Product Description

Discover the true heart and soul of bread in CRUST & CRUMB, from whole-wheat, sourdough, and rye to pita, focaccia, and naan. In this classic cookbook, expert baker Peter Reinhart shows how to produce phenomenal bread, explaining each step of the process in detail and giving you knowledge and confidence to create countless variations of your own.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8548 in Books
• Published on: 2006-08
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 209 pages

From Library Journal
Reinhart is the author of the well-regarded Brother Juniper's Bread Book (1991. o.p.) as well as the charming Sacramental Magic in a Small-Town Cafe (LJ 9/15/94), about the cafe that grew into Brother Juniper's Bakery, in Santa Rosa, CA. Now he's teaching baking at the California Culinary Academy, and his latest book is a detailed and authoritative guide to artisan breads. The book's subtitle basically says it all, though Reinhart explains that he uses the word formula rather than recipe because he's included the "why" as well as the "how" for making his "world-class breads," from sourdoughs of all types to brioche and challah to flatbreads and pizza. A worthy addition to the elite group that includes Joe Ortiz's The Village Baker (LJ 12/92) and Daniel Leader's Bread Alone (LJ 10/15/93), this is highly recommended for all baking collections.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From the Publisher
• A detailed, authoritative guide to artisan breads—rustic and sophisticated, savory and sweet—by award-winning author Peter Reinhart. • Includes 50 master formulas plus 40 variations; how-to illustrations; baker's percentages; weight and volume ingredient measures; and tips on finding the best millers, suppliers, and model bakeries in North America. • Winner of the 1999 James Beard Foundation Award for best baking and dessert book.

About the Author
PETER REINHART is a full-time baking instructor at Johnson & Wales University in Charlotte, North Carolina. He is the author of six books, including the James Beard Award Winner and IACP Book of the Year THE BREAD BAKER'S APPRENTICE.

Customer Reviews

The good bits make it worth buying, but...
The good:
- a few excellent and adaptable formulas
- some very good tips on process obviously born of great experience

The bad:
- piss poor binding quality; pages dropping out after 3 reads
- nearly useless photos of no supporting aid whatsoever to the text

The ugly:
- vacuous and often grating pseudo-mystical ramblings

The real thing, for the passionate who want to get it right
This book is what I've been looking for for 15 years, with the level of depth and detail that I wanted. I have a bread machine and love it for what it does, but real rustic breads and sourdough are a special thing.

The use of natural yeasts and the slow rise method is actually less work in my opinion because you don't have to hover. Something can go 3,4,5 hours or all day before having to mess with it, and just sticking something in the refrigerator overnight is no biggie. The slow rise makes the whole process more forgiving.

I have varied the process somewhat, I don't shape the loaves and leave them overnight in the fridge because the outside gets too dry. I just do shaping the day of baking and let it do the final rise, and its a lot easier to just let a blob of dough rise in a container than to spread out things on sheets and take up space. That's just me.

It isn't unnecessarily complex but it is a re-framing of the process, and the results show. If you love rustic breads this is the real deal.

Great Homebaking Book
I am not an expert baker by ANY stretch of the imagination. I have Peter Reinhart's other 2 books - The Bread Baker's Apprentice and American Pie - and have had such success with his recipes that I had to get this book. I was a little nervous about some of the comments about the complexity of the recipes but I have to disagree now that I have purchased the book and used the recipes. I like the fact that Mr. Reinhart does talk beyond a simple recipe so that you can begin to make some modifications and customize your bread, make it your own. I have made some fabulous bread with his recipes - including the Multigrain which I made last night. Let me tell you - I have made some AWFUL multigrain bread in my lifetime! With Mr. Reinhart at my elbow, I made some smashing bread last night! I had frozen some biga - as he had suggested - took it out to thaw, and began making the bread right before starting dinner. Yes, it was a very late night, but in the end I had a beautiful, very tasty loaf of multigrain bread. And I even made a hasty modification to the multigrain addition because I did not want to mess with putting grains together. Great book, great addition to one's book collection, and a terrific learning tool for bread making!