Let’s Make Bread! (3 books)

by Ken Forkish and Sarah Becan
2024 / 158 pages
Rating: Good/GREAT/Gift

This is the comic I never knew I wanted: a how-to for baking all sorts of delicious breads. And while I’ll admit to not trying out any of the recipes myself, this did get my oldest daughter experimenting. I liked the results of her labors, so this might have to move from just being a library lend to being something we really need to buy.

The format is a friendly one: we get introduced to the two authors, and because this is a comic, there they are, speaking right to us with their word bubbles. The first thirty pages also introduces us to the basic tools and ingredients we’ll need to get baking. Then we learn about everything from the first rise, to how best to spread our salt onto the dough. The pictures allow this how-to manual to show tips that would be really hard to just describe, like how the dough, at one stage, should have a gentle “webbing.” What is bread webbing? I wouldn’t have a clue if the picture hadn’t shown me!

Among the bread recipes, there is even a detailed procedure outlined for how you can get your own sourdough starter going. The various uses you can put it to include a really great pizza dough!

There are no cautions to offer, other than that if you buy this for one of your children, you might have to also spring for some baking tools, if you don’t already have them. This is a book that will inspire, so you best be ready for some flour on your counters then! Cookbooks aren’t really supposed to be fun, but this one kind of pulls it off, so two thumbs up. Not a book for everyone, but certainly a great one for any young bakers in the house.

The illustrator Sarah Becan teamed up with Hugh Amano for two prequels: Let’s Make Ramen! (2019) and Let’s Make Dumplings! (2021).  I could imagine making the dumplings, as long as I had a little help from someone more culinarily-inclined, but the ramen recipes weren’t just beyond me, but astronomically so. That’s why, while I’d recommend both Bread! and Dumplings for any kids who likes to bake or cook, I’d only suggest Ramen! to the expert cooks among us.