Daniel Leader

So many bread books are filled with the same recipe repeated over and over with a few alterations. They make the reader feel cheated out of new and exciting recipes. That is not the case with this bread book.
The variation of recipes is nice, a sampling of bread recipes from pancakes to challah to flatbread to doughnuts to monkey bread. There are great stories with the recipes and cultural explanations as needed. I loved the bounce from sweet to savory but more so I liked the small sections show more after each recipe that explained different ways you could make the bread.
I loved the addition of non-bread recipes such as the three jam recipes after the Jelly-filled Berliners (a stuffed doughnut).
This is definitely one book for my shelves. I can't wait to get elbow deep in flour and try the recipes. I have been wanting to make crumpets and bagels so I know what I am doing this weekend. show less

A great specialty book for the home baker. This one concentrates on small batches, small loaves, and breads you'll want to bake at home for a family. I was especially impressed with the "Luxury" English muffin recipe. I never realized that they're supposed to be 3-4" thick! I have some jam just screaming to be oozed onto one of those. I'm definitely going to think about taking the time soon to make a batch of these! Other recipes I want to try are the Ham and Cheese Crescent rolls, and the show more Stone Fruit Beignets! There is a very nicely done table of equivalencies, simple to follow and clear instructions. Ingredients are shown in US and metric weights as well as measurements, and there are plenty of gorgeous full page, color illustrations just begging to jump off the page. The author does not talk down to the reader, but still manages to impart an array of info that definitely would make this one I'd want to add to my permanent collection. show less

The author of this book owns a bakery in upstate New York called "By Bread Alone." The book itself is part food memoir, part travel memoir, part cookbook, part food history, and part helpful hints. There are many recipes including, most of which begin with some form of a sourdough starter. The recipes are quite long and complicated. As someone who has a day job, I would never have time to create most of these recipes. Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day is a much more useful bread book for show more me. For those who do have the time, this book would be an excellent resource for learning the ins and outs of baking bread. I did not think that the cookbook layout was well-designed. The font is a bit small, and the column format for the narrative parts is a bit awkward, reminding one of textbooks. show less

Such an immersive journey into all aspects of artisan bread