Customer Reviews

The Bread Book: More Than 200 Recipes and Techniques for Baking and Shaping Perfect Breads, Sweet and Savory Muffins, Rolls, Buns, Biscuits, and Piz

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The stated intention of the author was a cookbook where all of the recipes are thoroughly tested, ensuring that they will all work. This is a breath of fresh air, as a majority of recipes in bread books do not work as written. Note that all of the recipes use manual kneading for the dough; there is a brief, generic explanation on how to convert all recipes to either bread machine, food processor, or stand mixer. All of the recipes I tried worked as advertised, which is unusual for a baking book, although I did note a tendency for the kneaded breads to be under-proofed and under-baked. The most successful ones came from the quick breads and sweet breads chapters.

I object to some of the statements on wheat flour, but the subsequent section on equipment is very good. There are some odd things in that section: a Peggy Tub (I was afraid to try it), and an unusual procedure for making dough on a stand mixer (since I do not own one, I could not test it). The chapter on yeast bread basics is exemplary; it is one of the few explanations that are sufficiently detailed for a beginner. The statement that sourdough tastes better near the ocean is factually wrong; San Francisco sourdough is now known to be a specific variety of yeast that is being successfully cultivated in many places, coastal and otherwise. It is not always necessary to let water sit for 24 hours to allow the chlorine chemical taste to dissipate; my municipality uses a chlorine compound that has no taste or odor, moreover does not disappear if you let it sit. The instructions for sourdough starter were simple and practical, however: not enough basic sourdoughs, too many odd-ball variations that you will never do, many (especially the fruit filled roulades) did not rise and were underbaked, many doughs will not double in bulk during proof.

The first part has yeast breads: white, whole wheat, whole grain, pizza, and sweet. Here, I had the most success with the sweet breads; there are a number of interesting loaf forming techniques. The second part is about sourdough: starters, breads, quick breads, and a short chapter on levain (which, strictly speaking is not sourdough, but even professional books will lump the two together). The third part is on quick breads, which has some very good recipes, including some very nice cornbreads that have neither flour nor sugar; my only complaint here is the relative brevity of these parts. The last two chapters are brief, but the most useful in the whole book: home bread failures and their causes, and a large collection of washes and glazes for breads.

The description for braiding a three-strand loaf is incorrect. The rest times listed are too short: dough that has toughened should be rested for 20 minutes, not 5; puff pastry needs to rest in the refrigerator for 2 hours, not 30 minutes. Several recipes involve rolling out dough to large sizes, and others rolling out very long (30 inches plus) ropes, yet instructions for these are not given in the book; this is not easy, and requires patience and practice. This is one of the few non-professional bread books that list correct, final internal temperature, even warning you which breads cannot be judged with a thermometer. However, I find the breads are usually under-baked; I usually had to increase oven temperature 25 - 50 degrees, and baking time 5 - 10 minutes. I found that many of the lean doughs needed an internal temperature of 210, not 200 as specified by the author. It also uses the unusual dough make-up technique of starting with all the liquid, then adding flour a little at a time. This is a good way for the beginner not to add to much flour during kneading, but also produces sticky doughs that are hard for beginners to handle.

There is, however, one glaring error: all of the recipes list only cup measures for the flour. In the introductory section, the author does specify spoon-and-sweep method for measuring flour, and further specifies that her cup of flour is 4 ounces, more or less. Flour weights should be listed for each recipe, as this gets the home baker in the good habit of weighing ingredients accurately, rather than adding some of this and some of that, and "baking by feel". Not weighing ingredients, particularly the flour, is the greatest source of failure for the home baker. You do indeed need to develop the skill of "baking by feel", but only experienced bakers can do this; a neophyte in a home kitchen does not have this sort of skill or experience.

I checked this book out from my library and started flagging recipes, which I thought were interesting and do-able. Normally I'd find one or two recipes I'd like, but I loved the whole book. In addition to the recipes, the novel shaping techniques are quite fun - which is another plus. By the time I got to the end of the book, there were so many Post-it-flags, I could never get to bake them all before the book was due. So, I decided it'd be wiser to buy myself the book - to enjoy for years on end. I recommend it too, and the "USED" prices are great - even with shipping!

This is an absolutely wonderful book about bread baking....teaching the basics to the advanced, this is a terrific "manual" that should be in every bread bakers library. With this book, a novice can be baking delicious breads of all types from scratch in days. Probably one of the best bread books out there. I highly recommend it.

Whenever I have a question about method or problems, this is the book to which I turn for answers. I have tried many of the recipes, some of which have become family favorites, and continue to experiment by trying more complicated ones. I love this book so much that I recommend it to new and experienced bakers and recently sent it as a gift to my son who is starting to work with sour dough breads. For a change of pace try the sour dough banana bread. Yum!

I have made many recipes from this book and they all turn out great. There is a fantastic tutorial on bread ingredients and baking in the beginning of the book and a troubleshooting guide, which comes in very handy when your bread doesn't turn out perfectly. I highly recommend this book for the serious or just starting bread baker.

This book is the mother of all bread-baking books in my opinion! I am just delving into this hobby and find this book to be an excellent resource. The only downside (which is actually more of a positive) is the sheer quantity of recipes and information here...it's a little overwhelming. This book is WELL worth the price paid and I'm very satisfied.

I have always had trouble making bread. I learned a great deal from this book and today we had wonderful bread and rolls.