Artisan Breads at Home Hardcover – December 23, 2009

This is hands down the most illustrative and insightful baking book I've ever come across. It served my burgeoning interests in baking early on as a hobbyist, and it was even more essential as I began a professional career in baking. I recommend it to every person with a newfound interest in the art of bread making!

This is very comprehensive and takes a lot of time to make some of the breads. Maybe try one of the quick recipes and then work your way up to making sourdough bread. If you use the wild floura you can even have a “pet” homemade starter to feed once in a while until your ready to bake sourdough again. Very cool

Buy this book. I took a "test drive" by borrowing a copy from a library. It's pretty clear in its instructions, and ingredients are fairly easy to find. Made a couple of leaves of wheat bread and I was hooked. Today I baked Baguettes with pâte fermentée and it was the most delicious bread I've even eaten. Excellent crust, nice chew, and so flavorful. I can't believe I made it in my own oven. Go out and buy this damn book!Oh, and always weigh your ingredients. Better accuracy equals better bread.

I've given this book four stars instead of five because 1, I've only just bought it and haven't tried the recipes yet, and 2, it does seem a bit technical for the home baker. That said, I'm excited to start using it and have learned so much already just by reading the first few chapters.

A very essential book for a beginning baker. We used it for a bread class. All of the recipes turned out perfectly and the supplemental recipes which the chef provided did not. Very nicely illustrated. I refer to it often.

A wonderful book covering all aspects of bread making.I met Eric Kastel on a Cruise where he did a Flat Bread demo and made it look so easy it even inspired my husband! I wanted to buy this book then but had no room in my suitcase to take it home to New Zealand.One of the first things when I got home was to go online to order it from Amazon!

I just got the book; it arrived in excellent condition. I'm sure this was in large part due to the excellent packaging by prariegal52. The shipment was very quick; it arrived before Amazon said it would be shiped. This supplier also worked hard to make sure the book reached me because my shipping address was not my USPS address. I will always look for her name as a supplier. A real pleasure to deal with.

Book is used at NMU for one of their hospitality management classes. Looked like an interesting, easy to understand book - and is. Lots of good bread recipes and tips!

Thank you for your reliable delivery. The book is one of the most informative scientific papers on the subject of bread making.

This book is a real gem ! I got it in the expectation to fill the gap in my kitchen library about bread, and it fulfills it's role very well. I loved that this book covers a very wide range of different breads, so you can pretty much find something in there to please about anyone. The level of skills required varies quite a bit for some recipes, but even if I consider that the book is going from the easiest to the hardest, I didn't feel like there were some recipes I couldn't tackle. Also, it's written with all of the rigor that could be expected of the CIA. This means every recipe shows the ingredients with ounces, grams, volume or baker's percentage, which I had never seen in a bread book before.The first chapter covers the basics of equipment, ingredients and basic bread making. You'll learn why we knead, what is a good or bad dough, how fermentation works, etc. Then, you're ready to go on to basic lean dough, for breads and rolls. You then have basic enriched dough for breads and rolls, which involves slightly more ingredients. This part involves soft rolls made of heaven. This was an absolute hit when I served them at Christmas. It also covers the classic sticky buns and raisin and cinnamon bread. But fear not, all the recipes are not sweet. Ham and provolone loaves or even herb, pepper and cheese buns also await in those pages.Next, basic flatbreads. There is an amazing recipe for pizza dough in there, which is the first recipe I tried out in this book. It came out fantastic, and I had only ever made bread once before. It also shows you the secret behind naan and grissini ! Then, on to advanced breads and their preferment. There are a lot of breads I didn't know existed in this section, like bialys, but oh my do they look tempting. If you haven't had your share yet, you can even go on to advanced enriched dough. I have not yet taken on the recipes needing a preferment, if that scares you, there are plenty of things to try before you get there.In conclusion, there is something for everyone in this book. The pictures (or illustrations) clearly show the techniques for beginners, while advanced recipes allow more advanced bakers to tackle another level of difficulty. This book is part of the series "at home", but it could be used for someone who wish to start a small local production. I would definitively recommend to anyone with an interest in baking. It's a credible and sure source of info.

It depends on other books one has read to give a true critique on this one from CIA. It is good from a student bakers or competent home bakers perspective.For the pro or experienced home baker there are better.try anything by ciril Hitz, Jeffery Hammelman or Peter Rheinhart .JB

Great book on bread making. The rustic rye bread recipe in this book sure is delicious. Looking forward to trying more recipes.

Bought this as a gift... it is such a beautiful and informative book, I will have to get one for me.