Flour Lab: An At-Home Guide To Baking With Freshly Milled Grains

Brooklyn Bread Lab founder Leonti and Parla (coauthor, Food of the Italian South) open this immersive guide to bread baking and beyond with an inspiring salvo on the merits of milling one’s own wheat. The flavor of self-milled grains are “intense, bolder, brighter,” Leonti writes before describing the various kinds of mills and what to look for when purchasing them. The authors include helpful step-by-step photographs for many recipes, including a basic yeasted loaf, sourdough, bagels, and baguettes (the authors suggest prepackaged flours for those who choose not to mill their own). From there, they advise what flour to use for making pasta and pizza, offering recipes for several types of pasta (lasagna, tagliatelle, gnocchi, etc.), as well as simple but glorious sauces (ricotta and lemon zest, chicken liver and saffron ragu) to accompany them. Pizza gets a similar deep dive, with dough recipes for Neapolitan, Roman, Detroit, and Connecticut styles, along with suggestions for 13 different toppings ranging from the basic pepperoni to the more innovative pistachio pesto and fontina; corn with scallions; and butter, honey, and lavender. Bread lovers of all skill levels are sure to find themselves returning to this one time and again. This unique and practical collection of standards stands out in a crowded field. (Sept.)