Being that I'm new at baking, I am curious, "What do you have in your "library" of books that you consider a must have or what did you start using for recipes that you found most helpful as you first started baking bread?"
Bread baker's Apprentice is definitely on the top of my list...I might also add Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Breads. That book has given me a lot of ideas for different breads.
There have been several threads on this topic in the last six months so you might want to search for those too.
To start out with, Rose Levy Beranbaum's _The Bread Bible_. If you think you will be headed toward whole grains, also _The Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book_.
After that, any of the Peter Reinhart books. _BBA_ is good but if your interest is in whole grains his new one _Whole Grain Breads: New Techniques_ is very interesting.
_Bread Alone_ is good for both the romance of bread and running a bakery and for technical information on ingredients. His recipes never seem to come out quite right for me though.
If you are still interested at that point _Bread Science_ (which is not too expensive), Hamelman's _Bread_ (which is expensive), and Scott's _Bread Builders_ all have useful-to-deep information and are good reads [ for cookbooks ;-) ].
One thing to consider is checking these books out of the library for scanning before buying any. Most libraries have some Reinhart and can get the others through inter-library loan.
I wish I'd thought of that in the beginning. I bought a couple of books that were too (and may always be) a little too complicted for me. That being said I've used Maggie Glezer's Artisan Baking may times and have loved some of those recipes. When I first stated out I used Floyd's Lessons in Baking Bread when I was just starting. They helped a lot!
Cool, thanks for the feedback! I have checked out a couple of Reinhart's books and they really explain a lot, which I like. I'll have to see about the others mentioned and check them out and see which ones I want to have in my own library. =)
Bread baker's Apprentice is definitely on the top of my list...I might also add Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Breads. That book has given me a lot of ideas for different breads.
-Chad
There have been several threads on this topic in the last six months so you might want to search for those too.
To start out with, Rose Levy Beranbaum's _The Bread Bible_. If you think you will be headed toward whole grains, also _The Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book_.
After that, any of the Peter Reinhart books. _BBA_ is good but if your interest is in whole grains his new one _Whole Grain Breads: New Techniques_ is very interesting.
_Bread Alone_ is good for both the romance of bread and running a bakery and for technical information on ingredients. His recipes never seem to come out quite right for me though.
If you are still interested at that point _Bread Science_ (which is not too expensive), Hamelman's _Bread_ (which is expensive), and Scott's _Bread Builders_ all have useful-to-deep information and are good reads [ for cookbooks ;-) ].
That is my 0.02.
sPh
The two books I use most often are Reinhart's Bread Baker's Appprentice and Hamelman's Bread.
Reinhart's is easier for someone just starting out, but Hamelman's has lots of good recipes.
Colin
One thing to consider is checking these books out of the library for scanning before buying any. Most libraries have some Reinhart and can get the others through inter-library loan.
sPh
I wish I'd thought of that in the beginning. I bought a couple of books that were too (and may always be) a little too complicted for me. That being said I've used Maggie Glezer's Artisan Baking may times and have loved some of those recipes. When I first stated out I used Floyd's Lessons in Baking Bread when I was just starting. They helped a lot!
Trish