![The Bread Baker's Apprentice, 15th Anniversary Edition: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread [A Baking Book]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/A1qTGh0+FqL._AC_UL160_SR160,160_.jpg)
I am not familiar with other books on the topic. This might be the only book, the best book, or the worst book out there.
Who this book is not for: If you are an afternoon baker looking to bake a loaf somewhat better than store bought, this book is not for you. In fact, the book implies that your efforts are doomed to mediocrity and are hardly worth the effort.
Who the book is for: On the other hand, if you maintain your own sourdough starter and don't mind sentences that start "Seventy-two hours before ..." then you are getting closer to the desired audience. However, if you are looking to start your own small bakery, make high quality breads, sell to just enough customers to keep you fed and happy, and along the way save the environment, the culture, the health and the karma of the world in doing so, then this book was written for you.
How good is the book? Books like this contain information, advice and instruction. They also tend to contain a certain amount of attitude. The book is very long on information. The author has clearly never met a fact he did not like. (It is hard to tell who is writing. One gathers that it is not Scott, but if that is clarified anywhere, I missed it.) It is much shorter on advice, but there is a lot there. It is shortest on instruction. It may be the nature of baking itself. There are many variables, and many desired outcomes and the reader will have to digest the information and advice in the book and come up with his/her own plan of attack. But there are no true recipes, no inch by inch plans, no step by step instructions, but there is much discussion of baking that comes close, and much discussion of oven building that comes close. The best description is that the book contains many guidelines, outlines, and lists of decision points and things to watch out for. There is a fair amount of attitude in the book. Much of it is hero worship. The hero in this case might be the mythical 19th century or earlier baker that produced a better and healthier product than is generally available today, but there are other individual heroes in the book that the author seems not to want to question. The authors seem to be experts but not masters. Thousand of years of baking and oven building have evolved a mass of knowledge that the authors can repeat, but not distill. I suppose the true master bakers out there are spending their time masterfully baking bread and not writing books. This book may leave some readers wishing for more instruction and less dumped information.
The writing is entertaining in spots, and pedantic and ineffective in others. There are many passages that will be clear to experts but not to others. I think this accounts for the large number of 5 star reviews. They are written by people very familiar with either baking or construction. The author does not claim that the book will teach masonry, nor will it teach basic baking. However, some very close reading will be needed if one wants to use this book to actually do anything.
The best thing about the book is the total atmosphere. In fact, if you are planning to open a small bakery and save the world, then you must read this book. More than anything else it will give you a very clear picture of what you are up against, what level of dedication you will have to supply to the project, how much learning you will have to do, and what amount of time and planning it will take. There are "visits" that the author takes to surviving establishments and these are very revealing.
Best individual piece of advice in the book: keep records.
Bottom line: Good read for the intended audience, but it will never be a stand alone book for that audience.
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