The Bread Baker's Apprentice, 15th Anniversary Edition: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread [A Baking Book]

Simply one of the best written bread baking books out there. It's time tested (I ordered the 15th anniversary edition) and approved by hordes of fans. If you already own the original copy you might not need the newest edition. However, it does include 3 new master recipes (on top of the previous 50 or so), and a big new section on sourdoughs (aka wild-yeast starters). The sourdough section is rather simple, but like the rest of the book it's well written in a friendly and understanding tone (you don't ever feel pretentiousness or "my way is the only way"). Below are the reasons you should consider this book based on your baking experience: Beginner baker (little to no experience, but lots of interest): This book teaches you the fundamentals of solid baking and breaks everything down into easy-to-understand steps that can be applied to all baking. These steps are critical knowledge to becoming a good baker and not having to rely as heavily on recipes (and being able to adjust based on variables). The book is written well, easy to understand, has a friendly tone, and very much feels like it's written for the home baker with the understanding that sometimes you have to work with what you have (e.g., not everyone has a la cloche or dutch oven). The book also uses a decent amount of pictures to show you how things should look, and each recipe feels like it is personalized by Reinhart, often times including notes for changing the recipe. By simply following any recipe in this book (and the recommended techniques) you will create a bread that amazes friends and family (and probably yourself). This book represented a major shift in my understanding of the baking process and has helped me (in less than 6 months) go from a simple recipe follower to someone who can create his own bread based on learned knowledge and techniques. Somewhat experienced baker: With some experience you'll be able to use this book to it's fullest extent. The recipes may not blow your mind as an experienced/somewhat experienced baker, but they are all delicious and reliable. The techniques and approach to teaching the recipes and techniques is what makes this book shine for me. If you have felt like you were struggling to take your baking to the next level or to really understand the how/why behind baking techniques and recipes, then this book is for you! This book will help you better understand and combine techniques (provided you have learned others to combine with) as well as improve your understanding of recipes. It sets the stage for a leap into expert level baking. Highly experienced baker: As an experienced baker you won't find this book to be ground breaking, but it could teach you a few tips and tricks you may not have known. Reinhart does a great job of adding notes to recipes that tell you how to adjust/change things up. He also does an amazing job of breaking down all the steps of baking (all 12 of them) and explaining what they are and how they are applied in different bakes (some combine/skip steps). The techniques portion of this book offers interesting professional approaches tried and tested by Reinhart but seems to fully accept (and even occasionally mention) that there are other techniques/recipes/etc. The recipes in this book are solid, and you'll find them to be tasty and appealing (although as an experienced baker you may already have preferences for other recipes). The sourdough section won't blow your mind, but it's a useful refresher. I would not recommend purchasing this book solely for the sourdough section. Wrap-up: Combining this book's recipes and techniques with other books I've read/am reading has allowed me to exponentially improve my baking techniques and understanding. Reinhart's writing style and teaching style come through in this book, you can tell it was written by a teacher and someone who loves baking (not one or the other, but both!), and for that reason I love it.

This 15th Anniversary Edition of The Bread Baker’s Apprentice is a must-have for anyone serious about bread baking. The instructions are detailed and precise, with thorough explanations of techniques and tips that help bakers understand the “why” behind each step. The photos and illustrations are clear and helpful, making complex techniques easier to grasp. Whether you’re a beginner or experienced baker, this book provides invaluable guidance and inspiration. Truly a classic in the world of bread baking.

If there is one book I would recommend hands-down for anybody who wants to learn bread baking the right way, then it is "The Bread Baker's Apprentice", lovingly called "BBA" on some bread baking forums I frequent. Reinhart begins with an overview over gear and ingredients, including why some are to be recommended over others. My favorite aspect in this part of the book was the instructions on how to make improvised proofing bowls (p.36). I own several proofing baskets myself and am keenly aware how insanely expensive they are, so this is a good, low-cost alternative. Most people will be tempted to skip the part about baker's math (pp. 41), but I would urge them to read on. Baker's percentages, while odd to get used to, are still the best measurement system when it comes to bread. After using them for a while, just looking at the percentages will tell the artisan baker all he/she needs to know about the general characteristics of the dough. For anybody who has been wondering about general classifications of certain kinds of bread, pages 46 and 47 contain a graph listing the most popular breads and where they fall, from dough characteristics to rising method. More important to the novice baker, however, is the explanation on the twelve stages of bread, starting on page 48. I am a strong autodidactic learner, and every good how-to (cook) book should include a section like this. Armed with this knowledge, if you cannot churn out amazing bread afterwards, you should maybe consider another past-time - it does not get any more comprehensive than this. In this context, BBA includes some very helpful photographs on shaping bread (pp. 72). The one criticism I have here is that Reinhart's way of shaping pretzels (top of page 80) is - sorry to say it - PATHETIC. I have never seen such a sorry excuse for a pretzel; children can do a better job than this. I would strongly recommend a complete redo of the related photographs. Yet, this is the only real sore point about this book, which I otherwise love. The formulas are clearly written, and while I would have appreciated a column with grams included in the recipes, at least BBA is listing both volume and weight (the latter albeit in decimal ounces, when most smaller scales I have seen will give them in fractions - but hey, it is a start). Unlike "Crust & Crumb" (featuring an awkward two-column layout), the recipes are listed in a large column with a tiny side column containing commentary, baker's percentages and tips. The formulas are written out in clear paragraphs organized in ordered lists, and the first sentence of each paragraph starts with bold letters giving you the first idea of what is coming. Many recipes also include "grace notes" at the end, often disclosing the kind of information you would have to hunt the Internet for, like making your own herb oil for focaccia (p. 163). Also, many recipes are accompanied by "how to" photographs as appropriate, for example when it comes to shaping the bread a certain way. And speaking of photographs, the majority of pictures included in the book are really nice and in color, unlike "Crust & Crumb", which relies on awkward drawings for most of its illustrations (with the exception of some color photographs in the center of the book). It seems inevitable, though, that every cook book contains a few recipes which, for the life of you, will not work, no matter how faithfully you follow them. BBA is no exception. Just like you would buy a CD for the one single and a handful of other songs you really liked, and accept that the other songs were not really your cup of tea, I guess one has to accept that the same applies to recipe books. There are a few recipes in this book which I have not been able to replicate ever, no matter how faithfully I stuck to the letter of the formula. Neither have other people I have talked to, which would indicate an inherent issue with the recipe itself, not operator-related error. For some this only meant that some aspects of the method were erroneous, like using a stamp for making Kaiser rolls (p. 177). Interestingly enough, the photograph featured on page 176 shows rolls that have been hand-knotted or (dare I say it?) machined - but there is no way they were baked using a stamp. I should know, because I bought a stamp following what I read in BBA, and more or less tossed it the first time I tried it out. What does yeasted dough do when it proofs, and later baked, after being stamped? Even when it is placed, as directed on its face for proofing? Exactly. Other recipes that did not impress me very much were the one for pumpernickel rye (p. 246) or the one for ciabatta (p. 136). But most of those are outweighed by the parts that make this book indispensable in every serious bread baker's collection - both regarding what I have outlined above, and by some other formulas in this book, like the one for lavash crackers (p. 178) or Vienna bread (p.261). Get baking!

Just when you think you have seen the best possible book on bread, a new volume comes out, generally written by Peter Reinhart, which tops the previous book. This is certainly the case with the author?s ?Crust and Crumb? being trumped by his latest bread volume, ?The Bread Baker?s Apprentice?. Both volumes have won James Beard awards up the wazoo, and both books deserve all the praise they get for how well they address the relatively difficult and arcane corner of gastronomica that is artisinal bread baking. Before you form any impressions that this praise means you simply must get this book, be warned that you will be perfectly capable of making superior bread at home without cracking any one of Reinhart?s books. There are several more accessible sources. My favorite, recommended by Reinhart himself is the bread baking chapters of ?Baking with Julia (Child)? co-authored by baking writer Dorie Greenspan. Another even broader and older source is Bernard Clayton?s ?Complete Book of Breads? which covers over six hundred pages without once using the words ?poolish?, ?biga?, or ?sponge?. Reinhart?s books are for professionals (especially ?Crust and Crumb?) and very serious bread baking enthusiasts and hobbyists (especially ?The Bread Baker?s Apprentice?). If you go back to Reinhart?s very first book ?Brother Juniper?s Bread Book?, you may even say these books are for those people who treat bread as part of their religion. Being true to the derivation of the word ?religion?, it is for people who truly wish to be connected to bread making. ?The Bread Baker?s Apprentice? is no less serious and no less rigorous than Reinhart?s earlier books, but it is clearly more accessible to the lay reader than ?Crust and Crumb?. Aside from having one of the most attractive covers I have seen on a culinary work in a long time, it is glossier and more invitingly designed by Ten Speed Press, the publishers of both volumes. ?Apprentice? opens with a story of the author?s winning a James Beard Bread Baking competition and how that lead him to a trip to Paris and a tour of several of the French Capital?s leading boulangerie. His experiences with the French apprentice system, especially as used by some of the city?s leading bread bakers is the source of the book?s title, as well as being the source of the great pound sign marked boule being held by the very attractive Reinhart apprentice on the cover of the book. ?Apprentice? also devotes close to eighty pages to explaining in great detail the steps of artisinal bread baking. Reinhart?s books, especially this one, are some of the very few I have seen which explain many of the things which go on while making bread. Everyone who uses yeast knows these microorganisms eat sugar or starch and exhale carbon dioxide. What people do not commonly know is that they also exhale ethanol and, in artisinal breads, wild microorganisms that create lactic and acetic acids that give sourdoughs their distinctive flavoring enhance their action. The book also explains that the first rise in bread baking has much more to do with flavor development than it does with creating the airy texture in the bread?s crumb. The only other book which does as good a job of explaining bread baking technique is Joe Ortiz? ?The Village Baker?. ?Apprentice? also has as good or better illustrations of baking techniques than both ?Crust and Crumb? or ?The Village Baker?. ?Apprentice? presents several of the same ?formulas? that appear in ?Crust and Crumb? but in every case, where the same bread is presented, ?Apprentice? goes into greater depth regarding the history of the bread, the special techniques needed, and the variations commonly done with the same basic formula. Both books use the Bakers Percentage Formula presentation of ingredient amounts, but both also present ingredient amounts in very easily measured ounces. I am surprised that neither book includes metric weights, as they are immeasurably easier to scale up or down, especially when you are dealing with such small amounts as in fractions of an ounce of salt or yeast. One complaint I have seen of Reinhart?s books is in the large size of some of the recipes (meaning an implementation of a formula). I sympathize with this comment, but point out that Reinhart is not writing for the occasional home baker, he is writing for the professional and the devoted amateur baker. In the author?s treatment of Brioche, both books deal with this bread as the archetype of a whole family of breads; however ?Apprentice? goes into this family tree to a greater depth than I have seen in any other book. It gives formulas for ?Rich Man?s Brioche? with 88 percent butter, ?Middle Class Brioche? with 50 percent butter, and Poor Man?s Brioche with 24 percent butter. While ?Crust? gives formulas for brioche family members Kugelhopf and Challah, ?Apprentice gives formulas for brioche cousins Casatiello and Challah. If I were a consecrated member of the bread baking fraternity, I would want both of these book. Well, I want both anyway, since my philosophy is that a 35-dollar book has paid for itself if it yields up one good ideas, and both books are goldmines of information and ideas about bread baking. If you must choose between the two and you are not a professional, take ?Apprentice?. The cover alone is worth the price of admission. If you are a professional or professional wannabe, take ?Crust?. It has a more extensive bibliography and list of mail, web, and professional sources. In a culinary publishing niche with lots of excellent sources, Reinhart?s books, especially ?The Bread Baker?s Apprentice? is clearly one of the best for the serious baker.

Never made a loaf of bread before in my life! A lot of information and doable even for the novice. My kitchen counter is about 3'x3' (!!!) and we managed with what we had as opposed to going all out and investing in anything additionally. We wanted as low tech as possible since my kitchen isn't going to get any bigger anytime soon and we want our bread projects as simple as possible. I read my books from beginning to end including acknowledgments (not sure why). I find it especially beneficial in how-to books, even if I am at all knowledgeable. So the format for Mr. Reinhart's book was easy to understand and helpful for our first loaves. We chose Ciabetta and the loaves were good. I started with tweaking as I always do right away, which robbed the bread of its essential 'hole- iness' (used some whole wheat instead of all white). And since I have never worked and not-worked with poolish let alone heard of it, I am not sure I understand what it's significance is in the taste or baking quantities it adds. Once I have more experience though, I'll see if it is worth making it again and return with more input here This review might be written prematurely in my experiences with bread but it sure did feel nice working with my hands in this capacity with my husband. We are farmers and will be trying our hands at grains this season and building an outdoor wood stove. Along with the Kneading Conference in Maine, you can look for MY book in the next couple of years! If I can past his freehand anecdotes (which were written well enough but not that interesting to me) I might actually purchase another of his books since this one was written clearly and methodically for someone such as myself, a novice who enjoys making my own food.

The best bread making cookbook ever printed.PERIOD. personally, this is just about the only bread making cookbook I ever use. If you spend an evening reading the first third of the book, the part with almost no receipts, you can learn just about everything there is to know about bread making. Including wonderful details on ever step with the how's and why's. The receipts are ripped off throughout the internet. A MUST have for anyone that makes or wants to make bread.

Wow. I got in over my head. I understand the words in this book, and I can follow the recipes and the advice; but wow, this is a LOT of information. I bought this book because it has a great recipe for pizza dough and is supposed to teach you the "Zen" of bread (and pizza dough). It does that, but it does so much more. This book is not for the casual user. It is easy to read, but it sucks you in and converts you into a bread snob (something I aspire to be now that I know there is so much cool stuff to know!) The book breaks down like this: A few stories, a whole bunch of bread theory, and recipes. It shows you how, but also why. It really is a book for "the apprentice," and it is written by a master who fearlessly credits his mentors, sources, and even rivals. This is interesting id you have **time** but I just wanted a killer recipe for pizza dough, and having scoured the Internet I found that you have to go to the source: the "bread mastah's." I am VERY happy to have this book, but I am angry that it shows me how much there is to know and challenges me to stop what I am (happily) doing and spend time learning about bread. Bread, it turns out, is like wine. You can drink wine, but there is an endless supply of information about the complexities of wine, and grapes, and how the weather affects grape production, and how soil affects the grape, and how all of this goes into each year's crop (vintage) of wine. Yaaargh!! It is information overload! Look: If you want to make a kick-ass cake, buy a box of mix and go to town, but if you have the insane desire to make the kind of goodies we all pay too much for at cafes and bakeries, this is the book for you. It is NOT hard. The ingredients are in your local store it turns out, and Amazon sells whatever is not, so you are covered. It is not expensive, and this book shows you a lot of cheats, in case you don't have all of the super fancy bread making equipment and specialty ovens (and whatnot). You may have to use a little ingenuity but if you have a toaster oven you can make (very small batches of) GREAT bread, dinner rolls, pastries, pizza, and whatever. This book is not at all "microwave friendly" (just so you know) -- you DO need an old-fashioned "oven" of some sort, but bread making is a passion, and a tasty one! This book is intimidating. It is a brick: big, and thick, and heavy, and written by a guy who really knows his stuff. But I read through it. Hint: you can skip around and STILL get great results. You do want to read the basics though, because by understanding the basics of bread you know how to improvise and use what you have to get great results. It really is a great book, and it has satisfied my need to know about bread. I can stay with this book, and a handful of recipes, and improve EVERY meal I make, all without having to do a lot of study. This is a lifetime skill (just being able to make bread from scratch without a lot of fuss) and it provides instant rewards (you get to eat the bread). I cannot recommend this book highly enough--but just beware that it will try to take over your brain. It is a wealth of information and cunningly seductive in its methods of creating a desire in you to be some kind of ninja baker. Hope this helps. Thanks for reading :-)

Lots of good recipes and techniques. Very helpful to a beginner too and a seasoned bread maker learning new things.