Review by :
when I bought my bread machine a year ago I was really excited about buying a cookbook to try it out. I found so many books, and most of the reviews said “buy this one it’s the best”, or “you won’t need another one”… I got all confused. So, since I have most Betty Crocker cookbooks, I choose this one, ’cause I know they only have try and true recipes. In fact, it didn’t let me down.
The book starts with an introduction about bread machines in general, how they work, and ingredients. It has a chart with all kinds of flours and teaches you what kind of bread you’ll get.
Then the recipes. Including here, classics like white bread, Sally Lunn, garlic bread. New ones like orange capuccino brad. It has one of the best bagel recipe.
It’s divided in 7 chapters:
Chapter 1: Good and Savory loaves
Chapter 2: Wholesome Grains Loaves
Chapter 3: Fruit and Veggie Harvest Loaves
Chapter 4: Smaller Can Be jst Right
Chapter 5: Rustic Loaves and Flatbreads
Chapter 6: Satisfying Rolls and Breadsticks
Chapter 7: Sweet breads and Coffee CakesThe book has plenty of pictures, and this, especially for a beginner, is pretty important to know what it will look like the bread you are gonna bake.A year later, I find myself still using this fantastic book and having excellent results. It has over 130 recipes so it’s impossible to get bored.

Review by Lynn:
There are several very positive comments that I have about this book. First, the recipes were tested on all 3 sizes of loaves. Therefore, sometimes proportions of ingredients will not necessarily agree with proportions of bread weight in order to get the same bread. I was happy to have someone else go through these tests so that I didn’t have to. Another interesting element to this book is that they show pictures of how “wrong” breads look and list what possible ingredients were out of proportion. This is very helpful in analyzing the outcome of your bread. Finally, I am a picture person and all of the breads have beautiful pictures next to them.

The big negative I found in the book was that all of the breads I made (about 7) had the same consistency. If you are interested in creating more interesting types of breads, such as light airy french breads with crunchy crusts or ciabatta’s – you will be hard pressed to find them in this book.

Review by Mary Beal:
New to bread machine baking, I wanted a BIG book of tested recipes. This is it. There are lots of recipes for the bread machine, both for total machine baking and oven baking. The one reason I cannot give it 5 stars is the way the recipe pages are set up. The type is in a nice blue and hard to read orange. The type used to list the ingredients is small and every other line is in orange. I find it difficult to read as the orange seems to fade out alongside the deep blue. Maybe I need to update my glasses. One other item I would like to have seen is an ingredient substitution guide somewhere in the Tips Section.There are some really good features, however. The book opens out flat for easy reference to the recipe while preparing. The index cross references recipes by ingredients which I found very useful. There are some ideas for how to use the bread in sandwiches and with soups; they look yummy and worth trying. Overall, I like the book. All the recipes I tried have come out great. I just wish the book was easier to read, but that won’t keep me from using it.

Review by :
This is probably the biggest book on bread machine that you can find in the cooking category. I only wish that there are pictures. I’m a sucker of cookbook with pictures- They encourage me to bake more just by looking at the pictures. If you decide to buy this book, do not buy the previously published bread machine cookbook by Better homes and garden. This book included probably 95% of the recipes included in the previous book

Review by Jennifer L. Willis:
I bought this book along with my new breadmaker. I threw away the recipe booklet that actually came with my machine and rely solely on this one. Not only does it have pictures with what things have the potential to look like but it also talks a bit about the process. That is, the proper mixing of ingredients and why you want to do then this way, what the dough looks like when mixing and how you might “fix” the dough if it appears too dry or too wet. I share this book with all my friends and family who are embarking on the bread machine world. A must have for your collection!

Review by Mary Whipple:
The recipes that come with the typical bread machine are always useful, the tried and true Old Reliables that everyone needs to get started. When you are ready to break out and try something really fun, however, this is the book you’ll want! The Bread Machine Primer at the beginning answers every question you could possibly have about machines and ingredients, explains the chemical interrelationships between salt, sugar, yeast, and flour, and, best of all, even tells you how to adapt your grandmother’s non-bread-machine recipes and other family favorites for use with the bread machine.

Even the “Plain” Breads in this book are much more imaginative and interesting than average–Beer Bread, Potato Bread, and Cheese Bread are not exactly “white bread.” The Whole Grain Breads are fantastic, with the Wild Rice Bread and Yogurt Corn Bread among our special favorites. Savory Breads feature Welsh Rarebit Bread, Prosciutto Loaf, and a really toothsome Olive Bread. Holiday Eggnog Bread, Rum Raisin Loaf, Peaches and Cream Loaf, and Welsh Currant Bread are just a few of the Sweet Breads to keep you constantly tempted. And the flatbreads, such as Rosemary-Fig Foccacia and Jalapeno-Cheddar Rounds, show the variety of possibilities open to you.

This is an imaginative and useful accompaniment to any bread machine, the best of the several bread machine cookbooks I’ve tried. My one recommendation is to pay attention to the amount of yeast you use. This book uses significantly less yeast than most other books, and I’ve found I need to add 1/4 t. more yeast to the recipes I’ve tried. Mary Whipple

Review by delicateflower152:
This is absolutely the best of the bread books. However, I’ll warn the novice baker that it is also much more technical than many of the other books on the market. If you are looking for a simple recipe book and have no desire to understand the bread-baking process, then skip this book. On the other hand, if you want to produce quality bread and are willing to read the text, you will be delighted with the results. Hamelman’s writing is clear and concise; he provides detailed drawings to explain various processes. For example, when giving directions on folding bread, Hamelman actually shows each step. This is in sharp contrast to Peter Reinhart’s “Bread Baker’s Apprentice” which instructs the baker to fold the dough, but never explains how it should be done. I wish I’d found this book before I bought a number of others. I probably would have purchased those at some point because I like having multiple references, but this book is one to which I would refer.

Review by Southern Review:
THIS is the definitive guide for professional and serious home bakers; it is precisely the caliber of detailed information serious bakers have demanded in order to reach their next plateau of bread baking excellence. This is unmistakably the most comprehensive bread book of its type on the market. I am so delighted with the results it has shown my own baking.

As a serious and dedicated cook, I have never experienced such instant gratification and remarkable improvements in my own craft than is evidenced via the advice available from this extraordinary reference.

Through dedicated effort, and much trial and effort – in the method of Nancy Silverman – my sourdough eventually met the high goal I set for it; to taste like that of Fisherman’s Wharf sourdough. Nevertheless, my ciabatta and country style loaves remained, in my opinion, sub-par.

This book’s detailed; professional instructions launched my country bread and ciabatta loaves to bakery status within only two passes! I am now able to go beyond my original benchmark and further tweak the percentages in BREAD to achieve what ever I want for this style of bread. It is such a wonderful experience! The first try did not deviate from BREAD’s formula. The second pass was formulae – plus – experience, and that was the charm. We are simply blown-away at how something exponentially went from good to excellent in two batches.

JEFFREY HAMELMAN, a former bakery owner has been baking professionally for thirty years. In 1998, he became the 76th Certified Master Baker in the United States. Unlike the other author of five bread books, Mr. Hamelman’s book, Bread stays on point.

He does not have the ungracious, annoying habit of referencing himself as “acclaimed” and famous, nor does he continuously interject references to old James Beard awards. Mr. Hamelman does not patronize the reader and talk down to them, nor does he disingenuously convolute his instructions to make them appear more complicated to elevate his own importance.

I bought four of the other author’s books in a single optimistic purchase for which I regret. Reinhart’s recipes produced baked goods that could double as doorstops and his sourdough starter was a waste of ingredients, both tries were scaled and to the letter!

There are 118 detailed formulas. Each formula is charted in four versions:

- U.S. Imperial weight – for professional yields (about 22-25 loaves)

- Metric weight – for large professional yields

- Home – Imperial volume (cups, teaspoons) w/some weights – 2-3 loaves

- Bakers Percentages

Home artisan bakers can easily scale their ingredients by looking at the professional metric weights and moving the decimal point for home yields. The only math necessary is converting fresh yeast to either active or instant yeasts. OR, if one wishes to customize ingredients, they can combine the baker’s percentages as appropriate.

Additional information might be as follows:

-Ciabatta with Stiff Biga-

pre-fermented flour 20%

Dough Yield: U.S. __ – Metric ___ – Home: __

Overall Formula:

Each ingredient is charted in columns per US, Metric, Home, and %

BIGA – also listed in columns per US, Metric, Home, and %

FINAL DOUGH in columns per US, Metric, Home

Then detailed instructions are categorized as 1. Biga, – 2. Mixing, – 3. Bulk Fermentation: 3 hours, – 4. Folding, – 5. Dividing and Shaping, – 6. Final Fermentation: time – 7. Baking.

The typeface and layout are such that they are user friendly. Mountains of information is there at one’s ready without flipping all over and digging for salient information.

Lastly, Hamelman is the baking director of King Arthur Flour. They sell their live sourdough to the public. It is perfectly balanced lactic to acetic and originates from 200 year old cultures. Save yourself the aggravation of fiddling with organic grapes, or other methods that do not always work. Buy a small culture from King Arthur and watch it sponsor a lifetime of artisan loaves. Mine had been making beautiful music for years. It is delicious!

Review by Erin O. Clayton:
This book is just wonderful! I have been baking bread by hand for several years now and have thouroughly enjoyed it, but this book has helped me to stretch beyond the recipe and try some new things. In the past 2 weeks, I think I have made 7 recipes out of this book. I just can’t seem to stop. The Bulgur Oatmeal bread, I think, is the best bread I have ever tasted. Absolutely AMAZING! I also made the Sesame Burger Buns, Whole Wheat Long Rolls, Vienna Bread, Pain Campagne and Farm-Style White Bread with Cardamom. I have probably 200 cookbooks and this is my new favorite! A must read!

Review by Bella Cucina:
This bread book is a delight. Unlike Rosie’s Bread Bible, this one is accessible, and is more for the home baker than the scientist. Have tried the Whole Wheat bread with olive oil (which allows for some improvisation, I converted the recipe into 5grain bread), and the Carrot bread, and both turned out great. My family says they would choose the carrot bread over any carrot cake, anytime!

You can still indulge in carbs by enjoying these breads in the morning, and having no other carbs after breakfast.

Review by :
This book consists of all whole grain bread machine recipes. The first part goes into detail about all the components necessary to create healthy breads/rolls, etc. in the bread machine. All ingredients are described in an easy to read manner. There are recipes using “ordinary” whole wheat flours. Then there are the recipes using the more exotic flours, such as spelt and kamut. While some of these flours are expensive and sometimes hard to find, I have tried many of the recipes and have never been disappointed. I have purchased the book many times for friends and recommend it highly as a means to increase fiber and grains in products that are very tasty and are created from this easy to understand recipe book.

Review by L. Land:
This book has great recipes for wholegrain breads. If you’re looking for recipes that avoid white flour and have healthy wholegrains instead, this is the book for you.For the most part, it is also low sugar, which is why I purchased it. There are a few recipes with honey and molasses, though. My husband has raved about all the breads I’ve made from this book. It gives recipes for 1 and 1 1/2 pound loaves.

Review by Howard A.:
I have been a fan of Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day (ABFM). The main problem with that book is the bread came out so good, I tended to eat too much of it (but loving every minute of it).

One of the great things about the technique in ABFD is that the recipes are very forgiving and flexible, and I usually made variations, including using more whole grains.

Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day will not only alleviate some of the guilt, it has some really wonderful recipes and ideas using a wide range of whole grains, fruits, vegetables, gluten-free breads and pastries and even some healthy variations on some of the more delicious but not necessarily the healthiest breads from ABFD (such as the 100% whole grain butterfat and yolk fee Brioche!).

I tried many of the recipes in ABFD and most were very good to excellent, some outstanding.

I will, sadly, be putting ABFD on the shelf at least for a while. I really look forward to exploring the healthy recipes in this book. Let’s see, if I make a different bread every 4 days, it will only take me about a year to go through the entire book.

For those of you who have not tried Artisan Bread, the technique is really as easy as the writers claim, it is virtually foolproof, and you can now have fresh homemade bread at any time with almost no fuss whatsoever. Once you get this book, you will never buy bread from a store again. You can freeze the dough and it tastes just as good thawed. I took some frozen dough on a trip and enjoyed homemade bread far from home.

The title “Five Minutes a Day” is based on preparation time. It takes less than 20 minutes to completely prepare most recipes to make about 4 loaves (you can easily half or double the recipes). Of course, you still have to bake the bread, but that is not active cooking time. You can easily freeze the dough and build a store of different breads in your freezer. Over time, depending on how much bread you eat, you will probably less than 5 minutes a day on average.

Though a good number of recipes use only whole grains and “healthy” ingredients, some recipes use smaller amounts of unbleached white flour, small amounts of sugar. However, the writers encourage you to make substitutes if you like, which is what I did with ABFD.

The only improvement to the book I can think of at the present time is listing somewhere in the book which recipes are vegan (my daughter is vegan and I am vegetarian). Though I can figure that out for myself by flipping through the book, it would be nice to have those recipes listed.

As an added bonus to delicious recipes, according to the book, the cost of a loaf of bread made at home is about $.40 per loaf. That cost probably is more for recipes that use less well-known grains, or more expensive ingredients, but then again those bread would be more expensive to buy in the store in any case. No matter which recipes you choose, you will be saving money.

Should you buy this if you already have the first book? I did, and I am glad that I did. I am impressed with the wide range of recipes and their creative approach to making bread not merely delicious, but healthier.

One more thing: the writers have an incredible website (healthybreadinfive), where they have additional recipes, and a great bread making community sharing tips and experiences. Though I have not posted on the web site, they answer questions and even based some of the recipes in their new book on suggestions from readers.

Add healthy bread to your diet and save money. Zoe and Jeff, thanks for bringing fresh, easy to make, bread back into my life!

This is my first ever review on Amazon, but I felt this book merited a strong endorsement.

P.S.

I’ve begun to try the recipes

I used the rye as a a sandwich bread, and made a pizza crust (and a regular loaf) from the avocado-guacamole bread. These recipes are about 1/3 whole wheat. The recipes seem a little less forgiving in terms of getting the time right (I undercooked one loaf of rye, and overcooked a loaf of the avocado-guacamole bread). It may have something to do with the whole wheat, but I’m not sure.

The Bran Muffin Bread came out wonderfully, great crust, light inside, slightly sweet and delicious. Also used it for French Toast, which was great!

I combined 2 recipes, 100% Whole Wheat with Olive Oil and 100% Whole Wheat with Flaxseed. Great crust and very good whole wheat taste with the extra nutrition of flaxseed. It is particularly good as a bread for sandwiches. I used the dough for the Algerian Flat Bread (a pan fried bread) which was a real treat.

I just made the 100% whole wheat with brown rice breat. This was a great bread and somewhat unusual. The bread crumb looks lighter than regular whole wheat bread, which might make it more acceptable to fussy eaters (read “kids”). The crust is delicious. When it comes out of the oven it is particularly crunchy with a nice combination of wheat and rice flavors intermixed.

Keep in mind, that while these recipes are “healthier” than regular bread recipes that just use regular flours, most are not pure whole grains, but a combination of unbleached white with other grains. There are some 100% whole wheat recipes as well. However, all the recipes do have a healthier twist and I am very happy with the book. I’m looking forward to trying many other recipes such as: Pistachio Twist, Gluten Free Cheddar and Sesame Bread, Carrot Bread, Lentil Curry Bread.

P.P.S:

A question of time. Does it really only takes five minutes a day? Although there are some recipes which are more complicated (but delicious) many of the basic recipes do take the equivalent of 5 minutes a day. For a fantastic new illustrated step by step walk through of the basic recipe, go to the author’s website [...].

In summary, you get a large container, put in the yeast, salt, warm water, and flour, and mix. Most recipes make enough for four loaves (though usually can be doubled or halved). Timing myself, including the time to get the ingredients from various places in my kitchen, to mixing them, to cleaning up, many of the recipes will take between 10 to 15 minutes for the initial batch ( not including waiting time). Then, each time you want to make a loaf, you take a grapefruit size of the flour (which you have refrigerated), let it get to room temperature, put it in the oven and bake. the total amount of time I usually spend to make four loaves of bread is less than 20 minutes. Of course, there are some extremely delicious recipes that require some extra steps, but even most of these only take a few more minutes. I do not have a container big enough for the eight loaves at a time, but if I was really concerned about time, I could do that. Most of the doughs can be frozen. I usually make 2 or 3 of the loaves, freeze the rest, and then began to build a bank of various breads I can thaw and then freshly bake.

Review by SJK:
I have been a huge fan of the authors’ first book, Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, and to say that I was impatiently anticipating this one would be an understatement. I received it the day it came out, 2 days ago, and have already read through it twice. I pulled my first loaf of 100% Whole Grain Maple Oatmeal Bread from the oven this morning, and I wish I could describe to you the smell in my house right now! After letting it cool for a few minutes, I sliced off a piece and it was heavenly. Texture, flavor, everything was spot-on.

My copy is full of tape flags for those that I must-make-right-away: Soft Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread (including making the dough into hamburger or hot dog buns!), Pesto and Pine Nut Bread, Anadama Corn Bread, Quinoa Bread, Brown Rice & Prune Bread, Whole Wheat Mixed Berry Bread, and Honey Graham Bread top the list. There is also a chapter specifically for gluten-free breads and treats, which look wonderful. Honestly, I haven’t seen any that I don’t want to try, and I’m also looking forward to mixing and matching with some of the ideas from the first book. (The sun-dried tomato and parmesan is one of our favorites from that one, and I’ll be making it with one of the whole-grain doughs very soon.)

Be aware that they do call for a few specialty ingredients, but nothing that I wasn’t able to find in my local natural foods store – most were even in my regular supermarket. Anyone who is already doing some whole grain baking will have many of the ingredients already on their shelves.

In addition to the wonderful recipes, the authors also impart much knowledge that they’ve learned since the first book. The material in the introductory/informational chapters in the beginning is great – I’m especially happy that they included info for weighing ingredients.

Thanks, Zoe and Jeff, for another masterpiece! Can’t wait for the next one.