The Bread Bible
by Rose Levy Beranbaum
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Book Reviews of The Bread Bible
Book Review: Great Book for the Home Bread Baker
Summary: 5 Stars
Of all of the books I have on baking bread, this one is the very best.
Rose explains all in great detail and I've never had a failure from any of her recipes. Everything is wonderful, and if you really want to soar, try her "Banana Feather Bread". It is nothing short of divine! This is NOT your mother's banana bread!
Things I really like:
~Many bread books are written by professional bread bakers who try to adapt their recipes for the home baker, with only varying degrees of success. Rose's recipes are truly geared for the home baker. They use ingredients and equipment that are readily available to the home baker. Most of them are in quantities to make only one or two household sized loaves, very manageable and doable in one oven.
~Rose has a unique flour "cloak" method where you make a sponge that is "cloaked" with flour and other dry ingredients, and then it can sit for anywhere from 1 to 4 hours on the counter or (in most cases) overnight in the fridge. This makes it very possible to fit the baking into YOUR schedule, since you have a lot of flexibility and freedom about when to bake. (it's also amusing to see how the sponge bubbles up through the flour layer--looks like a volcanic landscape after a while).
~Rose gives you measurements in both volume and weight. If you become serious about baking bread, you should invest in a scale for greatest ease and consistency, but by having both types of measurements the recipes are infinitely doable for the less serious baker who may not have a scale and the serious baker who prefers to measure by weight.
~Rose gives you options about mixing and kneading the dough as well. Her instructions include how to hand knead and how to use a mixer like a Kitchen Aid. The book also explains the use of a bread machine for kneading the dough. Unlike some bread book authors, she does not insist one method is better than another and she does not discourage people from working with whatever they are most comfortable with.
~Rose supports her books with her website ([...]) where you can communicate with her, ask questions, and read her blog. If you have a question or concern, you can find answers there.
A few caveats, however:
~I love the charts in the book for measuring purposes, BUT that they are not well-laid out and can be confusing for following the steps in making the bread. You MUST read the text carefully to make sure that you are adding ingredients in the proper order and at the proper stage. I've made many mistakes by relying only on the charts (bread still comes out OK, but it's very annoying). I've taken to marking out the charts with a pen--drawing lines between steps, and noting what gets added when. I find this really distracting, but once I've made a recipe once or twice I usually have it down. I think this is the biggest source of frustration readers have and causes many people to reject this book, though it is otherwise so wonderful.
~Almost all of Rose's recipes call for two doubling rises before shaping and baking, so they can be time-intensive. I feel like it's a bit excessive, but since the results are so good I haven't yet experimented with doing only one bulk fermentation on some of her breads. Even though the cloaking method and retardation in the refrigerator give you some control, make sure you really add up the hours before undertaking a recipe or you may find yourself up too late at night finishing a bread.
~Like any other technical book, it's impossible to be perfect. Be sure to consult the errata page on her website because there are some (mostly minor) errors in the book.
Rose's style is extremely detailed, which I really like. I'm confident enough in my own baking skills to know when I can vary from her recipes and how to use them as a jumping off point for my own experiments. Some people however, find the level of detail off-putting. It's simply a matter of style--your cooking and learning style and the way the author chose to write the book. I don't think that Rose deserves all of the criticism she gets from some people who just don't gel with her style. To each his or her own.
For me, this is the best bread book for the money.
Book Review: Lights Up the Mysteries of Bread Baking
Summary: 5 Stars
This book really lives up to its name. `The Bread Bible' could be the only book you will ever need if you wish to bake bread at home. This is almost a shame, given the number of very good recent books on bread baking by Peter Reinhardt and Nancy Silverton, just to name two of the better known author / bakers. The chapters covering types of bread deal with:Quick Breads (Muffins, Biscuits, Scones, and the like)
Flatbreads (Pita, for example)
Soft Sandwich Loaves (Pullman loaves, for example)
Hearth Breads (often what one thinks of by the term Artisan breads)
Sourdough
Brioche (on the boundary between bread and cake)
The recipes in these sections follow the same precision Ms. Beranbaum has shown in her earlier books on cakes and pasteries. All measurements are given in both volume and weight (imperial and metric). Great care is also given to specifying the type of flour. We are not dealing with your everyday AP Gold Medal here kiddies.
Everyone with a passing knowledge of things culinary knows there is a big difference between cooking and baking. In most cooking, the quality of ingredients varies greatly from item to item. Two steaks laying next to one another in a meat counter are invariably different, needing a bit of adaptation and attention from the cook. Cooking is very experimental, constantly observing and tasting the product in the course of mixing and heating. Baking is much closer to the theoretical, where one needs to very closely follow a formula to derive the result you wish. One thing this book clarifies is that while bread baking is still very different from, for example, meat cookery, the picture is not as simple as the one I described above.
First, while ingredients like flour and water are much, much more uniform than pork chops and New York strip, there are still variations, and one dimension of quality in flour is uniformity from sack to sack. There are, for example, major differences in all purpose flour from maker to maker, even if you ignore the differences between soft and hard wheat, i.e., White Lily versus King Arthur.
Second, baking is highly sensitive to conditions in the baking environment, most especially to humidity and ambient bacterial flora. The first factor is familiar to almost every pie maker, who must titrate the amount of liquid they add to pastry dough to reach just the right moistness. The second variable is most important to the artisinal bread baker.
The greatest value of this book to all people interested in bread baking is that it succeeds in explaining the mysteries of bread and why things work out and why they sometimes don't work. It explains why the baker cannot take their ingredients for granted. While they do not have to deal with the great variety in tomatoes from month to month, they do have to deal with much more subtle differences. Old flour and old eggs may simply not produce the desired results, and you may not know this for 24 hours after you start the bread.
This brings up the point that time is a very important ingredient in bread baking, especially artisinal bread baking. Although one can make really good quick breads and sandwich breads and flatbreads in two to four hours, a respectable baguette cannot be done in less than 12 to 16 hours. The impression that bread baking is not for the faint hearted has a grain of truth to it.
But, even if you plan to never bake a baguette or brioche, this book is simply a very good read for foodies interested in knowing about bread baking. The first chapter on the `Ten Essential Steps of Making Bread' is worth the price of admission. The chapter on quick breads will pay for itself at the next bake sale. The appendices on ingredients and equipment is exhaustive and informative. I finally know now where I may be able to find the elusive malt extract I've been looking for.
If the Norton Copy Editor for this book is checking in here, I have to point out that the only mistake I found is when the text states that Wondra flour and yeast dissolve in water at two different places in the text. The proper term is `suspend' or `go into emulsion'. But then, almost everyone makes this mistake.
Get this book for the baker on your Christmas shopping list.
Book Review: A new and improved update after my first (3-star) review
Summary: 3 Stars
Okay, so I did break down and buy this book after vowing not to, and would change my review to 4 stars if I could. I'm glad I purchased, but as I said before, it's not a book for the beginning baker (or the impatient!). It does contain a wealth of technical information and very specific start-to-finish instructions for each recipe, which to a more advanced bread baker might sound oxymoronic but actually is not. I believe Beranbaum wants us to achieve optimal results from our efforts, thus the great detail in her instructions. Just be sure to read your recipes through thoroughly before starting, as her directions, although detailed, do tend to be confusing, especially when it comes to adding ingredients. I have had great success and compliments from several of these recipes, among them being the raisin pecan bread, the Tyrolean ten-grain torpedo, and the olive bread. Even I have not had the patience to attempt the very involved sour recipes (yet!), but am looking forward to trying them.
Here is my old, 3-star review:
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.
Book Review: Amazing comprehensive bread book for anyone who want to make some serious bread
Summary: 5 Stars
If it puts it in context, I was inspired to come write this review while biting into rolls made out of the books "mushroom bread" recipe. One bite filled me with so much joy, I felt it necessary to share how wonderful they were and had to think how best to do it.
There's a lot of information out there about why this book is great, so I'll run down what I particularly like about it from my perspective.
-She uses weights! I cannot emphasize how important this is to me, as you really truly can't measure flour consistently by volume, and it annoys me how many books there are out there that assume I won't bother to buy a $20 scale even though I've just bought a $20 book about bread baking. She has volumes too, which is particularly useful for the very small quantity ingredients that I can't measure with any accuracy on my scale. It'll also help if you're in a pinch and don't have a scale, but if you're going to shell out for the book, you might as well get the scale.
-Compared to a few other high-rated "serious" bread books out there, this one is not snooty enough to assume only traditional breads are what should be covered. I love that this covers non-yeast breads, sweet breads, sour doughs, even biscuits and scones.
-The book allows for tons of versatility, beyond the number of recipes she already has. She constantly lists alternate ways of doing things- kneading by hand or by mixer, cooking ahead and finishing later or cooking the day of, quicker or slower "ultimate flavor version", and all kind of variations on different breads be it different shape options with their related cooking times and how to add additional goodies of different types. If you really read her recipes and the other information she gives you, you can really start to get a feel for how these recipes come together and how different ingredients and techniques effect your bread. And if you're scared of experimentation, she's excrutiatingly detailed in her recipes so you're not really required to take any risks.
-She elaborates on EVERYTHING. I am very scientifically minded, and it is fantastic to me that there's so much information in here. She even has an invaluable discussion about ingredients at the end.
-The author LOVES bread. You can feel it in the way she writes about it, and it makes you feel excited about the bread before you've even made it. She gives wonderful introductions that give you a great feel for what to expect of the bread- her descriptions are reverent and accurate and often give some context that makes you feel her personal connection to the bread. It's like getting a recipe from a close friend or family member.
-The bread is incredible! I've yet to be disappointed in anything I've made, and the hearth bread has become my standard. I've had the benefit of being very close to a bakery, but I can still tell you nothing beats being able to eat the bread still hot out of the oven.
Happy baking.
Book Review: For the love of bread, get this book!
Summary: 5 Stars
I started off my journey with the Cake Bible and was enchanted with that collection of recipes - and the background information provided so that I could truly understand what made each recipe tick! And then came the Bread Bible - a lovely Christmas gift from my niece. I've been happily baking my way through the book ever since!
Cinnamon Raisin Loaf is a favorite among family and friends (a thick slab is sitting in front of me as I write this review - it's swirled with a sweet, gooey ribbon of cinnamon and sugar and studded throughout with plump raisins - I use brown sugar and more cinnamon than the recipe calls for, by the way), Cranberry-Banana Walnut Quick Bread is to die for. My husband, who brews his own beer, often contributes his homebrew and malt powder (a must, I think, for this recipe - available at any homebrew store!). It has an amazing, crisp crust that crackles as it cools. The rich depth of flavour and moist crumb contrast with the crust for one of the best breads I've ever had - I may have to go start a loaf, just thinking about it!
I should say that I am by no means an expert baker - more like an enthusiastic novice. I love the educational information Rose provides so that you can understand why you do what you do as you explore bread baking. I started by following the recipes carefully and now feel comfortable enough to "Depart the Text" and make the recipes my own. She has wonderful tips for success with each recipe and offers suggestions for optional additions to the loaves. I'm happy to have a pizza stone, which now stays in my oven most of the time. I will often bake the loaves directly on the stone which has been preheated for 45 min. to an hour at the temperature recommended for the recipe.
One word of advice, though - please read through the recipes carefully before you begin!! I know another reviewer mentioned this already, but it's worth saying again! Some of the recipes take more than one day to make (I often make the biga or starter the day before I bake or allow for an overnight rise/rest in the fridge) and her recipes are broken down in a unique way so that you will sometimes find additional ingredients on a subsequent page. There are often duplicate sets of directions - one for hand kneading and one for your KitchenAid stand mixer and a dough hook. Once you get used to the method she uses to write/organize her recipes, it will feel more comfortable to you - but it is different from most other cookbooks I have used and I had a couple of false starts the first couple of times I tackled the recipes.
I can't say enough about this book for it's education, recipes and most of all for the hours happily spent elbow deep in flour and yeast. If you've ever been curious about baking your own bread, give this one a try - I don't think you'll be disappointed!