[.ca] Bread Bible (ISBN 0393057941)

From Amazon.com:
Rose Levy Beranbaum's The Cake Bible introduced readers to a newly illuminating baking-book approach--a precisely detailed yet accessible recipe format emphasizing baking science. The Bread Bible follows the same plan, offering 150 recipes, arranged by type, for a great variety of baked goods--from muffins, popovers, and English muffins to sandwich loaves, focaccia, rolls, hearth breads, rye bread, challah, and more, with a particularly vivid (and passionate) stop at sourdough loaves. Instruction is abetted by 32 pages of photos plus 300 step-by-step illustrations that depict, for example, bagel forming, in exact, imitable detail. In addition, an introductory section, "The Ten Essential Steps of Making Bread," includes a particularly lucid discussion on the way yeast works plus an invaluable comparison of kneading methods. Like the book's final look at ingredients, these "mini-texts" provide information uncommon to most home bread books, rendered in simple language that allays fears of putting one's hand in the dough. All this is impressive indeed, and readers bitten by the bread-baking bug will welcome the ultra-thorough Beranbaum approach. The less committed may find her technical demands too painstaking (her baguette recipe requires two starters, for example; though simpler loaves are, of course, offered) or even impractical (ingredient quantities using grams are sometimes given in minute fractions, requiring a special scale). The frequent inclusion of alternate mixing methods and equipment options can also make the formulas unwieldy. On the other hand, features like Pointers for Success and Understanding often yield exciting discovery as well as rewarding results. In short, this Beranbaum bible answers virtually every bread-making question, as well as providing exemplary formulas. It's the real deal for those willing to bake along with Rose. --Arthur Boehm

very good, but ...:
I have been baking bread for a very long time, and my collection of bread books is large. While I have not baked a large number of recipes from this volume, I have tried a few. The results are very tasty. I do like the slow techniques she uses as well as the advice on where the process can be refrigerated. I find that the amount of liquid tends to be a little low, at least when measuring the flour (recommended brands only) by weight in all of the ones I have tried. This is not a serious defect for myself, but it could be a problem for a less experienced baker. My larger complaint is the index. When browsing to find a recipe, it is difficult to find the recipe from the index since it is listed under the type of bread rather than the name of the bread. Perhaps the index was shortened to fit the pages, but a more extensive index would have improved this book.

Possible error?:
I was disappointed because the baguettes beginning on page 335 failed to rise enough and when baked they were what you might call mini-baguettes. One possible source of my problem is that I used a Canadian high-gluten bread flour instead of the specific brands of unbleached all-purpose flour insisted upon on p.338 of "The Bread Bible". ARE THE FLOUR QUANTITIES FOR THE "DOUGH" ON PAGE 338 CORRECT? The bread flour I used is described as "White Bread Flour" at: http://www.rogersfoods.com/

Too much for me:
I mistakenly bought this book when I was wanting to buy "The Bread Baker's Bible" I had seen at a friend's house. I have been a bread baker for more than 30 years but, while I love to bake and cook and do not shy away from complicated recipes, I do not care to invest the time and effort into bread making this book calls for. The editor's review is very accurate and had I known what I was really purchasing when I ordered this book and had read that review, I would not have gotten it. I think I'll put it on the shelf until all my kids are grown and I have more time to work at these recipes.

Best bread I've EVER made...:
I have been baking bread for over 30 years and while I've always enjoyed my efforts, when I made the white sandwich bread from this book, all my previous efforts faded into oblivion. Perfection. Yes, you have to read through the recipe before starting to know when to add what. Yes, you have to do a little deciphering here and there. But the time it takes to do this, is rewarded with some of the best bread you've ever tasted. I recently tried the sourdough bread and I did have to really study the book for a few days to figure out what she was talking about (here's one of those occasions where some pictures would have helped), I finally tried it and I have the most amazing sourdough rising as I right. (these rather confusing directions are the ONLY reason I haven't given it 5 stars) I would not recommend this book for a beginning bread maker, nor a person interested in baking bread once a year, but as I make it every week for my family's needs, this book is indeed my "Bread Bible". Thank you, Rose! Rebecca

packed with information but in dire need of a better editor:
I rarely feel the need to review, but having tried two recipes in this book, and feeling misled at some point in both, I feel a warning is in order. First, let me say that I am quite an avid bread baker, and that this book, while chock-full of technical information, is definitely not for the neophyte, unless he or she is just interested in the science of breadmaking. Next, let me be specific about my complaints. Although I read a recipe through before I attempt it, I don't tend to memorize it; I just get an idea of the steps involved, decide if it's worth the effort, and go from there. My problems in the recipes both involved ingredients being mentioned in a list, and then the author not being specific enough about when they were to be added. To wit: in the "Heart of Wheat Bread" recipe, she lists salt as one of the ingredients in the "flour mixture." Below that, she says to combine the ingredients for the flour mixture and add to the sponge (in bold print). Only several sentences farther down on the page did I notice that the salt wasn't supposed to be added until four hours later. I don't know how much of an effect this had on the finished product (which was good but not great, considering the effort), but I feel she should have been more specific. I encountered almost exactly the same problem when I made the "Touch-of-Grace Biscuits," where self-rising and regular flour are both in the ingredients list (although not one right after the other), but again she is not specific in her directions; she simply instructs you to whisk together the flour, etc., etc. I included both types of flour and then discovered on the next page that the second amount was supposed to be used to shape the biscuits, not added to the dough. Again, the recipe came out okay, but I was disappointed that the directions hadn't been clearer. As a result, this book, which I had seriously considered buying for my collection, will be returned to the library and probably not renewed. There are plenty of more comprehensively-written bread books out there, and I don't need the aggravation of this one! I only gave it three stars for the technical information, and I completely agree with another reviewer about the fact that having to have so many specific types of flours, pans, etc., on the shelves in your home to use this book properly will be a big turn-off for all but the most dedicated bread bakers.