Review

This book offers a thorough education in bread baking with illustrations of techniques to prepare the dough (kneading, mixing, sponge method), how to use bread machines effectively, kinds of leavening measures, an explanation of grains and more. But it's the recipes that are the heart and soul (or stomach?) of the book. It contains over 100 bread recipes and variations, as well as 60 recipes for spreads and glazes: European breads, such as Peasant Bread with Figs and Pine Nuts; American breads, such as Pecan Wheat-Berry Bread; elegant dinner rolls and muffins for Sunday brunch; brochette, appetizer and celebration breads. Illustrated with photos so detailed you can almost smell the scent of warm bread, this book makes the jailer's sentence of "bread and water" something to look forward to. -- From The WomanSource Catalog & Review: Tools for Connecting the Community for Women; review by PH

About the Author

Beth Hensperger is an acclaimed San Francisco Bay Area-based food writer, cooking instructor, and bread maven who has written articles for Cooking Light , Shape , Bon Appetit , and Family Circle magazines among others and pens a weekly baking column in the