The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread [Hardcover]

Peter Reinhart (Author), Ron Manville (Photographer)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

"A bread baker, like any true artisan or craftsman, must have the power to control outcomes," says Peter Reinhart, author of The Bread Baker's Apprentice. "Mastery comes with practice." As in many arts, you must know and understand the rules before you can break them. Reinhart encourages you to learn the science of bread making, but to never forget that vision and experimentation, not formulas, make transcendent loaves. The Bread Baker's Apprentice is broken into three sections. The first is an amusing tale of Reinhart's visit to France and his discovery of pain à l'ancienne, a cold-fermented baguette. The second section comprises a tutorial of bread-making basics and Reinhart's "Twelve Stages of Bread." And finally, the recipes: Ciabatta, Pane Siciliano, Potato Rosemary Bread, New York Deli Rye, Kaiser Rolls, and Brioche, to name a few. All recipes include bread profiles and ingredient percentages. Reimagined for modern bakers, these mouthwatering classic recipes are bound to inspire. --Dana Van Nest

From Library Journal

Author of the well-respected Brother Juniper's Bread Book and Crust & Crumb, baker-turned-culinary instructor Reinhart draws on his baking and teaching experience to provide an authoritative but unintimidating guide to baking professional-quality loaves of all sorts. He begins with an account of a recent tour of specialty bakeries in Paris, including Gosselin, where he learned to make the young baker's unique pain l'ancienne which, Reinhart says, would be better called pain moderne, as it uses a modern invention (the refrigerator) to produce a "cold-dough delayed-fermentation" baguette, the best he has ever tasted. He found this technique revolutionary, and he includes the recipe here, along with a wide variety of other artisan and classic breads, from Ciabatta to Poilene-Style Miche to Tuscan Bread. The recipes are preceded by a 50-page primer on the "twelve stages of bread," and there are dozens of photographs, including particularly helpful ones of shaping different loaves. Valuable for both the professional and the novice, this is highly recommended for all baking collections.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Ten Speed Press (November 14, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1580082688
• ISBN-13: 978-1580082686
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 9.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (261 customer reviews)
• Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,554 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

  #3 in	Books > Cooking, Food & Wine > Baking > Bread
  #1 in	Books > Science > Agricultural Sciences > Food Science
  #84 in	Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

322 of 325 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Work hard and reap the benefits, October 23, 2002

By	Matthew K. Morgan (Ruther Glen, VA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread (Hardcover)

I bought this book after carefully researching it, trying to decide if it would be a book I would use or a book that would sit on my shelf and collect dust. The recipes in this book look more time-consuming than those found in my other bread books, and I finally decided that, based on other reviews of this book, it was worth a shot.

Almost all of the recipes in this book require more than one day to make; the author bases a great many of his recipes on some form of starter, whether it's a stiff dough or a liquid sourdough starter. He asserts that this style of baking brings out the most flavor in the flour. He's right. The recipes I have tried [so far] in this book do indeed have a better and stronger flavor, in spite if the fact that the base ingredients are the same as that of other recipes in other books.

The author does more than provide a bunch of good recipes (he refers to them as "formulas"). He describes the chemistry behind the ingredients and how they react to one another when mixed. He also shows, with photographs, many different shaping methods and intermediate steps that are required in making bread dough.

The author writes the techniques and recipes in this book like a man who has a deep interest in the subject, not just a desire to crank out another cookbook. He demonstrates, through his discussion in the book, his deep understanding of the art of breadmaking. For this man, bread making is a joy and a pleasure, not just a profession. When reading this book, the reader gets pulled along into the excitement the author has for his topic, which makes the process of breadmaking even more pleasurable.

This book is not for the lazy baker. If you want to make breads that are fast and easy, look for other titles. But if you want outstanding breads, and you're willing to work for it and be patient, then this book is a superb choice.

303 of 316 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An extraordinary book, December 4, 2001

By	Joe Mielke (Kingsley, MI United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread (Hardcover)

This is an expensive book worth every penny. Reinhart will show you how to bake bread even if you've never baked anything that didn't come out of a can and if you are an experienced baker, Reinhart will strengthen your understanding of how bread is made.

His explanation of the science of how bread is mixed, baked and even tasted is definitive and clearly written. The section on shaping dough is aptly photographed and understandable. It is, by far, the clearest description of shaping dough found in the current crop of baking books.

The bulk of the book consists of recipes, more accurately, formulas, for baking various kinds of bread. I've tried only two of them so far and both came out excellent. And one of the things that makes this book so helpful is that if your bread doesn't come out excellent you'll learn why it didn't and what to do about it.

This book amplifies Reinhart's previous book, Crust and Crumb, and like that book the formulas will help you bake the best bread you've ever made. And the theory will help you to create your own signature variations.

This is a priceless book and it is also a definite classic. If you don't bake, buy it for someone who does.

229 of 240 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Now, this is the only bread baking book you ever need!, November 13, 2002

By	Plasbo (Lopez Island, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread (Hardcover)

When Peter Reinhart's previous book (Crust and Crumb) was published, I stated in my review that this was the only book any serious baker would need. You can still get by with that one, but Reinhart has outcompeted himself with The Bread Baker's Apprentice. Until he pulls another stunt like this, Baker's Apprentice is now the only book any serious bread baker would ever need, or anyone less serious for that sake. Like the last book, Baker's Apprentice is overflowing with information, experience and wisdom, but this one is also tightly organized and well laid out. It is at the same time a baking tutorial, a recipe collection, a reference work, and for baking freaks like me, bedtime reading. Maybe it is a missionary tract too. The various bread types cover a repertoire worthy of any professional baker, yet one that can be accomplished by us amateurs. The photos are pretty but also inspirational and instructional, showing shaping options and procedures. Reinhart's last book got me away from yeasted white bread and onto the path of rustic, naturally leavened bread (although he by no means forces the reader to follow that path). His chapter in this book about the Poilane-style Miche (the loaf shown on the cover) got me off the path and onto the road.