Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611

  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
The Chemistry of BREAD: Understanding the Real Science Behind Baking Your Perfect Loaf

The Chemistry of BREAD: Understanding the Real Science Behind Baking Your Perfect Loaf

John, Andy

Paperback

Series: The Chemistry of Food & Drinks

BakingChemistry

ISBN13: 9798198574212
Publisher: Independently Published
Published: May 25 2026
Pages: 182
Weight: 0.55
Height: 0.39 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English

The Chemistry of Bread: Why Your Loaf Rises, Sets, and Tastes the Way It Does....

You have followed the recipe exactly. You have used the right flour, the right yeast, the right tin. You have kneaded until your arms ached and proved until the dough looked ready. And yet the loaf that comes out of the oven is dense, pale, gummy in the middle, or flat as a doorstep. You have no idea why, and the recipe offers no explanation.

This is the problem with most bread books. They tell you what to do. They do not tell you why. And without the why, every loaf is a gamble.

The Chemistry of Bread changes that. Written for curious home bakers who want to understand what is actually happening inside their dough, this book takes you from the molecular structure of gluten to the Maillard reaction that turns a pale surface into a deep, crackling, flavour-packed crust. It explains why sourdough tastes the way it does, why rye bread needs sourdough fermentation to work at all, why a croissant has layers, why a pita puffs into a pocket, and why your loaf goes stale faster in the fridge than on the worktop. Once you understand the chemistry, you stop guessing and start baking with genuine confidence.

What this book covers:

The book is divided into three parts. Part One covers the four foundational ingredients: flour, water, yeast, and salt, and explains precisely what each one contributes to the chemistry of bread dough. Part Two explores the major bread families, from lean breads and sourdough to enriched doughs, rye bread, laminated doughs, and flatbreads, showing how variations in ingredients and technique produce radically different results from the same basic chemistry. Part Three goes inside the oven, following the dough through oven spring, starch gelatinisation, Maillard browning, and the long, slow process of staling, and ends with a deep dive into the chemistry of bread flavour.

Throughout, the science is grounded in real bread, real bakers, and real kitchens. This is not a textbook. It is a book for anyone who has ever wondered why bread works, and what to do when it does not.

The recipes

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