There are a lot of bread books available and I've go a mess of them. There are only a few good ones, though, and this is one of my two favorites.

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Product Description

The new baking masterwork from the author of The Cake Bible and The Pie and Pastry Bible.

The Bread Bible gives bread bakers 150 of the meticulous, foolproof recipes that are Rose Levy Beranbaum's trademark. Her knowledge of the chemistry of baking, the accessibility of her recipes, and the incomparable taste of her creations make this book invaluable for home cooks and professional bakers alike.

Recipes include bread made with yeast starters, quick breads, flatbreads, brioche, and much more. From ciabatta, semolina, rye, and sourdough breads to bagels, biscuits, crumpets, and pizza dough, The Bread Bible covers all the baking bases.

"Understanding" and "Pointers for Success" sections explain in simple, readable language the importance of various techniques and ingredients demonstrated in a recipe, providing a complete education in the art of baking, with thorough sections on types of flour, equipment, and other essentials. Easy-to-use ingredient tables provide both volume and weight, for surefire recipes that work perfectly every time. 225 line drawings and 32 pages of color illustrations.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14988 in Books
• Published on: 2003-10
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 640 pages

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

From Publishers Weekly
As in her seminal The Cake Bible, which won an IACP prize, Beranbaum doesn't just offer recipes here; she dissects them, explains how they work, then puts them back together again with a number of variations. The front matter to what Beranbaum terms her "bread biography" contains perhaps the best explanation anywhere of how yeast works and a description of the sponge method used for almost every yeast-risen bread. Each recipe also includes a "Rose ratio," which shows at a glance the percentage of water, yeast, flour and fat in each bread. The author's discussion of the pros and cons of various kneading methods (bread machine, by hand, etc.) is invaluable. After all this information, bakers will be eager to get to the recipes, which are equally rewarding. Beranbaum covers everything from a Chocolate Bread made with cocoa nibs to a Traditional Challah. Recipes are arranged by type of bread, with groups including sandwich loaves and dinner rolls and brioche breads. A chapter on artisanal hearth breads includes Heart of Wheat Bread, with wheat germ for extra crunch, and New Zealand Almond and Fig Bread with an apricot glaze. Every time Beranbaum seems about to go overboard with too much information, she steps back from the brink, as in the excellent introduction to sourdough, where she thoroughly explains how sourdough works, then provides a simple box with eight rules for making a starter. Beranbaum could have a second career as a scientist, but luckily for home bakers she seems intent on creating a library of seminal cookbooks instead.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Marion Cunningham, author of The Fannie Farmer Cookbook
This is a book that has left no questions about how to make and bake bread....belongs in every baker's kitchen.

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Customer Reviews

Not for Beginners ... but DO try this at home
This book was a gift from someone several years ago when I first expressed an interest in learning to bake bread ... At first, I thought it was complicated and somewhat intimidating but I was determined and shelved the book while I started with some lesser complicated bread recipes. After a few months, and feeling rather confident in my abilities, I took a stab at one of the recipes ... It took longer than any other recipe I'd ever made, I spent more effort in following the directions and really FELT as though I were making something worthwhile. And, in the end, I did!
That being said ... this book is absolutely not for beginners ... it was far too intimidating to someone who'd only been baking bread for a few weeks ... but once I got my fingers doughy in lesser complicated recipes, this book was like the Light at the end of the tunnel ... and the recipes are like rewards for a job well done.
I was horrified to find out that when I moved, my copy of the Bible had gone missing! So now I simply must learn to love a new copy ... I highly recommend this for the experienced baker.

Consistently Poor Results
I agree with all the other 1-star reviewers. I found overly complicated directions on the one hand and not enough basic information on the other. My doughs were consistently wet and sticky. Her estimated prep times were WAY off. I too would get half-way through the process only to find out it would take much longer than I thought. Not clear at all and also very NOT fun. Left me feeling very depressed so had to drink more wine. I had planned on giving this book away asap but don't want anyone I like to get it!

Never been able to make good bread, but can now-
I have been trying to make bread for over 15 years, and it never tasted right. This book is excellent and I would recommend it to everyone. My homemade bread tastes better than what I would buy at the bakery. Rose tells you with detailed instructions how to make, what to use, down to the brands, and exactly how the science of bread baking works. If you follow her instructions I swear YOU CAN'T MESS IT UP! Now that I have her cookbook I kind of laugh and wonder why I thought it was so hard before, because seriously, she makes it so easy to understand.