The Tassajara Bread Book [Deluxe Edition] [Paperback]

Edward Espe Brown (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 22, 1995

Good bread needs more than just flour and water, milk, or eggs. It requires nurturing and care.

In this twenty-fifth anniversary edition of the international best-seller that started a generation of Americans baking, Ed Brown shows how to make—and enjoy—breads, pastries, muffins, and desserts for today's sophisticated palates. And in a new afterword, he reflects on the widespread influence of the book and offers five new recipes.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The bible for bread baking."—Washington Post



"Rarely has such a book of such simplicity underscored so well the joy of culinary discovery."—Bon Appetit

"This was the first cookbook I ever bought for myself, back when it was first published. To this day, I consider The Tassajara Bread Book to have been a major influence not just on my cooking and baking, but on my attitude and philosophy about food in general. Thank you, Ed Brown, for this lasting gift."—Mollie Katzen, author of The Moosewood Cookbook and The Enchanted Broccoli Forest

About the Author

Edward Espe Brown began cooking and practicing Zen in 1965. He was the first head resident cook at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center from 1967 to 1970. He later worked at the celebrated Greens Restaurant in San Francisco, serving as busboy, waiter, floor manager, wine buyer, cashier, host, and manager. Ordained a priest by Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, he has taught meditation retreats and vegetarian cooking classes throughout North America and Europe. He is the author of several cookbooks and the editor of Not Always So, a book of lectures by Shunryu Suzuki Roshi. He is the subject of the critically acclaimed 2007 film How to Cook Your Life.

Product Details

• Paperback: 161 pages
• Publisher: Shambhala; 25 Anv edition (August 22, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 157062089X
• ISBN-13: 978-1570620898
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.6 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (79 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #561,578 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

69 of 70 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The only bread book you need, February 11, 2002

By 

jumpy1 (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Tassajara Bread Book (Paperback)

If you want to live simply but not blandly, this is the only bread book you need. Written in a gentle voice, this book encourages all to bake wholesome, delicious breads - sweet and savory - and love every bite. Now, I have many bread cookbooks and I do love all of them - from Elizabeth David to Amy to Laurel - but I cannot stress how much pure enjoyment and encouragement I've gotten from this modest tome. Reading his words and following his advice (which is open and even inexact at times) has always led me to greater independence and faith in my own instincts and never fails to turn out wonderful results!

53 of 56 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An ideal starting book, October 1, 2003

By 

William D. Colburn "buys things on amazon far... (Socorro, NM USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Tassajara Bread Book (Paperback)

I wrote my first review of this book back in 2003 when I had first learned to bake bread. I didn't have much to say about it, other than I liked it.

It is now more than three years later. This is the book that I give to people as a gift quite often. I suggest it to people interested in learning to bake bread. I even suggest the book to people with stress problems since I've found that hand kneading dough can be quite therapeutic.

There are a lot of great bread books out there, and a literal mountain of bad books. This one doesn't dwell on the science of bread, or dedicate pages to explaining how modern flour is inferior to old flour, or to rallying against modern yeast as opposed to traditional sourdough. The author merely gives some relatively simple insutrctions which, if followed, will produce praiseworthy bread.

If you want to learn to bake bread, I suggest never using a food processor or stand mixer for it. At least in the beginning. Mixing by hand provides familiarity with the materials and the techniques. Save the gadgets for after you know how to bake bread. This book is purely about hand mixing and hand kneading.

35 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent for first-time bread bakers, February 5, 2005

By 

Anne-Kari "annekari" (Virginia) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Tassajara Bread Book (Paperback)

This book is THE BEST for anyone with zero experience baking bread - or rolls, or bagels, or breakfast pastries -- this book covers EVERYTHING.

Best stuff:
1) Clear, very detailed instuctions on all the nuts-n-bolts tecniques that seem so intimidating, like how to knead the dough properly (well described and well illustrated)
2) Wonderful array of variations on the basic bread recipe
3) breakfast pastry section will really wow anyone coming over for brunch
4) Said it before but I'll say it again: Anyone who wants to learn to bake bread will succeed. Really, anyone.
5) Bread machines simple do not turn out anything as good as the 'real deal'.

Hard-to-find book but WELL worth the search.