Customer Reviews

The Complete Guide to Bread Machine Baking: Recipes for 1 1/2- and 2-pound Loaves (Better Homes & Gardens)

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

The clean and simple format makes this beautifully designed book easy to read and use, and it's packed with great recipes. A very useful feature, especially for new bread bakers, is the Favorite Recipes log at the back of the book, and the index is keyed to recipe ingredients. A useful glossary is also provided. Every recipe includes nutrition facts per slice, and helpful text boxes with facts, suggestions, and tips are sprinkled throughout the book. These are also indexed for easy reference. Additional sections on recipe success, trouble shooting, and flavored butter and spreads are provided. This book comes as close to a "complete guide" to bread machine baking as any I've seen.

I also LOVE this book. I think this is an absolute must have if you own a bread machine. I have a Breadman 2-lb. bread machine and these recipes turn out with very little or no adjustment at all. Usually when I bake from a bread machine cookbook I make the bread once to see how it tastes, make the appropriate adjustments to make it better and bake it again. The first time I tried one of these recipes I was extremely pleased at how wonderful it turned out with no adjustments at all. I always take goodies I make to work and they raved about everything I ever tried from this book. The recipes for various butters/spreads to go with the breads are also delicious. You can't go wrong with this book.

I borrowed this book from a friend so often that I needed to get it for myself. There are so many different types of breads to try, savory ones for my husband, sweet ones for me. Good recipes for rolls, sandwich breads, breakfast breads, pizza dough, pretzels. The recipes look like they call for too little yeast, but we follow every recipe to the letter and each one has come out perfectly. There are beautiful pictures with almost all recipes and suggestions on what topping or spreads to eat with the breads. There are recipes for herb butters, cinnamon butters, yogurt spreads, cheese spreads, that all go perfectly with the accompaning bread. All recipes have been tested (and ingredients scaled) for both 1.5 and 2 pound loaves so you can choose what works best for your machine. This is the only cookbook I'll ever need to go with my bread machine (Breadman Ultimate)!

I don't know what the problem was for some of the people reviewing the book, but I LOVE it. The Cherry almond bread was fabulous!!! The pumpkin bread was also delicious. They make wonderful suggestions in the book for things to serve with the bread or ON the bread and that makes it even better! (try the parmesan butter!!!) My bread came out perfect every time. I think everyone needs to remember that if they are going to use a recipe that did not come with your bread machine, that you need to compare the recipe to one that DID come with your machine. Every machine is different and therefore every recipe is not for everyone. Check your book that came with your machine for the dry ingredients to liquid ratio. Then, you can use ANY recipe with virtually zero hassle by keeping all your reicipes at that SAME ratio. If you normally have 3 cups of dry ingredients and 1 cup liquid with your machine, it makes sense to use a full cup of liquids with any other recipe for your particular machine! Also, keep in mind that you could be using the wrong size machine for that recipe!!! This book is for larger loaves measuring one and a half to two pounds. No good if your machine is only designed to handle one pound loaves. You can take any two pound recipe in this book, multiply the ingredients by point five (.5) and have the ingredients come out perfect for most one pound machines! (if modifying a one and a half pound recipe, multiply ingredients by .667)

I hope this helps anyone that is considering this book. I love it and actually gave mine to a friend that just got a machine, because she had no clue that there was so much you could do, (after I copied the recipes to cards of course)!!!

So many wonderful recipes along with the basic. What I really liked about it is that the recipes are real basic and use easy to find ingredients, the kind I can find in my kitchen or easily in the grocery store. I liked the fruited breads and the chocolate recipes!

I've made a small variety of different kinds of bread using the enclosed instructions that came with my bread machine. I've also noticed some inconsistancy from loaf to loaf. I've made a lot of very dense small loafs that tasted great but where pretty small and heavy. Now this is not inconsistancy from the machine but in the ingredience and the differences with the recipies and things you're supposed to conscious of when everything goes together.

This book provides a great overview on machine bread making with photos and explanations as to the how and why's of dough consistancy, what happens if your bread does or does not do certain things and how to adjust the ingredience. This has greatly helped me understand what I was doing and how to bring some consistancy into my bread making.

The recipies are ok. I actually only stick to making one kind of bread day in and day out. Although I have ventured off and tried some more of the interesting variety with good results. Mostly I've used this to help me understand the basics which I've applied to other recipies.

I have tried several of the recipes from this book. The first recipe I tried, I simply placed the ingredients in the machine as I normally do and left the machine to do it's thing. It was a total flop. The loaf was very dry and did not rise very much. The next time I tried one, I watched the dough carefully as it was being mixed and discovered there was too little liquid in the recipe as the dough was flaky and crumbly. I had to add more liquid to produce the correct dough consistency. In fact, I have yet to find a recipe from this book that calls for the right amount of liquid. In each case I had to add more.

I also have to add more of certain things to make breads match my taste. I tried the "Pepperoni Pizza Loaf" and couldn't taste the pepperoni at all -the recipe called for 1/2 a cup for a 1-1/2 lb loaf. I made the bread again, but with a full cup of pepperoni, and it was much better (the author is right, it makes a great grilled cheese sandwich).

Another noteworthy recipe is for a banana and chocolate chip bread. I hate the combination of chocolate and bananas, so I substituted peanutbutter chips. The recipe turned out great (after I doubled the amount of chips and added more liquid).

This book has some great ideas, but I don't like the fact I have to watch my dough like a hawk to ensure it has the right consistency. There are many others I haven't tried yet so I remain hopeful I will find one eventually that does work correctly for me. This is a good book to draw ideas from. Maybe these recipes will work fine for you and your machine but they don't for me.

Before purchasing this book, I was actually considering returning my bread machine; I was convinced that there had to be a defect in my machine, as I found something wrong with every single recipe I tried, including those from the manufacturer's recipe book. After purchasing the book, I decided to try the cinnamon swirl bread. I was blown away! The bread was phenomenal! The directions were clear, the bread had just the right hint of sweetness without being too sweet, and the crust was a beautiful light golden color. It was moist and light. It has received rave reviews by my co-workers and family. I have enjoyed every recipe that I've tried. I would recommend this book to novice and expert bakers, alike. It is fantastic!

I love this book. The recipes given are for both 1 1/2 & 2 pound capacity, which gives the user a choice. The book is easy to read and offers special instructions for the more elaborate recipes. Most of the recipes use ingredients that most homes have on hand on a daily/weekly basis... there are not a lot of unique ingredients that you need to make a special trip to the grocery store for. I have not experienced one bad recipe and I've made nearly all of them. I usually bake at least two loaves; bringing one in to work to share... it disappears within a half hour.

Thank you for this book!

The recipes are well written and easy to follow and the pictures are beautiful. It makes the claim that all the recipes were tested in a variety of bread machines, including mine. However, I've tried several of the recipes and not one has work properly in my bread machine. This book has been a great disappointment for me.