52 of 55 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great recipes but 100 unneeded pages, December 26, 2001
This review is from: Breadman's Healthy Bread (Hardcover)
Pro's:
* The recipes work and are delicious. I especially recommend the Italian herb bread.
* There's an emphasis on whole grains with about 70% of the recipes containing no white flour, white sugar, eggs, or animal fats.
* Contains a lot of information a bread machine owner might want, such as how to care for the machine, how the machine works, how to mill and store grains, nutritional information about the various grains, all about yeast (buying, storing, measuring, etc.). Most of the bread machine info is generic and applies to other machines as well as the Breadman.
* Detailed glossary of ingredients.
* Bonus recipes for spreads, such as salsa, hummus, and jam.
* Although recipes are only for 1- or 1 ½ pound loaves, you can double the 1 pound recipe if your machine has a 2 pound capacity.
Cons:
* My biggest pet peeve: for each bread recipe, the 1 pound and 1 ½ pound variations are listed on separate pages, unlike other bread machine books which list several size variations on the same page. So if you want orange walnut bread, for example, the 1½ pound recipe is on page 230, and the 1 pound variation is on page 231. I counted 97 extra pages that didn't need to be in the book, had both sets of measurements been on the same page. This amounts to purchasing 34% extra pages, inflating the price and wasting trees.
* Although the book emphasizes how healthy it is to eat whole grain breads, there is no nutritional information for any of the recipes-not even fat grams or calories per serving.
* Every bread recipe contains powdered milk or whey powder. Many people don't consume dairy products, yet there's no mention of how to substitute for it or if it's okay to leave it out entirely. (It is.) You can also leave out the liquid lecithin, a sticky ingredient that's hard to get off your hands, without adversely affecting the results.
* Setting and cycle information is provided for over a dozen models of bread machines-all state of the art in 1992 when the book was written. The bread machine operator with a more recent machine should easily be able to figure out the appropriate machine setting for any given bread. But the tally of unneeded pages is now 100, (or 104 if like many bread machine operators you never intend on making bread by hand, so will not need chapter 7).
Despite the cons, I still recommend the book for the great recipes and the comprehensive bread machine and ingredient education.
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21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Best Bread Machine Recipe Book for Whole Grain Breads, May 25, 2000
This review is from: Breadman's Healthy Bread (Hardcover)
After getting a new bread machine, I looked and looked for bread machine recipe books that had a decent number of whole-grain flour recipes (we grind our own flour) - and my search was disappointing until I came across this book. Lots of whole-grain bread recipes (plus "transition" recipes for those just learning to like the heartier, healthier flavor of whole grain bread). If you can find a bread machine recipe book with more whole-grain bread recipes (either numerically or proportionately) than this one, then let me know. From my search, this is the one to get. And ... if you haven't made the switch from "white" bread to whole grain, then you really, really need this book. Even my wife now prefers WW bread to white, and that is a change for her.
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18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent, healthful recipes!, July 16, 2001
By A Customer
This review is from: Breadman's Healthy Bread (Hardcover)
This is a fabulous book, especially for those are tired of the white flour, white sugar bread machine recipes that are so ubiquitous. I have always wanted to use my bread machine to make healthy, whole grain breads, but such recipes have always been few and far between in my experience. Not so with this book! George provides more than 100 recipes for wholesome breads, each given separately in 1-1/2 pound and 1-pound loaf versions. A full 70 percent of these recipes use absolutely no white flour, while the other 30 percent use a combination of whole grain and white flours for those readers not accustomed to the denser, full-bodied flavor of whole grain breads. All of the recipes use only the minimum amount of sweetener (honey and molasses -- no refined sugar at all!) and no shortening or hydrogenated oils. The breads are all developed to work with Breadman-brand bread machines, but there is a table at the beginning of the book listing all the other different types of bread machines along with any modifications you would need to accomodate these recipes. I've made two different recipes from the book already, and the results were wonderful!
My favorite part of the book, though, is all the great information before and after the recipes section. George describes his philosophy for a healthful lifestyle, as well as background information on topics such as the different parts of a wheat kernel and other types of grains and legumes that can be used in breads. The back of the book has a complete glossary of ingredients that are used in the book, in case you don't know what liquid lecithin is or where to find powdered whey (questions that I had initially). I had fun and learned a lot just reading the glossary! Overall, this is an excellent book that will get much use in our house.
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