Product Description

This essential recipe book tells you everything you need to know about breadmaking and shows you just how easy shaping and baking your own bread can be. Step-by-step instructions and expert advice help you master the basic techniques for mixing, shaping and baking your dough, and from there you can begin exploring over 70 mouthwatering recipes ranging from savoury breads - such as the traditional Granary Loaf and Feta and Spinach Twists - to sweet bakes like classic Crumpets and Croissants, as well as the more adventurous Gingered Fig and Orange Bread. "Bread" also contains special recipe sections on gluten-free and yeast-free breads to suit every aspiring baker. Whether you are looking to create the perfect loaf by hand or machine, this book's easy-to-follow format and top tips help you achieve the most delicious bakes every time.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #113820 in Books
• Published on: 2009-04-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 128 pages

About the Author
Sara Lewis is an experienced home economist and food writer. She was the cookery editor of Practical Parenting magazine for over 12 years and is the author of many cookery books including Bread Machine Easy, Slow Cooker and Kids in the Kitchen, also published by Hamlyn.

Customer Reviews

Fresh Bread by Hand or by Machine
`Whether you want a freshly baked loaf for breakfast or a teatime treat, `Bread' contains recipes for every occasion.
Over 60 mouth-watering recipes for sweet and savoury breads and pastries, plus special sections on gluten-free and yeast free breads.
Easy to follow advice for both hand and machine methods with top tips for the perfect loaf.
Step by step instructions take you through the basic techniques, with expert advice on mixing, shaping and baking your dough.'

`Making and baking bread by hand or in a machine is immensely satisfying and relaxing, and with the stresses of modern day living, that must surely be a good thing?

With the advent of the new bread making machines and the Panasonic versions in particular, bread making by machine has indeed become surprisingly popular.
The aforementioned machines include a comprehensive guide to using your machine and all the recipes you are ever likely to need, but sometimes another book is worth a second look, especially if it is relevantly inexpensive.

However this book advises:-
'Check Your Machine Manual
Not all bread machines are the same so always look at your machine manual or cookbook before you try a recipe for the first time.
Alter the amounts of yeast or other ingredients accordingly, if necessary. You may also need to add ingredients in the order that the manufacturers specify if different to the steps in this book....'

128 shiny high quality pages, split over 9 chapters:-

Everyday Breads
Rustic Breads
Flavoured Breads
Sweet Breads
Flat Breads
Little Breads
Festive Breads
Yeast-Free Breads
Gluten-free Breads

with an introduction, notes to American readers and an index.

Advice on `basic ingredients', `using a bread machine', `making your first loaf in a bread machine', `making bread by hand', `shaping techniques', `finishing touches' and `baking know-how'.

Each recipe is clearly laid out with requirements for the size of loaf you require, and full instructions on baking by hand or in a machine. The information is further enhanced by `Tip Boxes' at the bottom of each recipe. All the basic recipes are included and some less well-known ones to try to.

A taste of the recipes within:-
Quick White Loaf
Rapid Light Wholemeal Loaf
Granary and Pumpkin Bread
Lager-baked Batons
Ciabatta Bread
Feta and Spinach Twist
Banana and Chocolate Bread
Kugelhopf
Pissaladiere
Naan Bread
Crumpets
Brioche
Croissants
Three Kings Ring
Panetonne
Bara Brith
Lemon Drizzle Loaf
Chilli Corn Bread
Spiced Apple Bread

`Whichever recipe you choose to make, one thing is true, the better the ingredients you use, the better the finished loaf will be, plus there will be none of the extra additives that manufacturers add to prolong the shelf life of shop-bought bread, so making your own bread is healthy too.'

Long on recipes but short on guidance
This book falls short of the being the "Definitive Guide" as it is claimed to be. The majority of the contents, the recipes, are a re-run of a previous publication. I quote: "The recipes in this book were previously published in the Bread Book, by Hamlyn". That, however, is not the issue.

While virtually all these recipes are accompanied by a full page colour picture, the lists of ingredients are not easy to read as they are compressed into a few lines at the top of the page.

As the text gave each step in full detail (which was often repeated identically in a number of recipes) it gave the impression that they had initially been published in a magazine or a serial publication. It was therefore not easy to see what one had to do differently when trying out a new recipe even though the tips on finishing were very good.

I felt that the explanations of the processes involved in bread making were rather sketchy and it did not provide useful trouble-shooting guidance or even information on how to analyse faults. One of the few tips was that too much yeast causes the dough to rise too much.