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Title: Crust and Crumby
Review: My husband spent the better part of two days following Mr. Reinhart's Biga recipe (page 37 of the 2006 paperback book) and then using the Biga in the Universal Rustic Bread recipe on page 52. He followed the recipes to the letter and to the minute. He was "rewarded" with 3 loaves of bread that more closely resemble the bricks in my wood stove than a loaf of bread. He was highly disappointed! We discussed where he could have gone wrong and realized that the ratio of flour to water in the Biga recipe is off. We confirmed this by comparing the same recipe in the hardback 2001 version. How does a basic bread formula change in 5 years????We also discovered that earlier printings of the book had companion errata slips to correct the typos . I find itinteresting that Mr. Reinhart has abandoned his weblog on baking in favor of his newer project, making frozen pizza. Hmmm...artisan bread to frozen pizza. Obviously his career has risen as well as the bread in his book.
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