Betty Crocker's Best Bread Machine Cookbook: The Goodness of Homemade Bread the Easy Way (Spiral-bound)

by Betty Crocker Editors (Author) "We found from our testing that for good texture and volume, slightly less yeast is needed in the 2-pound loaf than is needed in the..." (more)
Key Phrases: caramel topping, sourdough starter, quick active dry yeast, Use Medium, Select Dough, Select Basic (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Old-fashioned bread the new-fashioned way, Betty calls it. Easy, convenient, modern. There's no knead for loafing. Not with that fabulous combination in the kitchen: Betty Crocker and the bread machine.

The construction of this book, first of all, is wonderful. The cover is hard and the binding is heavy, enameled spiral. Each page lays flat on the counter, or you can hold the book open on one arm while doing something with the other hand. This suggests that Betty Crocker wrote her bread-baking cookbook with serious use in mind. She certainly tested her recipes. A variety of bread machines were used, which means that each recipe was tested a number of different times. Betty tells you exactly what kind of flour she used, as well as salt, size of eggs, kind of yeast, etc. She leaves nothing to chance.

Bread machine baking has its own peculiarities, and Betty addresses all these right up front, the hows and how-tos (as well as the whys and wherefores) of getting the perfect loaf every time. There's a troubleshooting section, as well as a frequently asked question section. Then it's right into the recipes, all 130 of them.

There are Good and Savory Loaves (Cheese Onion Bread) and Wholesome Grain Loaves (Toasted Almond Whole Wheat Bread), Fruit and Vegetable Harvest Loaves (Dried Apricot Bread), Smaller Can Be Just Right Loaves (these are one-and-a-half-pound loaves), and then several chapters on breads you start in the bread machine, but finish in the oven. These include braided sweet breads, pizza dough, rustic-style breads, and coffeecakes.

Any bread machine owner is going to love to loaf with Betty Crocker. --Schuyler Ingle

Product Description
Everyone loves fresh bread, but not the time it takes to make it. Bread machines are hot items in the kitchen because they take the work out of making homemade bread. Even better, Betty Crocker takes the mystery out of the bread machine and brings you easy-to-use recipes for both 1 1/2-pound and 2-pound loaves that work for all the popular bread machine models. We've packed this book with over 100 recipes to tempt your tastebuds. There are delicious bread recipes for classic favorites, rustic breads, sweet doughs, coffeecakes and buns. Betty Crocker's Bread Machine Cookbook also offers a host of recipes for doughs to mix, then shape and bake in a conventional oven -- such as foccacia, breadsticks and pizza doughs -- with easy-to-follow illustrations on how to shape and trim the loaves. Best of all, you can trust these recipes will work in your bread machine because the Betty Crocker kitchens have tested the recipes in several different machines to ensure success at home. We've also loaded up this book to include information on bread machine ingredients; glossary of bread machine ingredients, techniques, and terms; and a breakdown of the various features found on different models of machines and how to use them. There's nothing better than the taste of homemade bread -- and no one brings it to you better than Betty Crocker.

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Product Details

• Spiral-bound: 196 pages
• Publisher: Betty Crocker (January 22, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0028630238
• ISBN-13: 978-0028630236
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 8.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (73 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #5,985 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

137 of 138 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book, October 14, 2002

By	"laila_michal" (Monza, Milano Italy) - See all my reviews

when I bought my bread machine a year ago I was really excited about buying a cookbook to try it out. I found so many books, and most of the reviews said "buy this one it's the best", or "you won't need another one"... I got all confused. So, since I have most Betty Crocker cookbooks, I choose this one, 'cause I know they only have try and true recipes. In fact, it didn't let me down.
The book starts with an introduction about bread machines in general, how they work, and ingredients. It has a chart with all kinds of flours and teaches you what kind of bread you'll get.
Then the recipes. Including here, classics like white bread, Sally Lunn, garlic bread. New ones like orange capuccino brad. It has one of the best bagel recipe.
It's divided in 7 chapters:
Chapter 1: Good and Savory loaves
Chapter 2: Wholesome Grains Loaves
Chapter 3: Fruit and Veggie Harvest Loaves
Chapter 4: Smaller Can Be jst Right
Chapter 5: Rustic Loaves and Flatbreads
Chapter 6: Satisfying Rolls and Breadsticks
Chapter 7: Sweet breads and Coffee Cakes

The book has plenty of pictures, and this, especially for a beginner, is pretty important to know what it will look like the bread you are gonna bake.

A year later, I find myself still using this fantastic book and having excellent results. It has over 130 recipes so it's impossible to get bored.

36 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Breads lack variety in consistency but info/reasearch great, February 27, 2005

By	Lynn (Pittsburgh, PA USA) - See all my reviews

  There are several very positive comments that I have about this book. First, the recipes were tested on all 3 sizes of loaves. Therefore, sometimes proportions of ingredients will not necessarily agree with proportions of bread weight in order to get the same bread. I was happy to have someone else go through these tests so that I didn't have to. Another interesting element to this book is that they show pictures of how "wrong" breads look and list what possible ingredients were out of proportion. This is very helpful in analyzing the outcome of your bread. Finally, I am a picture person and all of the breads have beautiful pictures next to them.
  The big negative I found in the book was that all of the breads I made (about 7) had the same consistency. If you are interested in creating more interesting types of breads, such as light airy french breads with crunchy crusts or ciabatta's - you will be hard pressed to find them in this book.

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great variety of breads plus easy to follow instructions, February 20, 2005

By	Beth Cholette "doctor_beth" (Upstate NY USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This excellent bread machine cookbook covers a wide variety of bread types, from standard loaves to multigrains to fruit breads to related items such as rolls, pizza, and coffee cakes. The instructions for each recipe are clearly broken down into easily understandable steps; although some of the breads involve decorative touches that appear difficult, simple sidebar illustrations make these fancy finishes a breeze. The full-page photographs accompanying many of the recipes definitely make your mouth water as well as give some wonderful suggestions for how you can use each type of bread (however, as an earlier reviewer mentioned, I would have preferred to see every recipe illustrated). Overall, I would recommend this cookbook to anyone looking for bread machine recipes ranging from the simple to the more creative.