Customer Reviews

No More Bricks! Successful Whole Grain Bread Made Quick & Easy

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have baked whole wheat bread for decades and used everything from a Kitchen Aid Mixer, an automatic bread baker, a Bosch Mixer, and currently an Electrolux Mixer. You have to be committed enough to whole wheat bread baking to grind your own wheat and a own decent mixer. If you are willing to make this much of an investment this book will tell you in detail how to make loaves of 100% whole wheat bread that will be as soft as store bought and have more flavor than you can imagine. I often likened whole wheat bread with fresh ground flour to eating a perfect vine ripened tomato versus a winter hot house variety. The taste is so much better you will never go back to white bread, not to mention the nutritional value.

The author describes all the different types of grains, how to use them, and little baking tricks like how to actually mix and knead the dough, how to determine gluten development, how to let the dough rise, how to determine baking time, etc. She also tells the effects of adding different ingredients like milk, eggs, dough enhancer, yeasts, gluten, etc. Even after all these years of bread baking I learned new things from this book. While I really bought this for my daughter, who is now hooked on baking her own bread for a family of seven, I am going to keep this as a handy reference and buy her another one.

Happy Bread Baking!

I bought this book hoping for some helpful tips. What I got was a totally new way to make whole wheat bread that tastes so much better than any I have ever tasted. And it is healthier and faster. I highly recommend this book!
My children who hate whole wheat bread even love this bread.

This is the first review I've ever felt really compelled to do. "No More Bricks" is absolutely THE best book on baking bread. The recipes are each for making from 1-6 loaves. She also includes directions on taking her basic recipes for bread and making them into pizza, pigs in a blanket, doughnuts, and much more. Not only are we making the best whole wheat bread ever, but we are also making it six loaves at a time! The instructions are so fail proof that even my highly distractable 18 year old daughter can whip up six loaves by herself in less than two hours, from start (grinding the wheat) to finish (bread baked and out of the oven)!

This book is informative and easy to follow. The recipes and ideas are complete with pictures and variations to fit most anyone's taste preferences (she even discusses kamut and spelt) . I have been making bread for many years and sometimes I would make great breads and sometimes they were "BRICKS" as the author so vividly describes in her title. The title is true! Since incorporating her ideas and research, I haven't had any bricks. I have also made things I only thought about doing like soup bowls, cinn. rolls and hamburger buns. Other recipes always seemed to take too long and required more ingredients than what I wanted to use. I have already bought more copies to give to some busy Moms I know. The only negative: My family inhales the bread before it has time to cool most of the time so you may want to try the first recipe out when no one else is at home so you can enjoy it all to yourself!

I have been grinding wheat at home for several months. My previously successful bread recipes were coming out heavy and dense with my home ground flour. This book, No More Bricks! is just what I was looking for! My breads are again light and wonderful! The recipes are not only delicious but fast! Thank you Lori Viets

I have been baking bread for the last seven years and I have over a thousand cookbooks. I have almost all the top bread cookbooks. I have baked a few bricks in my day. Today my book came and I quickly looked through it and was amazed at somethings that that I hadn't learned. One that I thought was very helpful was not to add flour at the end of your kneading because the dough is to soft, because your adding non gluten flour and that can create pockets. I was excited over the method for hand developing the loaves for the pans because I learned that from Paul Prudhome when making rolls but never thought of using it for my bread. I made three loaves of the honey wheat and think that its the best bread I have ever baked. I also grind my own Montana whole wheat berries for better nutrition and storage.
I would strongly suggest if you want to enjoy baking whole wheat bread buy this book. My wife has already told me that the Grandaughter is coming over for dinner so we will be having grilled cheese sandwiches with tomato soup.

This book is so much more than a whole wheat bread cookbook. It takes you through step-by-step and teaches how to make bread. Baking bread is not simply a recipe; it is a technique that is learned through time and experience. This book guides you through it. When I was a child, my mother made homemade bread every week. This took her what seemed to be an entire day. Using the author's techniques, I made 3 loaves of whole wheat bread, 1 loaf of apple cinnamon swirl bread, 1 batch of cinnamon rolls, and 1 batch of pigs-in-a-blanket in about 2 hours. The book is well-written and easy to understand. I highly recommend this book if you are at all interested in making your own whole wheat bread.

Lots of helpful hints for baking with fresh ground whole wheat flour. Well written and enjoyable, I would recommend this book for anyone who wants to make more nutritious bread.

I very much want to learn how to make very good whole wheat bread, and I mean WHOLE WHEAT without adding any white flour. This book opened a lot to me on how it is done and what it is that I was doing wrong. I'm still learning and getting better, well......at least that is what my husband and children tell me. Very helpful book.

I bake whole wheat bread every week. I wish I had this book when I first started making bread. It is an invaluable reference and even though I have been baking bread for years, I learned a lot from this book. It also reminded me why I started grinding my own wheat and making my own bread in the first place. All the recipes are wonderful and I love how they are broken down in sizes. I also love how she uses one master recipe and then makes many different breads with it. I am so excited to have a book I will pass on to my daughter as I teach her to make wonderful whole wheat bread.