Ten Speed Press Let's Make Bread!: A Comic Book Cookbook

Got this as a gift for my boyfriend as he enjoys cooking/ baking. He loved it, and the recipes are pretty interesting. Definitely lots of inspiration and lots of clear instructions too. And it looks cool :)

I already have Let’s Make Ramen! and Let’s Make Dumplings! and I LOVE them so I had to grab this one too, and it totally lived up to the others. The way everything is laid out in comic book style makes it super easy to follow, and honestly, just fun to read. It doesn’t feel like a regular cookbook at all. The bread recipes are awesome clear instructions, great illustrations, and tips that actually make sense. I’ve already made a couple loaves and they turned out way better than I expected (and I’m not a pro by any means). If you liked the first two, this one is a no-brainer. It’s got the same chill vibe, great art, and makes baking bread way less intimidating. 10/10, highly recommend!

We also have Let's Make Ramen! and Let's Make Dumplings! and all three are beautiful, informative, easy to follow along with, fun and engaging to read, and great for encouraging culinary and literacy skills in young readers or walking beginner adult bakers through the bread making process. I'm disappointed I paid more than twice what I now know another national retailer sells them for, but that's on me, I guess.

Fun and clever reworking of info from the wonderful Evolutions in Bread, in which Ken Forkish updates his recipes, methods and baking philosophy 10 years after his landmark Flour, Water, Salt, Yeast book. I have both Evolutions and this comic version, and find Evolutions excellent for studying while Let's Make Bread is right there on the countertop as I do actual baking. Forkish's entire presentation has been a welcomed breakthrough in the art of using levain (or not) to create a variety of remarkable breads.

I really like the art! The comic book format works well. I like the many variations on the same basic recipe. I was disappointed to read "Don't use iodized salt unless you want your bread to taste like iodine!" in the ingredients section. This is simply false. There are studies showing this is false. You can't taste the iodine in bread. A typical 1 kilogram loaf of bread will have about 10 grams of salt and (at most) 450 micrograms of iodine. The resulting 450 parts per billion of iodine is undetectable. Telling beginners they need to go out and buy a special salt to make bread is just wrong. It makes me wonder what else is wrong?