AMY SCHERBER is the owner and founder of Amy's Bread, a nationally recognized bakery/cafe that specializes in hand-made, traditional breads as well as sandwiches, sweets, and old-fashioned layer cakes. She launched Amy's Bread in 1992, and has three retail cafes in NYC. Her original location in Hell's Kitchen was only 650 square feet, and she started with 5 employees. Today the staff has grown to 150 and the bakery delivers to over 200 wholesale customers daily.
The main bread bakery is in Chelsea Market, and the sweets are baked in her original Hell's Kitchen bakery. Amy is the co-author of The Sweeter Side of Amy's Bread and Amy's Bread, her just-released cookbook. Amy is a native Minnesotan, a graduate of St. Olaf College, member of the Bread Bakers Guild of America, Women Chefs and Restaurateurs, Chef's Collaborative, Bakers Dozen East, Slow Food, and loves the opportunity to share her enthusiasm for baking with her loyal fans and readers.
When Amy isn't at the bakery she is likely to be running, biking, gardening, traveling, cooking, and playing with her son.
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Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
Amy's Bread is a legendary New York institution that serves some 50,000 customers every month and supplies bread to more than 300 restaurants and stores daily. Long out of print, Amy's Bread shares Amy Scherber's recipes and techniques for everything from basic loaves to artisan breads. Now fully revised and updated, this full-color edition includes more than fifty recipes for home bakers at every level of experience.
Amy's Bread starts with the basics like Big Beautiful White Pan Loaf and French Baguette before progressing to more complicated recipes like Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread with Oats and Pecans and Semolina Bread with Apricots and Sage. But there's more here than just bread—recipes for pizzas, sandwiches, and sweet treats are also included.
• A helpful introduction covers basic bread baking techniques, starters, ingredients, and equipment
• 130 full-color photos illustrate bread shaping and scoring techniques, as well as photos and personal stories that reveal the inner workings of the bakery
• Artisan breads can cost $5 or more at the market; this book lets you make them at home for just a fraction of the cost
Whether you've just discovered the joy of bread baking or you've been doing it for decades, this revised classic will keep your oven hot for years to come.
Amy's Bread starts with the basics like Big Beautiful White Pan Loaf and French Baguette before progressing to more complicated recipes like Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread with Oats and Pecans and Semolina Bread with Apricots and Sage. But there's more here than just bread—recipes for pizzas, sandwiches, and sweet treats are also included.
• A helpful introduction covers basic bread baking techniques, starters, ingredients, and equipment
• 130 full-color photos illustrate bread shaping and scoring techniques, as well as photos and personal stories that reveal the inner workings of the bakery
• Artisan breads can cost $5 or more at the market; this book lets you make them at home for just a fraction of the cost
Whether you've just discovered the joy of bread baking or you've been doing it for decades, this revised classic will keep your oven hot for years to come.
Recipe Excerpts from Amy's Bread, Revised and Updated
 Maple Walnut and Fig Bread |  Goat Cheese and Roasted Vegetables on a French Baguette |  Big Beautiful White Pan Loaf |
From the Inside Flap
Since 1992, Amy's Bread has served up New York City's best handmade breads, feeding more than 55,000 loyal customers each month and supplying many of the city's finest restaurantsand food shops. Lovingly made using traditional, centuries-old methods from the heart of Europe, Amy's breads astound customers with their rich, complex flavors and crusty, chewy textures.
This beautifully illustrated update of the classic Amy's Bread cookbook lets you make Amy's hearty, satisfying breads in your own kitchen. Here you'll find Amy's favorite and most popular recipes, as well as the baking tips and techniques you'll need to create loaves that live up to the highest expectations, with ideal textures, surprising flavor dimensions, and picture-perfect results. Amy and her executive pastry chef Toy Kim Dupree explain the essentials of bread-making in careful detail, from using the most wholesome and fresh ingredients, to setting up your kitchen with affordable, effective equipment, to managing the moisture of your dough, kneading it properly, and shaping perfectly imperfect loaves. They've also included a very thorough but easy-to-understand chapter on starters to help every bread baker understand the best way to leaven their loaves.
If you're a first-timer, you can start by mastering basic techniques with simple breads like Big Beautiful White Pan Loaf, French Baguette, and Cinnamon Raisin Bread. Then move on to more complex breads like Country Sourdough Boule, Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread with Oats and Pecans, and Semolina Bread with Apricots and Sage. Satisfy your sweet tooth with brioche and specialty breads like Chocolate Cherry Rolls and Autumn Pumpkin Bread with Pecans. Once the oven has cooled, there's even a sandwich chapter to help you put your breads to the best use with meats, cheeses, and vegetables that pair perfectly with your favorite breads.
With more than fifty recipes—covering sourdoughs, ryes, semolinas, sandwich breads, pizza crusts, focaccias, and sweet treats—you'll find recipes here for every taste and every level of experience. You'll also find photos and personal stories that reveal the inner workings of the bakery. Whether you've just started baking or you've been doing it for decades, Amy's Bread lets you discover the pure joy of creating heavenly handmade breads that rival the world's very best—without going all the way to New York City.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
72 of 72 people found the following review helpful
By Boaz
Format:Hardcover
I have a very large collection of bread-baking books, and my favorite book has long been the original "Amy's Bread" book (long out-of-print). When I had heard that a revised edition is coming out, I was ecstatic! Finally, new bakers will get to experience Amy's amazing breads. This book is a complete revision of the previous book, and I highly recommend getting it, whether or not you own the previous "Amy's Bread" book.
The style of this book is similar to the style of Amy's other book, "The Sweeter Side of Amy's Bread". The photographs by Aimee Herring are amazing. She is a talented photographer, making all of the breads look scrumptious. There are photographs of almost all products in the book. Additionally, there are photos of some shaping steps and also photographs of the bakery. The book is beautifully stylized; it is a joy to look at and to read from. In addition to the recipes and explanations, the book is studded with various stories of life at the bakery.
The recipes all have metric, imperial, and US measurements. This is such a huge plus! I find baking by metric weights far easier than every other method, and it is easy with this book. The other measurements are provided for those who find them more convenient. The recipes are all very clearly written. They are detailed and precise. Almost each recipe is accompanied by tips: ways to enhance the bread's flavor, flour suggestions, etc. Also, every recipe has a headnote explaining a bit about its origin.
The book begins with a detailed guide for bread baking, and also a clear and detailed sourdough section. I have used the method described in the book for making sourdough, and it does work. Then, there is a chapter about easy breads to get you started, containing some amazing and easy breads. Then there are other sections: whole-wheat breads, Rye breads, sourdough breads, semolina breads, sweet breads, etc. There is also a chapter on pizzas and flatbreads, and a chapter on sandwiches.
So far I have baked the whole-wheat bread with toasted walnuts and the whole-wheat bread with oats and pecans. Both were outstanding. The former has been my top bread for quite some time. I have tasted it at the bakery itself, and have since made it several times. It is just delicious. The second bread I made and brought to work. My colleagues finished the loaf within minutes. As one of my colleagues had said: "There is a serious problem with this bread; you cannot stop at just one slice." Now that the sourdough I had made (based on the method described in the book) is ripe, I have a batch of "Toy's Teddy Bread" proofing.
Finally, a quick comparison with the previous book: 9 recipes from the previous book do not appear in this book. Sadly, one of my favorites (Grainy Whole-Wheat and Seeds with Apricots, Prunes, and Raisins) has been omitted. These were replaced with 9 different recipes, including Amy's Brioche, The Picholine Olive Bread, and the Oragnic Miche, to name a few. Many of the recipes that appeared in the previous book were updated, so the recipes are a bit different. Some changes are quite small (the chocolate rolls now have dried cherries in them instead of peanut chips), others are quite large (different preferments, different hydrations, etc.).
All in all, if you had to select just one bread baking book, this is the one I recommend!
The style of this book is similar to the style of Amy's other book, "The Sweeter Side of Amy's Bread". The photographs by Aimee Herring are amazing. She is a talented photographer, making all of the breads look scrumptious. There are photographs of almost all products in the book. Additionally, there are photos of some shaping steps and also photographs of the bakery. The book is beautifully stylized; it is a joy to look at and to read from. In addition to the recipes and explanations, the book is studded with various stories of life at the bakery.
The recipes all have metric, imperial, and US measurements. This is such a huge plus! I find baking by metric weights far easier than every other method, and it is easy with this book. The other measurements are provided for those who find them more convenient. The recipes are all very clearly written. They are detailed and precise. Almost each recipe is accompanied by tips: ways to enhance the bread's flavor, flour suggestions, etc. Also, every recipe has a headnote explaining a bit about its origin.
The book begins with a detailed guide for bread baking, and also a clear and detailed sourdough section. I have used the method described in the book for making sourdough, and it does work. Then, there is a chapter about easy breads to get you started, containing some amazing and easy breads. Then there are other sections: whole-wheat breads, Rye breads, sourdough breads, semolina breads, sweet breads, etc. There is also a chapter on pizzas and flatbreads, and a chapter on sandwiches.
So far I have baked the whole-wheat bread with toasted walnuts and the whole-wheat bread with oats and pecans. Both were outstanding. The former has been my top bread for quite some time. I have tasted it at the bakery itself, and have since made it several times. It is just delicious. The second bread I made and brought to work. My colleagues finished the loaf within minutes. As one of my colleagues had said: "There is a serious problem with this bread; you cannot stop at just one slice." Now that the sourdough I had made (based on the method described in the book) is ripe, I have a batch of "Toy's Teddy Bread" proofing.
Finally, a quick comparison with the previous book: 9 recipes from the previous book do not appear in this book. Sadly, one of my favorites (Grainy Whole-Wheat and Seeds with Apricots, Prunes, and Raisins) has been omitted. These were replaced with 9 different recipes, including Amy's Brioche, The Picholine Olive Bread, and the Oragnic Miche, to name a few. Many of the recipes that appeared in the previous book were updated, so the recipes are a bit different. Some changes are quite small (the chocolate rolls now have dried cherries in them instead of peanut chips), others are quite large (different preferments, different hydrations, etc.).
All in all, if you had to select just one bread baking book, this is the one I recommend!
29 of 30 people found the following review helpful
By J. Fulton
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I have made several recipes from this book and so far been very pleased. The two recipes offered as part of the book description, for example, are both excellent. But that said, the recipes are not that user friendly. Almost an extreme over reaction to the "5 minute a day" approach.
But there are a couple of things worth mentioning that make the book a little difficult.
1. Most of the recipes in this book involve a lot of water, a stunning amount. For example, one whole wheat recipe that Harold McGee covered in the New York Times uses 18 oz of water to 19.5 oz of flour. That is a 92% water to flour ratio, a stunningly high amount and well over the ranges provided by virtually every other reputable bread book. I have made this recipe from the book. It is a boule and with so much water plus whole wheat, it is difficult for the bread to rise much.
The white bread recipe in the Amazon description has an 85% water/flour ratio. But it is white flour and a pan loaf and I can say it tastes extraordinary. It has a great crust and crumb.
2. Long, very long total rising time. Most of us are used to a couple of rises, perhaps a sponge or other preferment, etc. This book uses lots of rising cycles. Again, the white bread in the description is typical. It requires 3 separate 1 to 1.5 hour rising cycles before baking. I suggest you carefully read through the recipe times before diving in. The book doesn't give a total start to finish time for its recipes and given the many risings required, it can be quite an investment of time.
3. Hand mixing. It is odd to me that given the emphasis on very wet doughs, that the book recommends hand mixing. I enjoy bread making but I am not going to waste time hand kneading a dough with a consistency of thick batter. Use your mixer and save yourself the frustration and mess.
In summary. I like the book. The recipes have so far been good. But be cautious of the extremely high level of water. They make an extremely wet dough that is very hard to work with. Use your mixer and plan out a long day for making any of the breads.
Enjoy.
But there are a couple of things worth mentioning that make the book a little difficult.
1. Most of the recipes in this book involve a lot of water, a stunning amount. For example, one whole wheat recipe that Harold McGee covered in the New York Times uses 18 oz of water to 19.5 oz of flour. That is a 92% water to flour ratio, a stunningly high amount and well over the ranges provided by virtually every other reputable bread book. I have made this recipe from the book. It is a boule and with so much water plus whole wheat, it is difficult for the bread to rise much.
The white bread recipe in the Amazon description has an 85% water/flour ratio. But it is white flour and a pan loaf and I can say it tastes extraordinary. It has a great crust and crumb.
2. Long, very long total rising time. Most of us are used to a couple of rises, perhaps a sponge or other preferment, etc. This book uses lots of rising cycles. Again, the white bread in the description is typical. It requires 3 separate 1 to 1.5 hour rising cycles before baking. I suggest you carefully read through the recipe times before diving in. The book doesn't give a total start to finish time for its recipes and given the many risings required, it can be quite an investment of time.
3. Hand mixing. It is odd to me that given the emphasis on very wet doughs, that the book recommends hand mixing. I enjoy bread making but I am not going to waste time hand kneading a dough with a consistency of thick batter. Use your mixer and save yourself the frustration and mess.
In summary. I like the book. The recipes have so far been good. But be cautious of the extremely high level of water. They make an extremely wet dough that is very hard to work with. Use your mixer and plan out a long day for making any of the breads.
Enjoy.
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
By A. Cyprych
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Amy's Bread turned up when I was searching for recipes for sourdough. My first batch just came out of the oven, and it is heavenly. I made the Tangy 24-Hour Sourdough because of a sourdough craving I've been having. Note that this is clearly indicated to be one of the more invovled recipes and not for beginners. It is a long process, especially the first time when you have to make the starter. Ignoring Amy's suggestions that beginners start with easier recipes, I decided to dive right in and make the sourdough. The instructions are excellent, and my loaves of sourdough came out golden brown, crispy on the outside and soft as can be on the inside. They are even better than I imagined, especially for my first time baking bread.
I recommend getting a sourdough starter (like King Arthur Flour's) and then building up Amy's White Sourdough Starter, Rye Sourdough Starter, and Rye Salt Sour Starter from there. You'll need to get a good stock of ingredients that you may not have, as Amy recommends organic flours, such as organic rye, that you may not be able to find in your local grocery. I also needed to purchase some crocks to store the starters in the refrigerator.
My Tangy 24-Hour Sourdough process actually took about a week from when I received a sourdough starter from KAF. The time was needed to build up the proper starters, and then to feed them and make sure they were active before baking. I was skeptical and didn't think bread I made at home would satisfy my craving for San Francisco sourdough, but I have been totally floored by the bread I just tasted.
I recommend getting a sourdough starter (like King Arthur Flour's) and then building up Amy's White Sourdough Starter, Rye Sourdough Starter, and Rye Salt Sour Starter from there. You'll need to get a good stock of ingredients that you may not have, as Amy recommends organic flours, such as organic rye, that you may not be able to find in your local grocery. I also needed to purchase some crocks to store the starters in the refrigerator.
My Tangy 24-Hour Sourdough process actually took about a week from when I received a sourdough starter from KAF. The time was needed to build up the proper starters, and then to feed them and make sure they were active before baking. I was skeptical and didn't think bread I made at home would satisfy my craving for San Francisco sourdough, but I have been totally floored by the bread I just tasted.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Love This Book, But Has Editorial Issues
I am a huge fan of Amy's Bread in New York City. They make some of the best bread I've tasted. I have owned their cookbook for the past 2 years and have made many delicious breads... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Jeegyar
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Must for Bread Bakers' Libraries
This is a very thorough, and easy to understand book on artisan breads as well as other methods.
I haven't used any of the recipes yet, but look forward to doing so.
I haven't used any of the recipes yet, but look forward to doing so.
Published 5 months ago by BA
5.0 out of 5 stars
Amy's Bread
This is a great bread book; one of the best I've used. I love baking bread from the kneading to the smell to the eating! Read more
Published 10 months ago by JT
5.0 out of 5 stars
Top Bread Book
Ditto as to the other reviewers as to the pros and cons about this book--the 3 to 5 star reviews. I recently added this book to my large library of bread books. Read more
Published 12 months ago by perrymasonary
5.0 out of 5 stars
I love this book!
I'll start off saying I am not an expert baker or break maker, quite the opposite. I am a basic beginner. Read more
Published 18 months ago by M. Mauritz
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very good
I have made the oat bread, maple fig bread, and tuna salad. I substituted chia eggs for the eggs in the fig bread recipe and used barley flour instead of the two white flours. Read more
Published 18 months ago by Macro chef
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another gift from my husband
This little beauty is really something you can use. The pizzas are great and sandwiches yummy. Easy to understand and follow. I love it!
Published 19 months ago by Judi T
4.0 out of 5 stars
If you've got the time, this is your bread-baking cookbook
I first came across Amy's Bread in a food magazine sometime in the 90's. The title of the article was something like "Today is a Bread Baking Day. Read more
Published on March 18, 2011 by Hypermom
4.0 out of 5 stars
Amazing Bread!
Great book. Well written intructions with lots of color photos showing step by step how to knead the dough and shape it. The recipes are a bit time consuming, but well worth it. Read more
Published on January 27, 2011 by tohimibelong
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fabulous Book for the Bread Baker
I am new to bread baking and this book has been an exceptional and wonderful treat to dive into. I especially love all the guidance offered around creating your own starter and all... Read more
Published on January 24, 2011 by William A Rohrbach
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