The fundamentals of bread...

I was hoping to learn how to bake bread. I planned to start with a simple focaccia. This book was perfectly timed for my very beginners foray into turning flour and water into....bread. This books provides the knowledge and techniques to be successful when adding flour, water and yeast to get bread. From sourdough, to flatbreads and way more, the reader gets a thorough introduction to bread and bread making. Then a large recipe from around the world rounds out your knowledge base. The editors at Cider Mill Press really are putting out the best cookbooks.
Highly recommend.

This is an incredible book for beginner and advanced bread makers alike. Beautiful photos. A comprehensive encyclopedia of grains and pulses, fundamentals of bread baking, and explanations of essential equipment. Recipe ingredients list both weight and volume measurements. Easy to follow instructions for beginners. Includes both yeast and sourdough recipes.

Thanks to #NetGalley and the publisher for access to this book in exchange for an honest review.

I am trying to start my sourdough journey after watching a lot of people do it on social media and I was pretty confused, so this book found me just in time and I'm very happy to recommend it. It's very detailed, it provides a decimal system conversion on every ingredient (which I really appreciate since it's what I use normally) and it goes step by step so the process feels very simple and approacheable even if you're a beginner like me. It even provided a nice little encyclopaedia of different wheats and the historical context of bread, which is unusual for a cooking book but very interesting to me!

I was surprised at the lack of pictures, especially early on. The best thing about a cookbook is getting to see what you're going to make (or not make). There aren't pictures of people making or eating, and the intro is super text-heavy. This will still be appreciated by Mennonite patrons who have already made a ton of bread, but it won't do it for the bread-curious.

Thank you for the ARC. I will purchase for my library.

Title: Bread: Perfect Your Bread Making Techniques with 300+ Recipes
Author: Editors of Cider Mill Press
Genres: Cooking, Food & Wine | Nonfiction (Adult)
Pub Date: 31 Mar 2025
Pages: 800
ISBN: 9781400348459
Format Read: encrypted EPUB (LCP Protected)
Accessed Via: Net Galley Shelf app (Android)
Hashtags: #Bread #NetGalley
Rating: ★★★☆☆ (3 out of 5 stars)

The short version:

This would be 4 stars or more if it had greater global diversity or illustrated, detailed instructions, and it'd be approaching 5 stars with both, but will make a good general bread-making reference for a confident beginner onwards (though beginners will need to supplement by searching online for what various stages of dough should look like).

The full review:

I was really excited to review this book. I love all things bread, and I'm a long-time regular bread baker. The idea of '300+' recipes was particularly exciting, as at this point I'm pretty well-versed in breads, but with this number of recipes I was bound to come across something I hadn't seen before.

The book opens with a rather long (88 page) intro which includes the history of bread, ingredients used in breadmaking, types of flour, equipment suggestions, the types of fermentation, an outline of some of the various kinds of wheat, other grains, pulses, seeds & nuts that can be used in breadmaking.

Disappointingly, and strangely, there isn't a 'techniques' section. Surely a beginning baker may want to understand the difference between a slap & fold vs a stretch & fold, or an autolyse vs fermentolyse? Or perhaps the various stages of a sourdough starter (unfed, ripe, overripe, hooch, etc), preferment, yeast activation, and so forth? At the very least, some pictures of how to shape a loaf would be sensible.

The actual recipes are broken down into: Loaves; Pizza, Focaccia & Flatbreads; Rolls, Buns & the Breakfast Table; and Sweet Breads & Quick Breads.

Very quickly, it becomes apparent that the recipes lean very heavily towards Italian regional breads. The first 19 recipes are all Italian breads; these are followed by 3 French breads, and then a rather random (in terms of order) collection of broadly American breads (ie white sandwich loaf, cinnamon raisin bread) before we're quickly back to Italy with 5 kinds of ciabatta.

For non-Italian, non-American bread, as well as the few French recipes above, there's: Japanese milk bread; Challah (weirdly, without any mention of its significance in Judaism - and even more weirdly, without photos of braiding instructions; the finished unbaked product is a 6-strand braid, but the written instructions are for 4-strand); Swedish light rye & Tunnbrod; Polish light rye; Finnish Limppu & Ruisleipa; Danish Rugbrod; Indian Naan, Roti & Poori; Norwegian Lefse; Ethiopian Injera; and a couple of Sardinian (don't call 'em Italian!) offerings like Mustazzeddu & Pane Carasau.

Everything else is a love story to Italian regional baking, with some American bits like Banana Bread thrown in. I'm not sure why scones & muffins are included in a bread book.

I'm also not sure why we didn't just go ahead and call this an Italian bread book, or perhaps an Italian-American bread book?

Where's the Lavash, Khobz, Tafarnout, Malawach, or Kubaneh?

Where are all the lovely sub-types of Polish & German breads & rolls?

I found myself a bit baffled by the omission of more international options when things like swordfish crudo pizza (yes, really) made the cut.

I think an Italian-American reader will absolutely adore this book; I think anyone who loves Italian bread will likewise love it. If you're looking for ideas for focaccia or pizza, my goodness, is this packed with those (though not sure how likely you are to stick natto on pizza).

But if you're looking for a balanced book on breads of the world, you definitely won't find that.

Still, nearly anyone is likely to find something to their taste here; it's just a shame that the lack of how-to photos & technical suggestions will mean that anyone less experienced and more ambitious may not be set up for success.

Thank you to Cider Mill Press, NetGalley & the author for providing access to this eARC for consideration of review.
All opinions are my own honest & unbiased feedback based on the copy provided.
The format available for this review was a time-limited LCP Protected EPUB, which meant that I could only read this within the NetGalley Shelf app and couldn't use my preferred (accessible) reading apps. I note this both to encourage publishers to consider using more accessible formats (instead of bespoke NetGalley-only ones) so as to allow disabled reviewers to use accessibility tools and/or reading apps with more flexible accessibility features (I personally like PocketBook, though it's not perfect), and to encourage NetGalley to consider investing in accessibility features for its own app. The above of course has no bearing on my review, but does limit its thoroughness.

Omgz! I'm giddy over how much I love this book.

I was hooked right from the start. I don't know about you, but for me, the introductions in books usually feel unnecessary. But this one brought tears to my eyes with its empowering message. And yet it still got better from there.

This book discusses the science behind bread making, the history of bread making, the tools involved, techniques, different grains (there are a surprising amount) and non-grain flours (coffee? really?), and then the best part—the recipes!

The recipes are fantastic. I love the inclusion of the ancient recipes, as well as recipes from all over the world. Bob, my sourdough starter (yep, that's a nod to Kingfisher), has been languishing in the fridge. But I've already pulled him out. Now I just need to decide which recipe to try first. It's going to be something ancient, because that sounds super exciting to me. (And no, you don't need to fiddle with sourdough, if that's not your thing. There are plenty of yeast based recipes in this book too).

One last thing, before I run off to the kitchen... If you've done a lot of bread baking, particularly with sourdough, you're likely familiar with those really, really, long recipes that are multiple pages; and ugh, you have to read over the directions so many times, because there's so much there. With this book, the directions are surprisingly concise, which I love, love, love.

If you like making bread, buy this book. I'm buying this book, because even though I already have a digital copy, I need a hard copy too!

This is almost an encyclopaedia of bread!

Very, very thorough. Interesting and informative.

Many recipes from all over the world - an immense variety of breads, pizzas, muffins. Almost too many really - very tempting with lovely accompanying photos, I'm not sure there will ever be enough time to try them all.

All the recipes have clear instructions, and amounts are in g as well as cups.

Would be useful for any keen baker, from beginner to more experienced.

An excellent book on bread and bread making. Lots of information on flour yeast and sourdough starter. Plenty of recipes from around the world ( I especially love the St Lucia buns). I would recommend this book for anyone interested in bread beginners or more experienced bakers. Thanks to Cider Mill Press and Netgalley for this review ARC.

This is a great book for anyone interesting in making bread, but also have failed in many attempts (ME!). The detail about the different grains was enlightening and probably useful in the future if I ever master the basics. I will purchase the hard copy as it will be easier to use than the digital version. Thank you for the opportunity to access this ARC.

Bread, the Ultimate Cookbook is full of stunning images and inspiring recipes. Anything and everything you ever wanted to know about making delicious bread. There is a section on history and various parts of the world, equipment and tools needed, fermentation, various grains (including gluten free options), and the many types of breads (savory and sweet). I knew there were many options, but this collection presents an almost endless pool to experiment with. For something as simple as water, flour, salt, and yeast, I could not believe all the variations. I found the recipes to be easy to follow and ingredients fairly standard and available in most grocery stores. I also really appreciated the section on pizzas! The extra section at the end with all the sauces and fillers was pretty cool too. The interviews with all the various bakers were insightful and inspiring. This book belongs on the shelf of anyone who enjoys eating bread, making bread, sharing bread!
I received a complimentary copy from the publisher via NetGalley and all opinions expressed are solely my own, freely given.

This cookbook is a huge wealth of information about bread. There are so many bread recipes in this book that I'm not sure one would be able to make them all in a lifetime. There is a wonderful variety of breads for the ambitious baker.

I think this a great book to have on hand for different types of breads. Personally I like a picture with every recipe and this book does not have one on every recipe but does on most.

There are many bread books available to purchase and there has to be a reason to add another to your collection-right? This books provides interesting recipes without being overwhelming. It provides some informative background information and key techniques without being overly scientific. A hard copy may work better as the photos are not labeled and it is difficult to discern on a digital copy which photo goes with which recipe. This is a great book for fundamentals and is accessible to read.

Thanks NetGalley for sending me this arc. This is a great bread book love the pictures and different techniques it provides for all different kinds of breads.

Bread is a perfect resource for making bread at home. I particularly learnt plenty from the parts about fermentation, sour dough breads, and the different types of wheat. There were so many kinds I did not know about.
This book cover most if not all types of breads and doughs you can think of including pizza and sweet breads.
I will purchase this once it comes out. The print form will be awesome.

This book was so informative. I've been slowly getting into baking my own bread, which had seemed like a more daunting task than it really is. This book is great for the beginner and expert alike. There are so many tips and recipes, I'll be purchasing a hard copy to keep in my kitchen.

I love making bread and have been obsessed with it! I had to read this and it did not disappoint.

The pictures and explanations were perfect. I can't wait to buy this one.

Well done!

Compared to some of my other bread baking book this falls short. The King Arthur book or the Mauricio sourdough book are quite a bit more in depth in my opinion