The Bread Book: More Than 200 Recipes and Techniques for Baking and Shaping Perfect Breads, Sweet...

by Betsy Oppenneer

Book Overview

Features three chapters on the fundamentals of baking - equipment, ingredients and troubleshooting. The book is a resource for experienced bakers while giving beginners the confidence to be creative. Organized by type of flour, the recipes are supplemented with information on baking procedures.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060167165
• ISBN13: 9780060167165
• Release Date: January 1994
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Length: 422 Pages
• Weight: 2.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.5" x 7.8" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

Very Helpful

I have always had trouble making bread. I learned a great deal from this book and today we had wonderful bread and rolls.

A Reliable Bread Baking Book

The stated intention of the author was a cookbook where all of the recipes are thoroughly tested, ensuring that they will all work. This is a breath of fresh air, as a majority of recipes in bread books do not work as written. Note that all of the recipes use manual kneading for the dough; there is a brief, generic explanation on how to convert all recipes to either bread machine, food processor, or stand mixer. All of the recipes I tried worked as advertised, which is unusual for a baking book, although I did note a tendency for the kneaded breads to be under-proofed and under-baked. The most successful ones came from the quick breads and sweet breads chapters. I object to some of the statements on wheat flour, but the subsequent section on equipment is very good. There are some odd things in that section: a Peggy Tub (I was afraid to try it), and an unusual procedure for making dough on a stand mixer (since I do not own one, I could not test it). The chapter on yeast bread basics is exemplary; it is one of the few explanations that are sufficiently detailed for a beginner. The statement that sourdough tastes better near the ocean is factually wrong; San Francisco sourdough is now known to be a specific variety of yeast that is being successfully cultivated in many places, coastal and otherwise. It is not always necessary to let water sit for 24 hours to allow the chlorine chemical taste to dissipate; my municipality uses a chlorine compound that has no taste or odor, moreover does not disappear if you let it sit. The instructions for sourdough starter were simple and practical, however: not enough basic sourdoughs, too many odd-ball variations that you will never do, many (especially the fruit filled roulades) did not rise and were underbaked, many doughs will not double in bulk during proof. The first part has yeast breads: white, whole wheat, whole grain, pizza, and sweet. Here, I had the most success with the sweet breads; there are a number of interesting loaf forming techniques. The second part is about sourdough: starters, breads, quick breads, and a short chapter on levain (which, strictly speaking is not sourdough, but even professional books will lump the two together). The third part is on quick breads, which has some very good recipes, including some very nice cornbreads that have neither flour nor sugar; my only complaint here is the relative brevity of these parts. The last two chapters are brief, but the most useful in the whole book: home bread failures and their causes, and a large collection of washes and glazes for breads. The description for braiding a three-strand loaf is incorrect. The rest times listed are too short: dough that has toughened should be rested for 20 minutes, not 5; puff pastry needs to rest in the refrigerator for 2 hours, not 30 minutes. Several recipes involve rolling out dough to large sizes, and others rolling out very long (30 inches plus) ropes, yet instructions for these are not