Baking Artisan Bread provides an unintimidating, formula-based approach to baking bread at home. With step-by-step, photo-illustrated instructions, chef Ciril Hitz shows you how with just 10 formulas you can create more than 30 different breads.

After a full exploration of the ingredients, equipment, and techniques of bread baking, move confidently into the kitchen to bake a range of bread types with easy-to-follow recipes for these doughs:

• Baguette
• Ciabatta
• Whole Wheat
• Pane Francese
• Pizza
• Bagel
• Pain de Mie
• Challah
• Brioche
• Croissant

Once you've mastered these staples, expand your repertoire with variations on each formula. Baguette dough yields a bouquet of breadsticks, buttery brioche becomes an elegant fruit Danish, challah transforms into delicately flavored orange aniseed wheels, and so on--deliciously.

Baking bread is fun, but the fruits of the labor are often copious. Ciril comes to the rescue with some basic recipes that include bread as a main ingredient, including bread crumbs, croutons, bagel chips, French toast, and bread pudding. A second set of extras includes formulas to help make your bread creations sing, with washes and glazes as well as ideas for sweet and savory embellishments to guide your culinary creativity.

With simple ingredients and most of the equipment needed already in the kitchen, you'll be filling your home with the heavenly aroma of baking bread in no time