I have become smitten with the high-hydration, no-or-little-knead school of thought in making breads. I am happy to see several books on the market, using a "Less-Fuss approach" to making bread. I am considering buying Peter Reinhart's, Artisan Breads Every Day,...or ...Jim Lahey's, My Bread. Anyone think one is better than another? I realize that many people seem to think that Reinhart is their Bread Guru. I have mannny volumes of poor, or redundant, bread books, amassed over the last 35 years. Should I buy either book,..other than to pat the publisher on the back? Thanks......
Like you say, lots of folks have a favorite guru. I started with Reinhart and the BBA. Eventually I found Jeff Hamelman and "Bread". His formulas are solid and easy to follow. In my opinion, and I know there are some who think Jeff is speaking to professional bakers to heavily, this is the best collection of good advice available for $20.. I have made more good breads and understand why they are turning out well since I started using this book. Bread has a larger number of variety's of breads than most authors. Every one a gem.
Advanced Bread and Pastry by Michel Suas is without a doubt one of if not the all time best reference books ever printed. Again he is speaking from the pulpit at the SFBI and is addressing a higher than beginner level of baker.The book is around 1000 pages and about half is bread, the remainder covers pastry. I'm just getting into it and I'm really enjoying it.
I don't know you or your skills at this point so it's hard to make a recommendation. If you are a decent baker now, meaning you can reasonably expect all your breads to look and taste great, I guess I would say get Bread. If the $60 for Michel Suas isn't an issue, add that to the list.
I just went back and reread what I had said. I think the main difference between early Reinhart books and Bread or AB&P is that the idea of using fermenting for a longer time wasn't popular back then. Hamelmans recipes incorporate stretch and fold instead of beating with a mixer and hook for extended times. When I was starting out learning how to bake artisan style breads, the common procedure was to knead until you could pull a "window pane". Later I learned about using less yeast, preferment's and stretch and folds during ferment to develop gluten strength.
I don't know anything about Jim Lahey's book. He caught the world by surprise with his No Knead method. I've read he is a great baker so his book should be solid.
I hope I haven't gone into too much detail when you wanted a simple answer.
Eric
TFL member Suave is one of the 24 people who purchased the Lahey book and wrote a review at [url=http://www.amazon.com/My-Bread-Revolutionary-No-Work-No-Knead/dp/0393066304/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1260715170&sr=8-1][u]Amazon[/u][/url].
Amazon also provides reviews by people who purchased the Reinhart book.
Hope this helps you choose between the two.
Thanks, Eric for your great recommendation of Jeff Hamelman's book. I do not have this volume either. Once upon a time, I bought many bread books, only to be disappointed with their overly-complicated approach to making good bread. I do have a copy of Local Breads, by Daniel Leader which I like... although there is much "redundancy" in the book. Bread making really doesn't have to be something "mystical". Yikes... I will have to buy the Hammelman Bread book now too?
LindyD,.. I went back to re-read the expanding reviews of Lahey's book. Not many reviews as yet on Reinhart's book at Amazon. Sounds like they are quite different in content.
I don't want to spend more moolah on books,...than flour. But... I will likely end up buying both Lahey's and Reinhart's books...? Gads... this is like a disease.........
Thanks again...for the comments......