Rating: 
Summary: Peter Reinhart - Master Baker/School Master
Review: After reading Mr. Reinhart's book, it sat on my table for over a week, before I picked it up again. Mr. Reinhart comes across as a school master instead of a nurturing instructor. He almost demands that the reader make his poolish recipe which in my opinion is way too much, without room to store it. He relents and admits one can use half the recommended portion. Another problem, not all recipes use the poolish your forced to make, even half portion, so your stuck with poolish you don't really know what to do with. Bottom line, he insists you follow his recipes or else it won't be world class. Who Cares? All I want to do is make a good loaf of bread. On the other hand, Daniel Leader's book BREAD ALONE, has simple to follow recipes, repeating steps in each one, which some readers find annoying but I find most useful. Mr Leader also expresses the desire for the reader to try on his own and modify the recipes presented to make his/her own special loaf. I am not saying the recipes of Mr. Reinhart aren't good, just that the reader is strapped in doing what the author says must be done.
Rating: 
Summary: too much ego -- not for home bakers
Review: and now, so does my bread baking technique. although i still have yet to really "get" the baker's math formulas in the book(and for that i blame my fourth-grade math teacher, who made me math-phobic, not the writer... :)). Peter Reinhart's writing style is friendly and entertaining, so it's much more than just a cookbook; it's fun reading. His passion shines through in the clear, detailed and organized instruction. Makes me long to take some classes with him at J and W! Definitely invest in a stand mixer if you are eager to try all the recipes in this book--or just be happy with the biceps and triceps workout you'll get mixing them up. Excellent book for intermediate to advanced bakers, for sure, though some motivated beginners may catch on just fine. Just a great resource book, from his advice on what kitchen gadgets are must-haves or ought-to-haves, the "mise en place" mindset/workspace, to the recipes. there is always some sort of bread in progress in our kitchen all the time now; sort of in defiance to the low-carb craze...
get this book. you will be amazed at how much you can take from it.
Rating: 
Summary: The book.
Review: As a profesional baker for about 17 years now , was i suprised ( in the nice way ) I find mr. Reinharts book a push in the right direction for the starting baker. As you can read in the book mr Reinhart use only natural products . Something that is verry rare at this time in the world of bakers . As everybody know or not know , bakers of the new generation or grabing to fast in the direction of the breadimprover, whats making more damage to the profession than its doing something good . In the book of mr Reinhart you find all the good recepis that you need to make a good bread in the natural way like i know them and like my father and at the same time my teather knew them . So i say to all the beginning bakers get the book and try a few recepts you will be surprised what you can do without the improver.
Rating: 
Summary: An excellent resource for home and professional bread making
Review: Chef Peter's book is great for new ideas and education in bread making. As a past student of Chef Peter, this book provides reference and supports his skill as a teacher and culinary expert!
Rating:
Summary: Regaining the Love of breadmaking
Review: Crust and Crumb, by Peter Reinhart,
I feel convinced anyone who wishes to bake can use this book to great advantage. Whether you used to bake, as I did, or you just need some part of the welcome guidance our teenaged daughter found in the pages; this book will serve you well. Our daughter found it was easier for her to read Crust and Crumb, than put up with my direct teaching. She received an A+ in home economics, and compliments.
She had never baked before starting her home economics class, and wished to do everything perfectly, but got nervous when I was right there, rather than in another room to answer questions. She found this book a lot like a good friend.
...
Back to the book: aside from the bread, which is well covered, there are lots of wonderful tips and recipies from Chef Peter that can really highlight a meal.
Whether you enjoy sharing your baking with others, or just bake for yourself, the answers are easy to find; the methods reliable to the degree possible in a process with so many variables, such as humidity , yeast, and individual oven performance, to name a few. If you know you want something unique from your own hands and oven, then you decide to share it with others; if you can stand to have it disappear very fast, and have people ask "who made this?""Is there more of this?"- as they point at YOUR suddenly empty serving plate, then these recipes are for you.
Beyond that, I have three words: Love this book!
Rating: 
Summary: Just nominated for a James Beard Book Award
Review: Great news! Crust & Crumb has just received a nomination from the James Beard Foundation for best book in the Baking and Desserts category. The competition is steep. I'll keep you posted.
Rating: 
Summary: very disappointing
Review: Had used Nancy Silverton's La brea Bakery bread book for a long time and loved it. Decided to try another bread book and was extremely dissapointed in this one. The sourdough bread I made had to be thrown out. The french bread recipes are just okay.
Rating:
Summary: Highly Recommended Artisinal Baking Text. One of the Best
Review: I am always a little nervous reviewing a book such as Joe Ortiz? ?The Village Baker? published over ten (10) years ago when there are several unread books which are known to me as leading authorities on the subject. This situation means I can praise a book while knowing there may be even better, more recent books on the market. Well, I am beginning to correct that situation with this review of Peter Reinhart?s ?Crust and Crumb? which is just one of his two major award winning books on bread baking. I am pleased to say that not only is ?Crust and Crumb? just a bit better than ?The Village Baker?, Reinhart, in ?Crust and Crumb? recognizes ?The Village Baker? as one of the most highly recommended books on the subject of artisinal bread baking. Both books are so good, it may be hard to recommend one over the other, but I will make some suggestions in this regard at the end of the review.
For people knowledgeable about and committed to the task of creating artisinal breads, this book is hands down one of the very best in English, readily available to people living in the United States. The subtitle says it all: ?Master Formulas for Serious Bread Bakers?. The term formulas should not put you off. The author is not turning bread baking into a mathematical exercise. Reinhart is simply using that term to replace recipes in order to reflect the well-known fact that written bread baking procedures are a different sort of thing from savory recipes where measurements can be approximate, with a variation to suit taste of up to 300% in things such as seasonings. Serious baking writers get nervous about statements that may lead to a variation of 10% in the weight of flour or water.
For people who do not know what artisinal bread baking is all about, I warn you that the difference between artisinal baking and savory cooking is similar to the difference between building a house out of prefabricated pieces and building a house out of logs you cut down and hew into lumber yourself. If working with brewer?s yeast is new to you, working with natural yeasts is a quantum step in sophistication beyond that. While you can create quick breads such as biscuits in an hour and you can bake a perfectly good loaf of yeast-risen white bread in six hours, artisinal baking can take days to set up. Then, the chances of success depend heavily on ambient conditions affecting flour and wild yeasts, plus the almost impossible to teach ability to sense stages in dough development by touch, look, and smell.
If you have no interest whatsoever in embarking on an artisinal baking project, this book may still have much to offer you. It has some quick bread recipes and it has many recipes that use brewer?s yeast in fresh, active dry, or instant form. In addition to these, the knowledge you gain about the nature and history of artisinal bread baking is superb. I was tickled to see Reinhart correct the mistake in another book that attributed the invention of the ?poolish? technique to Polish bakers in Paris. Actually, like many other baking techniques taken for French, the technique was developed in Vienna, by, of course, Polish bakers. The book corrects or explains many other more serious matters, leading to very long write-ups for many of the breadmaking essays, procedures, notes, and comments.
The greatest thing about this book I found was the author?s optimism in believing that you the reader are quite capable of duplicating the results of superior artisinal bakers with equipment you have in your home. No less an authority than Jacques Pepin claimed that this feat may be impossible, since you simply do not have the kinds of ovens used by professional bakers. I will go along with Peter Reinhart and not permit myself to believe I cannot bake a perfect Ciabatta, or, at least one as good or better than what is available at my local megamart.
This book is a full service location for everything you need to know about baking several important styles of bread as well as where you can get the best equipment, flour, and further information about bread baking. I am delighted that he endorses the opening chapters of Shirley Corriher?s ?Cookwise? as a superior reference on bread baking technique and he cites ?Baking With Julia? as a great way to get started in bread baking. This was my introduction, and it has served me well.
Needless to say, in a 210-page book that treats every formula in great depth, this book does not have everything there is about bread baking. It is an excellent text on artisinal baking, but it leaves out almost the whole world of regional specialties. For that, and almost everything else you may want to know about direct method brewer?s yeast baking, see Bernard Clayton?s ?The Complete World of Breads? or Betsy Oppenneer?s ?Celebration Breads?. For more information on other types of indirect (natural yeast) baking, see Rose Levy Beranbaum?s ?The Bread Bible?, Nancy Silverton?s ?Breads from the La Brea Bakery?, and Joe Ortiz? book cited above.
One issue I encounter again and again in bread baking books is the author?s selection of brewers yeast form. I first learned yeast bread baking from Julia Child with active dry yeast. Reinhart and several other authors prefer instant yeast. Some, like Wayne Harley Brachman, prefer fresh yeast. Luckily, Reinhart does a better job than most in making the conversion from one form to another in his formulas. If you resist little work with fractions, get Joe Ortiz? book. He is partial to active dry yeast.
Subject to revision when I read Reinhart?s latest book, ?The Bread Baker?s Apprentice?, I say this is clearly one of the best titles you can get on bread baking using both direct (brewers yeast) and indirect (natural yeast) formulas.
Rating:
Summary: The best how-to book for the serious baker
Review: I have for my entire adult life had the ambition to bake what Peter Reinhart fittingly calls "world-class" bread, but in spite of buying and reading several books dedicated to bread and much work and experimentation, the good bread eluded me. When I saw Peter Reinhart's "Crust and Crumb" advertised, I was reluctant to buy another baking book, having resigned myself to the fact that good bread cannot be baked at home. "Crust and Crumb" got me over the hump. It made me understand the chemistry and process of bread baking, and the result is that I now bake bread which is as good as any that I have had anywhere - and I have eaten a lot of good bread, including in Italy and France. And it made me understand that in order to bake good bread, you have to take it seriously, be dedicated and take the time it takes - there are few shortcuts ("poolish" starter being one of those few) and really no compromises. "Crust and Crumb" is really the only bread baking cookbook you need. Well, maybe Joe Ortiz' "Village Baker" too.
Rating:
Summary: The best how-to book for the serious baker
Review: I have for my entire adult life had the ambition to bake what Peter Reinhart fittingly calls "world-class" bread, but in spite of buying and reading several books dedicated to bread and much work and experimentation, the good bread eluded me. When I saw Peter Reinhart's "Crust and Crumb" advertised, I was reluctant to buy another baking book, having resigned myself to the fact that good bread cannot be baked at home. "Crust and Crumb" got me over the hump. It made me understand the chemistry and process of bread baking, and the result is that I now bake bread which is as good as any that I have had anywhere - and I have eaten a lot of good bread, including in Italy and France. And it made me understand that in order to bake good bread, you have to take it seriously, be dedicated and take the time it takes - there are few shortcuts ("poolish" starter being one of those few) and really no compromises. "Crust and Crumb" is really the only bread baking cookbook you need. Well, maybe Joe Ortiz' "Village Baker" too.
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