The Bread Bible
by Rose Levy Beranbaum
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Book Reviews of The Bread Bible
Book Review: The Best
Summary: 5 Stars
If you want to learn how to bake bread, you must get this cookbook. Some other reviewers have complained that the book is too long, the recipes too complicated, or the author is too scientific. I disagree. To me, having this cookbook is like having a brilliant teacher in your kitchen--one who explains what you are doing, offers encouragement, and tells you why things might have gone wrong. In a yearlong project, I baked every loaf of bread in The Bread Bible, and the quality of what I--a novice bread baker--was able to turn out was extremely gratifying to me. I had only one mishap (the rosemary focaccia, the bread I started with and one of the more difficult ones in the book), but when I made it a second time, carefully following every instruction, it was wonderful. If your method of cooking is to add a little of this and a little of that and see what happens, this is probably not the book for you. But if you want to bake perfect bread, guided by one of the best bakers on the planet, buy this book.Book Review: This book taught me how to make bread
Summary: 5 Stars
Before I got this book, I had tried to make bread a few times, and the results had been less than stellar. The Bread Bible changed that. Over the years since I purchased this book, I have made about a dozen of the recipes, most recently Levy's bagels, and have been pleased by all of them. The one part that completely failed me was the instructions on how to create my own sourdough starter. I tried that twice and it didn't work out. I eventually bought a sourdough starter from King Arthur Flour, and have used that to make the basic sourdough recipe and sourdough pumpernickel.
It should be noted that this book is not very useful without a scale. The recipes also give specific instructions for what speed to set a Kitchen Aid mixer, which I have.
Large portions of the text are copied and pasted, which leads to a number of typos. Thankfully, there is a list of corrections available at:
[...]
Many of these corrections may already be in the printing currently being sold.
Book Review: Too complicated
Summary: 3 Stars
I have been baking bread for over 10 years and sourdough for 3 years. My sourdough bread is my families favorite and I can make it without throwing out 3/4 of the starter. She is always throwing out the starter and it just isn't necessary. I didn't even try her sourdough's because the directions were so complicated they made my head spin. I tried four recipes. Two were the best I have ever tasted and two were inedible. I have never had to throw out bread before, but I did with this book. The good recipes are worth the price of this book. However, I can't but think there must be an easier way to make those as well. I can't even do some of things she requires, like but a cast iron pan on the bottom of the oven to throw ice in. That's where the heating coils are! Twice, I miss the place where she said to add the salt because it's in such an odd place(which explains why ONE of the recipes came out badly) I think I will return this book and keep looking for that perfect bread book.
Book Review: Predictable Results Every Time
Summary: 5 Stars
As an enthusiastic amateur bread-maker, I have tried for years to get reliable results - unsuccessfully. Then I discovered The Bread Bible... The author's explanations are thorough and comprehensible, and best of all, the end result matches what she predicts.
With all the other books I have studied then worked from, my husband would comment that the authors must have left out some important key piece of information. My loaves were too flat, or too dense; if I had a success, I was unable to reproduce it a second time. Frustration reigned. Those days are gone, thanks to this book and the author's work.
I have made baguettes from The Bread Bible three times in three weeks - the resulting loaves have huge chewy holes, fine flavour, and blistered crisp crusts.
Two other loaves I've tried have been equally successful.
I am most grateful to the author, and encourage anyone with a passion for bread-making to get this book.
Book Review: Great book for people wanting to learn to make quality bread
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a great book if you're willing to take the time to read and put the effort into learning how to make good bread. Most of her recipes take 1/2+ days to make, so its not a good choice if you just want to make bread in an hour. If you've never had exposure to making sponges, levain, etc. it might seem a little confusing at first but the end result is worth it. She has a great selection of different types of bread, including flat breads, hearth breads, sourdough breads, even quick breads like muffins and scones. If you're already an avid bread maker, you might find the book unnecessarily verbose and simple and may wish to purchase a more advanced book. However, I love this book, and even though I own a several different bread making books I always come back to this book. I get consistent results and the process she uses (once you get used to it) it very simple. Its a great way to get your feet wet in the world of breadmaking!