Bakery Books For Chefs Catalogue
Pains and brioches from around the world selected by Karima El Makhloufi / Review
Focaccia, naan, pita, batbout, msemen, hamburger bun, Swiss brioche, babkas… the book Pains & brioches du Monde includes more than 60 recipes to prepare these at home, selected by Karima El Makhloufi, a self-taught cuisine devotee and promoter of the Click&Cook blog.
Available in French on our online bookstore Books For Chefs, it is a selection of breads and brioches from Europe, Asia, Africa, and America. As she herself explains in the prologue, “it is a list of breads that I like to eat and prepare for my relatives.”
Rules for making good bread
Before sharing the recipes, El Makhloufi provides detailed information on all those ingredients necessary to make good bread.
For example, she explains how to use wheat flour for traditional breads and pastries and corn flour for oriental breads, as well as the different grades of durum wheat semolina. Additionally, she specifies characteristics of the different yeasts and gives tips for their use and conservation.
In the introduction section, she also dedicates space to fundamental tasks such as kneading, defining the different types of shapes, and the best way to cook them. And the grand finale is her advice for achieving the perfect brioche, which is highly recommended.
More than 40 breads
In the bread section, we find more than 40 references, most of them from Europe -from baguette and sliced bread, to bagel with salmon and avocado, bretzel or typical Provencal navettes- and from the Mediterranean (foccacia, panini three cheeses, pizza calzone bolognese, etc.). There are also breads originating from the Maghreb such as batbout, which is very similar to pita bread; Matlouh, which is usually served as a side dish to dishes or as a snack, or Kesra, for both sweet and savory dishes. From the USA we find bread for hot dogs and hamburgers, and from Asia three types of bread: naan, Japanese sando, and sliced bread with the tangzhong technique.
Careful selection of brioches
El Makhloufi shares fewer brioche recipes, but they have been very well selected. From the Middle East, the Challah; from Maghreb, the flavored Mouna and the Krachel sweet sesame rolls; from Asia, the Japanese Hokkaido, halfway between sliced bread and brioche; from the Mediterranean, a roscón de Reyes with candied fruits and the typical Italian Maritozzi buns. In the case of Europe, there are many more references, from Swiss brioche to English scones, the cinnamon roll, or briochette with red berries.
