The Bread 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.

Amazon.com Review
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

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All Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

Disappointed, 2008-09-27
As a seasoned bread baker, I am disappointed that a 640-page bread cookbook contains only two whole grain recipes. She could have at least included a section on whole-grain, but one has the impression that Beranbaum doesn't like the taste of whole-grain. Her methods are good, but, considering that part of the reason to make a sponge is to soften the whole-wheat flour, it surprised me that her sponge-based recipes do not contain any. This is a good cookbook if you want to learn the sponge method of bread baking, but as a source for a variety of bread recipes, I wish I had purchased a different one.


0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

Found it great to use and have had excellent results, 2008-09-27
I liked the Breadmaker's Apprentice a lot better than this book, not enough colour plates and I thought more complicated, but after following the receipes to a tee, great loaves came out of the oven. The Pugliese bread is excellent, but please sit down and read the tips she gives first, as they really work in a non commercial oven


0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

Predictable Results Every Time, 2008-09-18
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.


1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

Not for Beginners ... but DO try this at home, 2008-07-30
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.


0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

Consistently Poor Results, 2008-07-28
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!

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