Customer Reviews

The Bread Bible

5 star:		(94)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

Re the rye bread, on page 326, step 2, delete the words 'rye flour.' (the rye flour is used only in the sponge on page 325.) Also, on the chart for the flour mixture, the 2 1/4 cups of bread flour weigh 12.3 ounces.
Hope you are enjoying the recipes. If you haven't used the instant yeast before, you're going to love the ease and reliability of adding it directly to the flour!
Best bread baking,
Rose Levy Beranbaum

Cookbook author/humorist Ann Hodgman once wrote, of Rose Levy Berenbaum's masterpiece The Cake Bible, that perhaps The Gideons should leave this "bible" in hotel bedrooms instead of that other, better-known one. Hodgman has a point. I have baked extensively from both of Berenbaum's previous "bibles," on cake and on pastry, and have yet to come up with a dud.

Since we're talking about bibles here, clearly Berenbaum finds that God is in the details. She gives clear, concise explanations of the "whys" of baking without ever getting tedious. I have been baking regularly for nearly thirty years, and yet in my first read-through of The Bread Bible, I learned at least a dozen facts that I hadn't previously known, and yet made perfect sense. For example, the inclusion of Wondra bleached, granulated flour (not a typical staple among serious bakers) in her Butter Popovers eliminate the resting period that the batter typically must undergo before baking.

Her books also inspire: A round, Gruyere-spiked cheese bread baked in a souffle dish--which Berenbaum whimsically names, "The Stud Muffin"--will send me out today on a quick trip for a couple of necessary, missing ingredients.

Berenbaum's recipes run the gamut from simple "quick" breads to more time-consuming (but hardly more difficult) artisanal loaves. She also provides sources for ingredients and equipment. This tome, with its gorgeous photographs and numerous line drawings, might intimidate some fledgling bakers, but don't let it! If it does, I suggest The King Arthur Flour's Baker's Companion. However, true breadheads are justified in wanting both.

Rose Levy Berenbaum's passion both for detail and for routinely spectacular results reminds me of Maida Heatter, whose equally comprehensive and delightful baking books inspired beginning bakers like me more than twenty years ago. Heatter's books have withstood the test of time. I'm sure Berenbaum's Bread Bible will become as annotated and batter-spattered as Heatter's books are in my kitchen. There's no higher praise than that!

Rose Levy Beranbaum's "The Bread Bible" is the "New Testament"!There are now many good bread books, but if I could have only one bread book, this would be the one.Ms. Beranbaum includes non-yeasted breads in this book.Oh, this book is so good. I have been baking bread for over 15 years, and I knew more than a little, but this book has opened a wider world. She has diminished some of my anxiety about sourdough bread, by talking about her sourdough anxiety, which she vanquished.Ms. Beranbaum encourages mechanical mixing, and does not consider it a "crime," like some other writers on bread. However, manual mixing is included. She has written lots of information on flours. Detailed, yet accessible.She encourages home bakers to think in more professional terms by giving weight measures (grams and ounces,) as well as volume measures (cups, spoons). She also gives proportion percentages.Ms Beranbaum's introductory comments are fascinating.The index is complete and easy to use.The photos and technical drawings are complete and well chosen.This book is definitely one of MY "desert island ten."

Okay, so I did break down and buy this book after vowing not to, and would change my review to 4 stars if I could. I'm glad I purchased, but as I said before, it's not a book for the beginning baker (or the impatient!). It does contain a wealth of technical information and very specific start-to-finish instructions for each recipe, which to a more advanced bread baker might sound oxymoronic but actually is not. I believe Beranbaum wants us to achieve optimal results from our efforts, thus the great detail in her instructions. Just be sure to read your recipes through thoroughly before starting, as her directions, although detailed, do tend to be confusing, especially when it comes to adding ingredients. I have had great success and compliments from several of these recipes, among them being the raisin pecan bread, the Tyrolean ten-grain torpedo, and the olive bread. Even I have not had the patience to attempt the very involved sour recipes (yet!), but am looking forward to trying them.

Here is my old, 3-star review:

I rarely feel the need to review, but having tried two recipes in this book, and feeling misled at some point in both, I feel a warning is in order.

First, let me say that I am quite an avid bread baker, and that this book, while chock-full of technical information, is definitely not for the neophyte, unless he or she is just interested in the science of breadmaking. Next, let me be specific about my complaints. Although I read a recipe through before I attempt it, I don't tend to memorize it; I just get an idea of the steps involved, decide if it's worth the effort, and go from there. My problems in the recipes both involved ingredients being mentioned in a list, and then the author not being specific enough about when they were to be added. To wit: in the "Heart of Wheat Bread" recipe, she lists salt as one of the ingredients in the "flour mixture." Below that, she says to combine the ingredients for the flour mixture and add to the sponge (in bold print). Only several sentences farther down on the page did I notice that the salt wasn't supposed to be added until four hours later. I don't know how much of an effect this had on the finished product (which was good but not great, considering the effort), but I feel she should have been more specific. I encountered almost exactly the same problem when I made the "Touch-of-Grace Biscuits," where self-rising and regular flour are both in the ingredients list (although not one right after the other), but again she is not specific in her directions; she simply instructs you to whisk together the flour, etc., etc. I included both types of flour and then discovered on the next page that the second amount was supposed to be used to shape the biscuits, not added to the dough. Again, the recipe came out okay, but I was disappointed that the directions hadn't been clearer.

As a result, this book, which I had seriously considered buying for my collection, will be returned to the library and probably not renewed. There are plenty of more comprehensively-written bread books out there, and I don't need the aggravation of this one! I only gave it three stars for the technical information, and I completely agree with another reviewer about the fact that having to have so many specific types of flours, pans, etc., on the shelves in your home to use this book properly will be a big turn-off for all but the most dedicated bread bakers.

I bought this book after making pesto bread from The Herbfarm Cookbook (also an excellent book). When I took my pesto bread out of the oven, tapped the bottom, and heard the hollow sound that indicated the bread had turned out correctly, something grabbed ahold of me, and I knew I had to learn more about baking bread. I couldn't explain the excitement I felt at the abilty to create something delicious from such mundane ingredients. it's like magic!

that being my sole attempt at bread making (excluding homemade pizza dough, which I put in a different catagory), Rose's book was a bit overwhelming at first. I read through all of the preliminary chapters on the hows and whys and all the different stages, feeling the same tingling fascination I had felt when I first started learning calculus. I guess I hadn't realized how mathematical and precise the "art" really is, or how appealing that would be to me. armed with all that knowledge, I decided to jump right in, and tried her cheddar loaf. her directions are laid out in clear, numbered steps, with instructions for both hand and machine mixing. ingredients are given by volume and weight, and each recipe is full of tips about when to add more water or flour, and what the dough / finished loaf should weigh. she has clear explanations and diagrams guiding you through any shaping. I never felt confused or at a loss, and even her descriptions of what the dough should feel like at different stages (something inherently difficult to convey without a physical demonstration) were incredibly helpful. basically, I felt informed, guided, and confident at every step of the process, and the end result was marvelous. the crust was golden and tasted intensely of cheddar, and the inside was crumbly and soft, just like bakery bread! even for a novice like me, this book delivers.

I just finished making her cinnamon raisin bread, and even though I know you're supposed to cool it for an hour before you eat it, I impatiently sliced in at ate some right out of the oven. it, like all the other breads I have tried from this book, was fantastic. I can't wait to eat it for breakfast in the morning, and the second loaf may not make it to the freezer.

I highly recommend this book to anyone interesting in learning more about making bread at home, with one caveat - these recipes are time consuming. not so much in the actual, hands on work, but in the rising and baking time. so they're perfect for a day spent working or lounging around the house, when you can keep an eye on the dough as it lazily rises.

This book really lives up to its name. `The Bread Bible' could be the only book you will ever need if you wish to bake bread at home. This is almost a shame, given the number of very good recent books on bread baking by Peter Reinhardt and Nancy Silverton, just to name two of the better known author / bakers. The chapters covering types of bread deal with:

Quick Breads (Muffins, Biscuits, Scones, and the like)
Flatbreads (Pita, for example)
Soft Sandwich Loaves (Pullman loaves, for example)
Hearth Breads (often what one thinks of by the term Artisan breads)
Sourdough
Brioche (on the boundary between bread and cake)

The recipes in these sections follow the same precision Ms. Beranbaum has shown in her earlier books on cakes and pasteries. All measurements are given in both volume and weight (imperial and metric). Great care is also given to specifying the type of flour. We are not dealing with your everyday AP Gold Medal here kiddies.

Everyone with a passing knowledge of things culinary knows there is a big difference between cooking and baking. In most cooking, the quality of ingredients varies greatly from item to item. Two steaks laying next to one another in a meat counter are invariably different, needing a bit of adaptation and attention from the cook. Cooking is very experimental, constantly observing and tasting the product in the course of mixing and heating. Baking is much closer to the theoretical, where one needs to very closely follow a formula to derive the result you wish. One thing this book clarifies is that while bread baking is still very different from, for example, meat cookery, the picture is not as simple as the one I described above.

First, while ingredients like flour and water are much, much more uniform than pork chops and New York strip, there are still variations, and one dimension of quality in flour is uniformity from sack to sack. There are, for example, major differences in all purpose flour from maker to maker, even if you ignore the differences between soft and hard wheat, i.e., White Lily versus King Arthur.

Second, baking is highly sensitive to conditions in the baking environment, most especially to humidity and ambient bacterial flora. The first factor is familiar to almost every pie maker, who must titrate the amount of liquid they add to pastry dough to reach just the right moistness. The second variable is most important to the artisinal bread baker.

The greatest value of this book to all people interested in bread baking is that it succeeds in explaining the mysteries of bread and why things work out and why they sometimes don't work. It explains why the baker cannot take their ingredients for granted. While they do not have to deal with the great variety in tomatoes from month to month, they do have to deal with much more subtle differences. Old flour and old eggs may simply not produce the desired results, and you may not know this for 24 hours after you start the bread.

This brings up the point that time is a very important ingredient in bread baking, especially artisinal bread baking. Although one can make really good quick breads and sandwich breads and flatbreads in two to four hours, a respectable baguette cannot be done in less than 12 to 16 hours. The impression that bread baking is not for the faint hearted has a grain of truth to it.

But, even if you plan to never bake a baguette or brioche, this book is simply a very good read for foodies interested in knowing about bread baking. The first chapter on the `Ten Essential Steps of Making Bread' is worth the price of admission. The chapter on quick breads will pay for itself at the next bake sale. The appendices on ingredients and equipment is exhaustive and informative. I finally know now where I may be able to find the elusive malt extract I've been looking for.

If the Norton Copy Editor for this book is checking in here, I have to point out that the only mistake I found is when the text states that Wondra flour and yeast dissolve in water at two different places in the text. The proper term is `suspend' or `go into emulsion'. But then, almost everyone makes this mistake.

Get this book for the baker on your Christmas shopping list.

I bought this book about a week ago without reading the reviews on here (went to a local bookseller). After reading the reviews, I wondered if I had a made a mistake. I understand why some people wrote the negative reviews. If you are a novice breadmaker and looking for a book that shows you how to bake a quick and easy loaf of bread, this isn't the book for you.

In the past, I've made bread by hand, used a kitchen aid mixer, and used a bread machine. I immediately tried to adapt the basic sandwich bread recipe in this book so that I could mix and knead it in the bread machine but do everything else the conventional way. I also used dry active yeast--not the instant yeast--with the proper amount substituted as indicated in the book. I halved the recipe because I only wanted to make one loaf and I omitted the 20 min autolyse(had never heard of that until I read this book), used a loaf pan that was a little too bigger than recommended in this recipe, and didn't bother with steaming while baking. I thought for sure this loaf wouldn't come out or would be mediocre at best, but I baked it anyway. As a backup loaf, I made a bread machine loaf too. The end product was the best loaf of bread I've ever made (it tasted like it was from a bakery and even looked like the picture in the book). It put the bread machine loaf to shame. I threw the bread machine loaf in the trash as soon as I tasted the one made from this book.

I can't wait to try out the other recipes and do more experimentation. After reading the nuts and bolts section of the book, I understand alot more about bread making.
This book is for someone who really enjoys the bread baking process, not a soccer mom just trying to bake some bread for the kids' sandwiches.

Okay, here's my first ever online review. I felt compelled to write.

I asked for this book for Christmas, but I almost took it off my list after reading some of these negative reviews. But I've seen Rose on PBS, so I figured I'd just work with the book if I actually received it as a gift.

Well I did, and I can honestly say this book was a revelation. I'd been hoping to get loaves just like you buy at a bakery, and I can honestly say I have. I've made the Ciabatta, Hearth Loaf, and the Rosemary Focaccia over the past 10 days, and each one was a masterpiece.

This is not a book for absolute beginners, nor is it a book for somebody who wants a quick recipe for great bread. Rather it is an instruction manual that will teach skills that will last a lifetime. Read and re-read each recipe. Follow each and every step. Consider this more of a cooking class, and you'll understand how to use this book.

After you've made a couple loaves, you'll find that the process starts to feel more natural and intuitive, because you will have learned along the way. Think of bread making as a journey, not just a destination.

As for the complaints about errors: I'm in the publishing business, and I can tell you, I haven't met a human being yet who's perfect. Seven errors in recipes in a 640-page book? Big deal. Check the errata on her web site, study the book, and be prepared to enjoy some delicious bread. Tomorrow, I'm making some rye!

This book will teach you how to make great artisan bread -- the kind you've always wished you could make. Intense flavors, chewy crumb, and crispy crusts. If you want to make truly outstanding bread, the kind your neighbors and friends will keep asking you to make, then this book is for you. However, I have a few remarks that I hope will help you make an informed decision.

First, if you have never baked a loaf of yeast bread before then do not buy this book(at least not yet). Instead, go to the King Arthur flour web site and attempt one of their bread recipes. If you are patient enough to follow the instructions and you savor the results then go ahead and purchase this book.

Second, once you buy this book expect to invest in about $50 worth of specialty ingredients (Durum flour, malt powder, etc.). Don't worry, the ingredients will yield tons of bread and they are all readily available at natural food stores or on the web (I bought mine from King Arthur). Oh, and if you don't have a pizza stone, get one.

Third, Rose's recipes require you to work with wet (read sticky) dough. While this results in outstanding bread (the kind with those tiny air pockets inside), it can be a bit tedious to peel the dough off your hands and the countertop. Some people might mix their dough with a mixer and that's OK, but I prefer to "feel" my dough.

Baking bread is not difficult. It just requires the proper ingredients, some basic equipment, and patience. Rose begins most of these breads with what is called a sponge. While this is very simple to do, it adds several hours to the process. A typical loaf will take (start to finish) anywhere from 6 to 24 hours. Sourdough will take longer yet. Most of this time is fermentation or rise time so you are not actually doing anything with the bread for most of the duration, but you must be around the house enough to work the bread when it needs it. The results are truly fabulous.

I absolutely LOVED this book. It's my absolute favorite of the bread books I own. I've repeatedly tried the techniques I've learned from this book with recipes from other books, and those recipes always turn out better. I've been very impressed.

Let me respond to some of the negative reviews. First, as to the 'sticky dough' review... Yes, some of the breads are so sticky they are nearly impossible to work with by hand. Breads like Ciabatta MUST be made that way. That's just the way it goes. Other people have trouble using the recipes. Let's be clear, this isn't a recipe book for people who want to crank out a loaf of bread in an hour or so, and most of the recipes require patience and practice to really make them shine. I have a sneaking suspicion that some of the negative reviews are by people who just want to have a simple recipe that they can follow, without understanding the art and science of bread. Bread is alive, and it's complexity is always surprising. This book brings that complexity to life, and explains both the art and science behind the loaves. If you want to crank out a loaf of Wonderbread for you kid's PB&J sandwiches, this isn't the right book for you. But if you're interested in CRAFTING loaves of artisan breads that continue to astound your guests, this is the book. Hey, I'm a computer programmer, with a new interest in bread as a hobby. After reading through this book, using the recipes, and, most importantly, taking the tips and information about the art and science of bread baking to heart, my breads have become so tasty, so beautiful and so enjoyable to make that at every family get-together and party, I'm asked to bring the bread.

I cannot recommend this book enough. It has my wholehearted 5 stars.