in the 60s, when she wrote Laurel's kitchen, even the hippy foodies believed that a 100% whole wheat bread would be heavy as a brick, and it needed to be cut with white flour to be bearable. Well, this is in fact what I learned growing up on a commune, so I can vouch for this history.
But over the years, using trial and error, I've learned how to make lighter, fluffier whole wheat bread, using techniques talked about in the Tassajara bread book, but never fully discussed as such. I've learned that "quick" bread is the culprit (to say nothing of bread machines - God forbid) - the more kneading and rising, and the longer the whole thing takes, the better the bread. Quick white bread may be possible - but quick whole wheat bread is an anathema. Did our ancestors, who spent, what, 6,000 years perfecting yeasted bread, make "quick" or "no-knead" bread? Absolutely not. Who are we to think that high-technology could perfect a thing already so perfected? (As you can see, baking bread is not just baking - it's a political statement.)
Laurel's experience jibes with mine, it turns out. Also, she claims that she has further perfected (in the sense of - returned to the roots of the whole process) whole wheat bread to the point where it's as light and fluffy (but more flavorful) as white bread!! Well, that's quite a claim, and there's only one way to find out - the dough is in the oven right now, rising under the pilot light. By tonight, I'll be able to say whether she exaggerates.
However, she's getting a tentative five stars from me, for now, because I love the writing! She's funny and self-deprecating and real. I love the chapter about how to fit bread making into a busy lifestyle - her suggestions just might work! Forget about organizing my crap - maybe I'll just make bread every week instead. I mean, come on - priorities!
(However, since most of the time you spend baking bread it's actually just sitting and rising or baking (at least four or five hours, in my experience), I could have an immaculate house and productive garden in the time it takes to make bread every week. Baking the bread could be the BASIS for an orderly, lovely home.)
March 25, 2020
- Whole wheat bread needs different ingredients, environment, rise times, etc. to achieve the same rise and lightness as white bread, but it's a lot more nutritious.
- To make a Desem starter (Dutch for "leaven"), you bury it in 10 lbs of flour while it's incubating.
- When slashing loaves, "The prettiest slashes are made by holding the knife so that the blade cuts sideways, almost as if it were peeling the crust, rather than cutting downward into the loaf. Done so, the slashes open upward as the loaf rises during its spectacular spring in the oven. If the cuts are directly downward, the loaf will open out and lie prostrate, not only less beautiful but less tall than it should be." I tried this after reading it, and it was so true! I'd been wondering for a long time why my slashes didn't look as pretty as bread from a bakery. Turns out this is why.
- They give a simple technique for a braided loaf -- 1) loop, 2) pretzel, 3) flip loop, 4) pull long end through.
- I love the Laurel Kitchen folks's enthusiasm, bordering on the spiritual, for the act of baking itself: "The place [the kitchen] starts to exert its own gentle tug, a strong counterforce to the thousand-and-one pulls that would draw them [household members] out and away. The creature comfort of a warm kitchen and people to chat with accounts only in part for this magnetic force. It's the baking itself: the artistry, the science, the occasional riddle of it. People of all ages, but particularly children, seem to draw immense satisfaction from hanging around a place where work is taken as seriously as we've come to take baking." (23)
- Since reading it, I've been thinking a lot about this passage about a cow. "Still another friend, a single mother and full-time librarian, missing the fine, fresh milk of her native Scotland and feeling vaguely that something was missing in her admittedly hectic life, decided that what she and her teenaged daughter needed more than anything... was a cow. Skeptical friends like me have been chastened to observe that she may have been right. Having the common, and thoroughly endearing focal point of a soft-eyed Jersey, cow, knowing that she's got to be milked no matter who's overslept or who has a cold, having to arrange for grain, and hay, and visits from the vet, actually has not stressed the relationship of mother and daughter to the breaking point or sent either of them into exhaustion. Rather, it seems to have compelled them to stay in closer touch than they would have otherwise, and they both find the outdoor work, the contact with the animal herself, to be a perfect restorative. Not for everyone, a cow, but it does illustrate the principle and makes a twice-weekly baking seem small potatoes by comparison!" (25)
- To make a Desem starter (Dutch for "leaven"), you bury it in 10 lbs of flour while it's incubating.
- When slashing loaves, "The prettiest slashes are made by holding the knife so that the blade cuts sideways, almost as if it were peeling the crust, rather than cutting downward into the loaf. Done so, the slashes open upward as the loaf rises during its spectacular spring in the oven. If the cuts are directly downward, the loaf will open out and lie prostrate, not only less beautiful but less tall than it should be." I tried this after reading it, and it was so true! I'd been wondering for a long time why my slashes didn't look as pretty as bread from a bakery. Turns out this is why.
- They give a simple technique for a braided loaf -- 1) loop, 2) pretzel, 3) flip loop, 4) pull long end through.
- I love the Laurel Kitchen folks's enthusiasm, bordering on the spiritual, for the act of baking itself: "The place [the kitchen] starts to exert its own gentle tug, a strong counterforce to the thousand-and-one pulls that would draw them [household members] out and away. The creature comfort of a warm kitchen and people to chat with accounts only in part for this magnetic force. It's the baking itself: the artistry, the science, the occasional riddle of it. People of all ages, but particularly children, seem to draw immense satisfaction from hanging around a place where work is taken as seriously as we've come to take baking." (23)
- Since reading it, I've been thinking a lot about this passage about a cow. "Still another friend, a single mother and full-time librarian, missing the fine, fresh milk of her native Scotland and feeling vaguely that something was missing in her admittedly hectic life, decided that what she and her teenaged daughter needed more than anything... was a cow. Skeptical friends like me have been chastened to observe that she may have been right. Having the common, and thoroughly endearing focal point of a soft-eyed Jersey, cow, knowing that she's got to be milked no matter who's overslept or who has a cold, having to arrange for grain, and hay, and visits from the vet, actually has not stressed the relationship of mother and daughter to the breaking point or sent either of them into exhaustion. Rather, it seems to have compelled them to stay in closer touch than they would have otherwise, and they both find the outdoor work, the contact with the animal herself, to be a perfect restorative. Not for everyone, a cow, but it does illustrate the principle and makes a twice-weekly baking seem small potatoes by comparison!" (25)
June 3, 2009
I've been playing with bread for a few years now, and this is a terrific book for beginners and those branching out into whole grains. For new bakers it includes the science behind bread. It demystifies the process and helps you identify when something is going wrong and how to fix it. For the more adventuresome or experienced bakers, it delves into some complicated recipes and offers knowledge and skills to develop your own breads.
April 11, 2014
Ah, Laurel's Kitchen. So much fun to read! I think the only item I made out of this cookbook was the English muffins and the recipe was quite sketchy. Kind of a go-into-the-kitchen-and-put-a-few-things-together-and-see-if-turns-out kind of recipe. I didn't care. I was having fun, getting into the mood.
A good cookbook if you like to read stories. Not the greatest cookbook for a beginning baker, but it does have some pretty good tips.
I don't own it, so I can't read the entire thing. Might be one to put on my list of "I need to buy this some day".
A good cookbook if you like to read stories. Not the greatest cookbook for a beginning baker, but it does have some pretty good tips.
I don't own it, so I can't read the entire thing. Might be one to put on my list of "I need to buy this some day".
June 13, 2008
I have only tried the first "for learners" bread recipe, but it turned out wonderfully. This book has so many helpful tips that I'm going to apply to my regular whole wheat bread recipe. I discovered that I've been under kneading and over flouring. No wonder my bread was always crumbly!
January 2, 2012
Re-opening this book: I am on Day 5 of my first desem.
Not that you can ever be finished with this book, but I've read all the informational pieces once so far. It's so comprehensive that I'll use it as a reference book as well as a recipe book. I'm especially eager to attempt the desem. And I particularly like how there's a section urging people gently to make time for bread-baking in their lives: "... what seems to happen to a lot of people is that over time they draw more satisfaction from their bread-making. As its importance in their lives increases, some competing activities can begin to seem less necessary. Slowly, priorities reorder themselves, and your determination to make your own bread even on a tight schedule becomes a steady impetus that leads naturally and mysteriously to a more home-centered and tranquil life."
Ahhhh.
Not that you can ever be finished with this book, but I've read all the informational pieces once so far. It's so comprehensive that I'll use it as a reference book as well as a recipe book. I'm especially eager to attempt the desem. And I particularly like how there's a section urging people gently to make time for bread-baking in their lives: "... what seems to happen to a lot of people is that over time they draw more satisfaction from their bread-making. As its importance in their lives increases, some competing activities can begin to seem less necessary. Slowly, priorities reorder themselves, and your determination to make your own bread even on a tight schedule becomes a steady impetus that leads naturally and mysteriously to a more home-centered and tranquil life."
Ahhhh.
October 17, 2008
I read this book about eleven years ago, gave whole grain baking a go and then gave up after many tries. About three years ago, I decided it was time to try again. I found that it had been my flour that was the problem all those years ago. What a relief because this bread is wholesome and delicious. I love the methods that Laurel uses with her bread and use them when I can with any other bread recipes that I use. I've tried several of the recipes in the book and my family and I love them all. I go in spurts with bread making. With the current prices of food, I'm grinding my own wheat and making my own bread whenever I can.
I highly recommend this book for making whole grain bread. You won't believe how delicious it is!!
I highly recommend this book for making whole grain bread. You won't believe how delicious it is!!
March 4, 2010
I had this book out from the library for a month and a half before I bit the bullet and bought it. During that time, I've made bread about twice a week, maybe a little less. This book has gotten me comfortable with whole-grain bread baking, and the explanations in the "Loaf for Learning" section have helped me tweak quantities and rising times as needed, which is something I wouldn't have known how to do otherwise. I also tried a recipe from Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads in the middle of all that. While I might give Reinhart's techniques a try again in the future, I found the methods and instructions in Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book much more accessible as a relative beginner, and would recommend this as a starting point for others interested in making their own bread.
June 26, 2015
My family bought me this book for Christmas in 2005. It is well used! I learned to make proper bread as a result of reading this book. I went all the way and bought my own grain mill (which I still have) which has also been well used. It's not just a bread book, it's a book about life's lessons too. There are certain things that you take slow, do with extra care and focus on the enjoyment of the process - bread baking is one of them and this book explains very nicely how to thoroughly enjoy and master the process.
February 15, 2011
This was a random book that my mom had. It's apparently one of the very very first vegetarian cookbooks. But it was also a lot more. It was a long book so it talked about health, the role of food, vegetarianism, nutrition, and homemaking. I will not be giving up meat or eating soybeans any time soon, but this book did inspire a lot of thought about food and nurturing. I'll leave you with a final caution: reading about food, even diets, makes me so hungry that I raid the kitchen.
December 15, 2008
If you would like to learn to make wheat bread, or currently make wheat bread but aren't happy with how it turns out, then this book is an excellent resource. It provides clear instructions for beginners. I have tried three recipes from the book and they are all good. My breadmaking has definitely improved from the techniques Laurel outlines.
March 25, 2012
A boat load of information presented in a candid and encouraging way. So far, I'm surprised at the very nice results from the recipes that I have tried. The recipes make great sandwich bread and quick bread.
I wish she listed the final temperatures for cooked bread and I wish there were some photos instead of/in addition to the black and white drawn illustrations.
I wish she listed the final temperatures for cooked bread and I wish there were some photos instead of/in addition to the black and white drawn illustrations.
February 4, 2014
As Laurel's Kitchen, this one also has a lot of reading to do....I am busy researching the art of bread baking with whole grains that I am milling myself. Part of what I love about these books is that they have a lot about the philosophy of food and making your own food for those you love. Something we have lost to a large extent in the busy society in which we live.
February 6, 2011
I have read this cookbook (I love cookbook) and have several favorites. It's a great book for beginning bakers and for experienced bakers, like myself, who have not made a lot of completely whole-grain breads. Many more recipes to go!
September 21, 2011
Changed my entire attitude toward bread making. Will use this for a long time!
August 22, 2013
Good one!
July 2, 2020
A down-to-earth, tried and true whole grain bread book. Whole wheat baking can be a bit more challenging than white flour baking, but Laurel's book simplified the process for me. The introduction has a great section on basic materials and ingredients that I highly recommend reading before you bake, and a step-by-step beginner's loaf that helps you get acquainted with the process if you're a beginner like me. The best part: there's a troubleshooting section if something goes wrong, so you can pinpoint your mistake and be sure not to repeat it. (If you're not a beginner, there's a ton of really inspiring and challenging recipes here, from sourdough to french bread.) After baking a few mediocre loaves, (in my opinion, no book can save you from that) I'm starting to get really high-quality bread that's eaten in a flash. Laurel's book + a little bit of experience leaves you with light, healthy loaves!
May 10, 2017
This book is very good! Some of the things that I like the best: great recipes, all the recipes use 100% whole wheat, techniques are explained (windowpane test, poking test for raising, etc) instead of just giving times (which could vary due to conditions), and measurements are given by mass (not volume). The only downsides that I've found so far are that there a few recipes that have confusing cooking times (or no cooking times at all).
Want to read
January 27, 2022
March 2, 2019
An ode to breadmaking that is complex and sophisticated while still being easy to understand and follow. My copy of this book is actually my dad's. It is awesome to see the dough marks, personal notes, and page crinkles that signify his journey through the book.
December 23, 2018
Great section on rye breads, which I will delve into.
600-699-applied-science
December 2, 2019641.815
April 17, 2020
An invaluable guide for this lapsed bread maker with detailed, helpful guidance about all of the bread making steps.
January 16, 2024
So cute
February 3, 2010
This is a great book to start the beginner off in baking whole wheat bread.
It's important to read the first chapter or two, where the author gives definitions for terms that will be used throughout the book ("warm" = so many degrees F, "very warm" means about 90d Farenheit, etc). Otherwise you may flip to a recipe and say "What the heck? How do I know how warm the 'warm place' for letting the bread rise ought to be?"
My favorite recipe is the overnight started sponge bread. I mill wheat the night before, start the sponge, then knead in the rest of the ingredients in the morning and let it rise at room temperature (about 70 degrees F). So I don't have to make any special heating arrangements, I can work on other projects between pressing the bread down and putting it in the oven, and the bread is done in time for a late dinner or for breakfast the next day depending on when I staggered out of my room that morning.
I haven't tried nearly all the recipes, but the most valuable part of this book for me has been the techniques it taught. I tried to make whole wheat bread before I knew about this book but had no idea what I was doing, so I worked very hard only to get bricks and puddles. Then... I stumbled across this book on a library shelf, and the rest is history. Highly recommended.
The date read is a guess, by the way. ^^; I've had the book for several years now.
It's important to read the first chapter or two, where the author gives definitions for terms that will be used throughout the book ("warm" = so many degrees F, "very warm" means about 90d Farenheit, etc). Otherwise you may flip to a recipe and say "What the heck? How do I know how warm the 'warm place' for letting the bread rise ought to be?"
My favorite recipe is the overnight started sponge bread. I mill wheat the night before, start the sponge, then knead in the rest of the ingredients in the morning and let it rise at room temperature (about 70 degrees F). So I don't have to make any special heating arrangements, I can work on other projects between pressing the bread down and putting it in the oven, and the bread is done in time for a late dinner or for breakfast the next day depending on when I staggered out of my room that morning.
I haven't tried nearly all the recipes, but the most valuable part of this book for me has been the techniques it taught. I tried to make whole wheat bread before I knew about this book but had no idea what I was doing, so I worked very hard only to get bricks and puddles. Then... I stumbled across this book on a library shelf, and the rest is history. Highly recommended.
The date read is a guess, by the way. ^^; I've had the book for several years now.
August 26, 2009
Yesterday, I baked my first two loaves from this book with my two year old son. They turned out beautifully, with the exception of a slightly tough crust, which was actually softer today after the loaf had rested. I love the detail in experiencing the dough and the whys and hows of bread making. I had never really paid too much attention to the kneading times, for instance, but I could actually see that the dough condition improved with a little extra kneading time (20 minutes for 2 loaves). I will be trying other recipes from this book and hope to be baking once a week from now on.
June 4, 2011
The recipes were simple to understand and with good instructions. But I found the writing style grating. When I'm reading a recipe I like things to be compact and quick to reference, with this book, you have to skim past author comments that don't add anything to the recipe. I think what I had trouble with was that parts of the book comes across as preaching. I love baking and if I'm reading the book I don't need to be convinced of the wondrous nature of bread, just give me the recipe and move on.
November 7, 2007
Perfecting the art of making homemade whole grain breads that rise well and aren't dense by learning to work with whole wheat flour and using whole wheat flour recipes instead of white bread recipes with whole wheat flour thrown in.
A great reference and recipe book. Some of their recipes and tips are hard to do without a fancy, gourmet, brick oven, etc. but the vast majority were doable at home.
A great reference and recipe book. Some of their recipes and tips are hard to do without a fancy, gourmet, brick oven, etc. but the vast majority were doable at home.
April 8, 2008
Very good blueberry muffin recipe, the Poppy seed quick bread was ok. Bob liked both. Evan loved the muffins too. I tried the loaf for learning & have given up for now on yeast bread making by hand.
EXCELLENT bread machine recipe in the new edition!!! I add 1 -2 tbsp gluten to the flour & put about 1 Tbsp more honey in the 1 &1/2 pound loaf, and I like it best using olive oil for the fat & all water. I was using milk, and plain water is nicer.
EXCELLENT bread machine recipe in the new edition!!! I add 1 -2 tbsp gluten to the flour & put about 1 Tbsp more honey in the 1 &1/2 pound loaf, and I like it best using olive oil for the fat & all water. I was using milk, and plain water is nicer.
September 10, 2008
If you ever wanted to to bake bread, this is the book to get. Unfortunately most of the recipes are out for me now as I'm baking for a lactose-intolerant man but I did do many from this book before and all with great success. (Ok, almost all because once my yeast was out of date and my pizza dough NEVER rose. That was a long nite. Made omelettes instead.) Delicious bread, lovely smell, and really, really easy.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews