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The Bread Bible: member book reviews

(4 reviews)

This book started my bread baking and Rose Levy Beranbaum journey. I found it at the local bookstore and was immediately capitvated by her welcoming, guiding writing style and purchased the book immediately.

As with all of Rose's books, she provides incredible detail for every recipe. Some may find this overwhelming, but for a baker who asks "How do I know the bread is done?" She not only gives visual cues, but a temperature -- which is extremely helpful. Every recipe is well tested. This book provides indepth background information for understanding bread baking and the role of each ingredient and technique.

The book's scope includes quick breads, flat breads, enriched/soft breads, hearth breads, brioche, and sourdough.

My only complaint is that the book lacks recipes using a high amount of whole grain flour, but it is an excellent book none-the-less.

I should add, that it is rare that I have to add extra water or additional flour with her recipes to achieve the dough consistency described (unlike other recipes from well known authors) -- I appreciate this and have had good success with her breads.

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The Bread Bible covers a wide range of breads, from baking powder-leavened quickbreads to yeasted flatbreads, artisanal loaves and even how to create your own wild yeast starter (and a chapter of sourdough recipes to make with it). Brioche, sweet breads, and croissants are among my favorites in this book.

Photos are limited to several groups of inserts, but there are also plenty of drawings which I've found very helpful (especially the ones depicting shaping techniques).

There is a wealth of science on the process of breadmaking, including chapters on process, ingredients and equipment. But you can also skip those if you're not science-y, and just follow the recipes.

The only thing this book does not have much of is whole wheat recipes (though there are a number that make use of a smaller portion of whole grain flour to boost flavor and texture). So it might not be the perfect book for the baker committed to high whole grain content.

(edited 16th May 2011) report

As I learned bread making. this book played a major role. It's solid, detailed and full of information on the basics - like how to convert most any recipe to a sponge starter recipe. It's on the technical side which is one reason I liked it; however, this may frustrate some.
FF

(edited 14th February 2010) report

Like all of rose's books it is very well tested and covers a wlde range of breads. I own this book for a few years but it wasn't until I took a bread baking course that I started reading this book cover to cover. It has alot of useful information about the essentials of baking bread.She guides us through all the steps for each bread and gives us many tips for solving problems if they arise. All the recipes I have made have beenvery good.

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