Flatbreads & Flavors: A Baker's Atlas

`Flatbreads & flavors, A Baker's Atlas' is Canadian culinary photographer / writers' pair Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid's second book, which is easily more useful to the average foodie and reader than their last two expensive culinary travelogues, `Mangoes & Curry Leaves' and `Hot Sour Salty Sweet'. While this book covers a broad geographical range, like the `big' books, it maintains its high level of quality and focus by concentrating exclusively on the subject of flatbreads and dishes that are most commonly served with these flatbreads in their `natural habitat'.While Alford and Duguid seem to have inherited the style of the great culinary travelogue, `Honey from a Weed' by Patience Gray, they have their own twists on this style which makes it all their own. One difference is that while Gray does a fair amount of reflection on the whys of local techniques, her observations are not systematic. They are more in the line of archeological observations. Since Alford and Duguid in this book, are dealing with the single technique of baking flatbreads, this focus give them the opportunity to give us an excellent tutorial on bread baking technique, including the use of modern appliances in the making of traditional flatbread recipes.The authors take their `Atlas' approach seriously, as each chapter addresses a particular geographical region and opens with a map locating the center of traditional production for each type of bread. The eight regions are:Central Asia, primarily Iran, the `...stans', and Tibet with lots of yoghurt and kebabs.China, Vietnam, and Malaysia with dipping sauces, pancakes, and roll-ups.India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka with chutneys, curries, and lentils galore.Eastern Mediterranean, or `flatbread central' with pitas, matzos, Bulgar wheat, and dips and wraps.Morocco, Tunisia, and Ethiopia, with mostly accompanying dishes.Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan, the home of LavoshEurope, from Italian pizza to Scottish oatcakesNorth America with tortillas, crackers, and salsas.While this would seem to be a rich subject, the authors don't spend much time reflecting on why flatbreads are so important in some parts of the world and less important in others. In Asia, it seems that it is the only kind of bread they make, while in Europe, it's definitely a sidelight. I hypothesize that flatbreads are important where there fuel for ovens is scarce and the native peoples are or were at one time primarily nomadic.It is just a bit surprising to see how many different bread recipes use yeast. One would think yeast requires a nearby brewing industry, but natural sourdough type yeast is free for the asking and a lot easier to manage on the road than chemical leaveners, when the nearest 7 - 11 is 7000 miles away. But, all the recipes have been modernized and none actually use natural sourdough yeasts. All yeast doughs are made with `active dry yeast', the kind you have to bloom in warm water, but which will keep for years in their little foil packets. The other side of the coin is that there are a fair number or yeastless recipes, especially India's skillet breads, where the leavening is the action of heat and water in the dough, very much like unleavened matzos, except that matzos is made in an oven. So, if you can't tolerate yeast and you are tired of buttermilk biscuits and Irish soda bread, this book may be a great ticket to enriching your range of tolerated breads.One thing this book does not do is be a complete source on those flatbreads which are so dear to our French / Spanish / Italian backgrounds. If your primary interest is with Pizza, go to Peter Reinhart's `American Pie' or some other treatise on pizza by your favorite Italian cookbook author. If your primary interest is in tortillas, get Diana Kennedy's `From My Mexican Kitchen'. But, if you like these things and want to find the their flatbread cousins, this is your book.This book is simply all around excellent, and certainly deserves its James Beard Cookbook award. It makes me wish Alford and Duguid would stick to their single subject surveys instead of boosting their photographs business with the richly pictured , `Mangoes & Curry Leaves' and `Hot Sour Salty Sweet'. Their other books on rice and home baking are similarly delightful and should be in every foodie's library.

The book is good and the seller shipped fast, book was packaged well, no damaged corner.

This book was quite good.It is organized approximately by continent / region. It also covers a wider variety of recipes than just flat breads. It also includes many recipes that go hand-in-hand with regional breads. So, it includes recipes for curries, salsa, dips, spreads, a few main courses, etc.The index is a little spotty, as not everything seems cross-referenced intuitively. Also, there are a few color plates in the middle of the book, but otherwise, the other images are in black and white, sometimes grainy looking. One might hope that some day an updated release might be made available that would be more full-color. Nutrition information was also not included for any of the recipes. But, since it's not sold as a "health" book, one can overlook this bit of modern hoopla. This book is more intended as a cultural tour of bread-making traditions and other food traditions of the world. In that regard, it seems like something of a raging success.Many of these recipes could likely be adapted to other uses (such as pizza crusts or other inventive uses).Overall, I thought the book was pretty great!

I have been paging through this book for a few months now, trying recipes as I get to them. The book is laid out as a selection of flat breads from different regions of the world, and a few dishes that can go with them. The paperback edition is mostly black and white text with a few photos inside, but there is a wonderful full color glossy section in the center.The introduction has a great section on the development of the book as well as techniques for creating flat breads. There are different tips for tools, mixing, kneading, proofing, rising, baking, storing, freezing, and drying. The authors are extremely detail oriented, which leads to great results, and each recipe contains an introduction to how the recipe was discovered and adapted. This makes each recipe into a great narrative that leads to the feeling of a travel around the world through baking.This is quite a large book and I have not been able to make all of the recipes- but each that I have tried turned out wonderfully. Even with some adaptation, the details that authors provide lead to great results. The first recommended recipe is for a simple pita bread which should hook anyone on homemade flat breads. Their recipes have such great details that give you instructions for exact amounts, order of addition, how the dough should feel, and cooking time down to the second. This pita recipe gave me amazing results with almost all of them puffing up. Each recipe also has great ideas for food to pair with with your flat bread which makes for exotic and interesting meals.I found the high-tech crackers recipe to be particularly interesting. Such an easy recipe with such a personal relationship to the author that is so adaptable. You will make this recipe at the beginning (even though it is the very last in the book) and continue to make them to snack on. What is interesting is that as your skill increases, you will start to make your own methods and flavors for almost all of them.If you are a fan of pita, naan, pizza, tortilla, or anything else in the world of flat breads- this book is highly recommended.

This is not a fancy book with glossy pages and nor glossy photos, but - it has absolutely fantastic, useful, and practical recipes and information throughout (though there's a few ingredients one may need to hunt for or use a substitute, but that's okay - great way to experiment and develop skills, flavours, and personalized recipes). It's one of the best cookbooks I have bought to date (I bought the paperback one). There's several other cookbooks by the same author(s) - they're now on my list. I highly recommend this cookbook.

Interessante, piacevole. nell'acquisto tenere presente che le ricette sono integrate in un resoconto di viaggi; ripeto piacevole ma avrei preferito una maggiore attinenza al tema ricette.

an excellent book. not just a list of recipes but a book you can sit and read. i would reccomend this t anybody interested in baking bread

This is a wonderful book, and I highly recommend it.

I love it