There's something about the smell of yeast that brings satisfaction. Kneading is the new meditation.

---

Product Description

Co-founder of the legendary Brother Juniper’s Bakery in Sonoma, California, author of the landmark books Brother Juniper’s Bread Book and Crust & Crumb, and distinguished instructor at the world’s largest culinary school, Peter Reinhart has been a leader in America’s artisanal bread movement for over fifteen years. Never one to be content with yesterday’s baking triumph, however, Peter continues to refine his recipes and techniques in his never-ending quest for perfect bread. In THE BREAD BAKER’S APPRENTICE, Peter shares his latest bread breakthroughs, arising from his recent pilgrimage to study in several of France’s famed boulangeries and the always-enlightening time spent in the culinary academy kitchen with his students. First you’ll peer over Peter’s shoulder as he learns from Paris’s most esteemed bakers, people like the brothers Poilâne and Phillippe Gosselin, whose pain ancienne has revolutionized the art of baguette making. Peter then walks readers through the twelve steps of building great bread, his clear instructions accompanied by over 100 step-by-step photographs. Then it’s on to over 50 new master formulas for such classic breads as rustic, chewy ciabatta, hearty pain de campagna, old-school New York bagels, and the book’s Holy Grail—Peter’s version of the famed pain ancienne. En route, Peter distills hard science, advanced techniques, and food history down into a remarkably accessible and engaging resource that is as rich and multitextured as the loaves you’ll turn out. This is original food writing at it most captivating, teaching at its most inspired and inspiring—and the rewards are some of the best breads under the sun.

---

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1450 in Books
• Published on: 2001-12
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 304 pages

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.

From Booklist
The staff of life, homemade bread satisfies many a craving. In The Bread Baker's Apprentice, Peter Reinhart, noted bakery operator and author, has written a thorough, well-organized, and helpful introduction to bread baking that nearly everyone can profit from. Classifying the types of breads and presenting ingredients in tables helps the baker understand relationships and commonalities among seemingly dissimilar breads. Reinhart covers only yeast breads except for a single recipe for a triumphal cornbread full of fresh corn and topped with bacon. If a cook can do the math, Reinhart's tables of bakers' "percentages" allow for adjusting the recipes to any model bread machine, and the truly expert may use the numbers to create wholly new breads. A bibliography, a directory of ingredient sources, and a comprehensive list of bread-baking Web sites make this book a fount of practical, valuable baking lore. Mark Knoblauch
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

---

Customer Reviews

A classic must have if you want to be a truly great bread baker
First off, that scathing one star review..throw it away. The poster sounds like a person who failed baking school and works in a low quality/mass producing corporate bakery.

Now..for a review.

This book is a MUST HAVE for anyone who wishes to learn to make great bread. The author explains the process from start to finish with many great tips he learned from years of professional experience. He will show you the way to create bread so good, you will have people ask you what bakery you got it at.

I will say, however, that if you are looking for a book that is "bread making made easy!!", this is not it. The formulas take some time, attention and effort to accomplish; you have to put your time in. You will also have to learn the basics of bread making science-nothing too heavy but there will be a few concepts you have to learn.

If you like baking, get the book, hop in, and go for it!

Really, quite good.
I'm not going to make you read a tome just to find out what i think. This book has such a wealth of knowledge to help you improve your bread baking skills. The formula instructions are clear and easy to understand. The only drawbacks that this book brings are in it's quality of publishing. The book was published in China, it is hardcover but, the cover stock used is very weak and flexes under the weight of the book.

Just wanted to let you know that the quality of the information surpasses the quality of the book itself.

Marvellous
This is a really good book makes it easy to create a great loaf and explains the methods really well