You certainly must love the taste and smell of freshly-baked bread. But you might think it is too much trouble to make.

David Joachim proves that you are wrong about the degree of difficulty in his 50th cookbook collaboration, “Mastering Bread: The Art and Practice of Handmade Sourdough, Yeast Bread, and Pastry [A Baking Book]” by Marc Vetri, Claire Kopp McWilliams and David Joachim (Ten Speed Press, 2020, 294 pp., print, $32.50, ebook $13.99).

“It doesn’t take as much time as people think it does,” Joachim says.

The process stretches out a bit, but it is not time-consuming. You wait for the yeast to grow, which raises the bread, and wait as the final baking takes place.

“Most of what you do is let the stuff sit there. You are just there to control fermentation,” Joachim says.

The book is described by the publisher as “a master class for making artisan bread easy to bake at home.” It can be used by people who have bread-making machines or by those who make bread by hand.

“There is a lot of material for advanced bakers, but new bakers will not feel overwhelmed. There is something for everyone in this book,” says Joachim in an interview near his home in Center Valley, Upper Saucon Township.

The book begins with general steps. There are chapters about choosing grains, mixing and fermentation, with sections about shaping and storage along the way. It goes from easy to more elaborate recipes, ending with a “bonus track” about making panettone, a complex Italian type of sweet bread. There are many colorful illustrations throughout for guidance and inspiration.

“You can’t learn to bake bread just from reading the book. You have to do it. You need to have a feel for the dough and understand the whole process,” Joachim says.

“Baking is different than cooking. It is not as immediate. It takes time, but you are growing a living thing. You are involved in the end result. It’s not just something you make.”

He compares it with cooking a steak:

“When you start to cook a steak, it is fully-formed. The basic size and shape does not change much. But when bread puffs up, you can see that you are a big part of the process. It feels more personal. You don’t say, ‘This is my steak,’ but you do say, ‘This is my bread.’”

Joachim stresses that the ingredients are crucial. He encourages people to use good flour, preferably local.

“Grains last forever if stored properly. But they lose their flavor when you begin to process it by grinding or cooking it. Commercial flour sits on grocery shelves for months and it travels in hot shipping containers.”

He notes that most farmers’ markets sell local grain. It is also available at some retail locations or by mail.

Joachim grew up in northeast New Jersey and moved to the Lehigh Valley in 1993 when he began to work at Rodale Press as a cookbook editor. This involved editing and creating books. He studied philosophy and literature theory at Binghamton University and English language at Muhlenberg College.

He taught English for a time, but says, “The academic world was not what I thought it would be.”

Writing cookbooks is the “perfect marriage” of his interests in literature and cooking-baking.

Joachim creates his own recipes or goes into the kitchens of many chefs, writing down their creations and testing them himself to get the exact proportions. Among his numerous works are the “A Man, A Can, A Plan” series of fast and simple recipes targeted to men. The series has sold more than one million copies.

The third edition, the first hardcover version, of Joachim’s “The Food Substitutions Bible” is scheduled to be published in fall 2022. It will have 8,000 substitutions for ingredients and equipment, including charts and measurement tables.

Joachim lives with his wife and son in a house that includes 12 grills of different varieties and just about every type of kitchen utensil imaginable.

He is drummer for Lehigh Valley Americana band Tavern Tan, which has a new album, “Tandemic.”

“Literary Scene” is a column about authors, books and publishing. To request coverage, email: Paul Willistein, Focus editor, pwillistein@tnonline.com