The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread,   ISBN:9781580082686

Customer Rating: 

This book may be good for a professional but if you want good bread that's uncomplicated and easy to make, skip this book. The directions are complex and difficult to follow. All the recipes take many days to complete while the end result is rarely as pictured or described. This is not a book for a novice baker.

Customer Rating: 

I'm a Polish cook , I just love to cook and bake . I baked couple different breads from this book and my family just loved them . I like the "professional " way of explaining the process of making bread . If You enjoy baking buy this BOOK .

Customer Rating: 

This book was given to me as a belated birthday present just after I got back from a business trip to Italy (it's a dirty job, but someone has to do it). Every page was nothing short of a revelation, and when I got to the Pizza Napoletana dough recipe, I had to try it out. I had just come from a region that had changed every notion I ever had of pizza and I wanted to see how much this recipe stood up. Here's the bottom line: I refuse to ever order out for delivery pizza or buy frozen pizza again. Why should I? The recipe for Naples-style pizza dough is worth the price of the book alone, and is far less expensive than buying the requisite airline ticket it would take to actually go there and see for yourself. Trust me, it's exactly the same. The same recipe can be used for calzone.

In fact, it's the exercise in pizza dough that gives you insights to the book as a whole. Follow the directions exactly. If the recipe calls for chilled water, like the pizza dough recipe does, by all means follow it to the letter. Peter Reinhart welcomes users of bread machines that makes us want to aspire to new, higher levels beyond what the manufacturers envisioned, and he doesn't disappoint. If you think I'm kidding, let me relate a true story: after I tried the pizza dough recipe a couple of weekends ago, I got a text message from a "customer" stating (and I am not making this up), "The pizza here sucks compared to the one you made...I'm craving it bad. Please make it again over Thanksgiving..." Besides the dough, the only other details were to replicate the ingrediants used in the authentic Italian pizza I had and make sure they were fresh.

If you decide to get this book for a loved one or friend, you should also consider adding a gift card from King Arthur Flour. If you get this book for yourself, for that matter, you should also consider adding a gift card from King Arthur Flour. You will definitely want to break out of your comfort zone and begin exploring the flavorful reasons why people in Europe rave about their breads while Americans merely buy them.

Customer Rating: 

I have been baking yeast breads for 40 years. I thought I understood yeast and breadmaking. But this well-written book took my bread to the stratosphere. I've made 6 recipes so far from this book, and every one has been great -- better than you can buy at the grocery, and even better than most homemade. My rye bread was the lightest ever. The whole wheat bread made fabulous sandwiches. The hamburger buns made me want to eat hamburgers every day!

After all this success, I even made my own sourdough. (I tried this once, 20 years ago, and it was a nasty disaster.) With Peter Reinhart's method, I created a sourdough starter and then bread. My first effort was a success, with a great flavor and texture. I think it is better than anything you can buy in the mega-stores (even better than the bakery bread that they import).

Yes, some of the recipes are complicated. Most of this bread takes more than a day -- but rising can happen in the refrigerator while you go on with your life.

Whether you are new to baking or have years of experience, this is a very worthwhile book. Study it and use it!

Customer Rating: 

I have a frightening number of cookbooks, many related to breadbaking so it was a hard sell to purchase yet another book, especially one at this price point. It is, however, worth every penny in both the helpful explanations of the actual processes going on within your bread bowl and the carefully detailed recipes. Better yet the breads made with this method (most require a 'sponge' and two day process) are delicious, healthy and not just the 'same old, same old' breads that appear in most cookbooks.