Best Review on Bread Lovers Machine Cookbook Perfect Every Time
I bought all of the top rated bread machine cookbooks when I invested in my Zo and this book by far is the hands down favorite. Now don't get me wrong, there are certain areas where I feel this book lacks in variety/depth of topic (in particular pizza doughs, coffee cakes, etc.), but the scope of this book is so large that I don't think it could try to tackle those those with great detail. Those topics are included in the book, just brief for my liking. I have made many recipes from the book and never, not once, made a bad loaf (both in look and taste).
The fundamentals in this book are it's greatest asset. I think once you understand all of her tips and logic, the sky is the limit. One thing I don't like is that some of these tidbits of wisdom are scattered through the book which makes it hard to find at times, but I'm glad they are there. There are two indexes in the back that help with this but sometimes a little tricky.
I would agree with other reviewers, if I aerate the flour, I always have to add more flour to these recipes to get the right "ball" during the knead. At first that frustrated me but it's somewhat part of bread making anyway...darn humidity.
The best sandwich breads I have had out of this book have all used buttermilk or sour cream. I make the Instant Potato Bread all the time on the quick cycle in my machine, and it always turns out soft on the inside, crusty on the outside..just perfect! The Basic Pizza Dough recipe is hands down the best pizza dough recipe I have ever tried, and I've tried over 20 of them in search of the perfect hand-tossed type crust. The best recipe by far from this book that I have tried is the Cinnamon Swirl bread. It is an absolute must for anyone to try. The Cinnabun coffee cake is also excellent and the hamburger bun recipe is wonderful. I haven't made a bad tasting loaf yet, and I've tried many of the recipes. I use this book as my go-to book when in doubt, and it hasn't let me down yet. Now if only it were spiral-bound....
I absolutely LOVE this book!! Buy-it-a-ring-march-it-down-the-aisle love it!! I'm one of those people with more cookbooks than I shake a whisk at and I go to this one over and over and over! It has everything! I've never had a loaf go wrong and every recipe I've tried is just delicious.
BalasHapusTo start with, the Roman Bread alone (p. 409) is worth the price of the book! The granola bread, the blueberry coffee cake, Mexican chocolate bread, brioche rolls...I could go on and on!! It has everything from the simplest white and wheat to unique breads using exotic grains and interesting nuts, fruits and herbs (persimmon bread, lavender rosemary bread). It's made me a better baker because there are so many notes on the science of how bread "works". And it's not just bread - if you could make pot roast in a bread machine this book would tell you how to do it! There are jam recipes, quick bread recipes and recipes for using the leftover bits. There are pizza and calzone recipes that include the toppings, not just the dough. The Cheese Pizza Torte is amazing!
I love my bread machine but I'm not the biggest fan of the shape of the pan, so I often use the dough recipes and then proof the bread and bake it in a regular pan. Many of the recipes for country loaves have you do that anyway for a more authentic loaf.
My husband bought me the book as a Christmas present when I was 4 months pregnant. Here it is August and the bread machine hasn't gone back into the cupboard yet! It's a miracle our daughter wasn't born weighing 17 pounds! Forget whatever companion book Amazon recommends with this book - buy the latest Billy Blanks or Kathy Smith video (or both!) - you'll be eating A LOT of bread if you get this book!
I am a working mom but I love to cook and I love good food. My husband is European and won't eat American store-bought bread, so I got my first bread maker shortly after we were married almost 16 years ago. I got this book quite a few years ago and I've opened it about once a week since (about how often I make bread). I've made more than half of the recipes in the book, and they are all wonderful. I really couldn't live without it.
BalasHapusHowever, as others have said, the whole wheat recipes are generally not quite that. Only one or two of the WW recipes are 100%. The others have half to 3/4 white flour. The author explains why - she doesn't feel that you get a "satisfactory" result with the whole wheat flour, and she adds a lot of extra gluten to these recipes.
However some of us really like the dense 100% whole wheat(or other grain) breads. I wish that there were a companion volume dedicated just to whole grains. I learned so much about machine bread baking from this book - now I want to learn just as much about machine bread making with 100% whole grains.
I'd really like to understand the properties of the other bread-grains better, as well.
BalasHapusBaking is my thing, even though I must cook everyday foods to survive. Because I have limited shelf space, and because I want to simplify my life, I only keep those cookbooks I use and treasure. This is one of those books. I love the recipes in this book!! They are accurate and produce consistent results. If you like glossy pictures in your cookbooks then this book is not for you, but if you want easy and tasty recipes then this is the best book in the market.
BalasHapusIn reading some of the negative reviews I would like to comment that perhaps the fault does not lie in the recipes, but in the cook. Successful baking requires quality ingredients, careful measuring and correct temperature. Of all the ingredients used in bread baking the most important is of course the flour. Not all flours are created equal, they vary in protein content and moisture. Protein helps give structure to the dough, a soft spring wheat, low protein, flour (White Lily, Wondra) is good for cakes, a high protein winter wheat flour (most bread flours) is good for breads. The moisture content of the flour determines the amount of liquid to be added to the recipe. I have found Gold Medal and Pillsbury flours have a higher moisture content than other flours and require slightly less liquid. So try the same recipes using a different flour, and check the dough before the machine goes into the bake cycle and adjust accordingly..... too wet, add flour; too dry, add liquid. Lastly, always use the same brand of flour and learn to work with it. I use King Arthur flour exclusively for consistent results.
I know some of the info in this review is not necessarily about the book in question, but the info may be helpful to someone having difficulty in achieving consistent results in the baking process.
I bought all of the top rated bread machine cookbooks when I invested in my Zo and this book by far is the hands down favorite. Now don't get me wrong, there are certain areas where I feel this book lacks in variety/depth of topic (in particular pizza doughs, coffee cakes, etc.), but the scope of this book is so large that I don't think it could try to tackle those those with great detail. Those topics are included in the book, just brief for my liking. I have made many recipes from the book and never, not once, made a bad loaf (both in look and taste).
BalasHapusThe fundamentals in this book are it's greatest asset. I think once you understand all of her tips and logic, the sky is the limit. One thing I don't like is that some of these tidbits of wisdom are scattered through the book which makes it hard to find at times, but I'm glad they are there. There are two indexes in the back that help with this but sometimes a little tricky.
I would agree with other reviewers, if I aerate the flour, I always have to add more flour to these recipes to get the right "ball" during the knead. At first that frustrated me but it's somewhat part of bread making anyway...darn humidity.
The best sandwich breads I have had out of this book have all used buttermilk or sour cream. I make the Instant Potato Bread all the time on the quick cycle in my machine, and it always turns out soft on the inside, crusty on the outside..just perfect! The Basic Pizza Dough recipe is hands down the best pizza dough recipe I have ever tried, and I've tried over 20 of them in search of the perfect hand-tossed type crust. The best recipe by far from this book that I have tried is the Cinnamon Swirl bread. It is an absolute must for anyone to try. The Cinnabun coffee cake is also excellent and the hamburger bun recipe is wonderful. I haven't made a bad tasting loaf yet, and I've tried many of the recipes. I use this book as my go-to book when in doubt, and it hasn't let me down yet. Now if only it were spiral-bound....