Rating: 
Summary: Re-Discover the Joys of Hot Fresh Quality Bread
Review: After using my bread machine extensively for several years, the novelty of fresh hot bread had sort of worn off (imagine that). After visiting Europe, I really wanted to be able to eat the types of breads I ate there, but didn't know how to make them and didn't want to pay the high price here for specialty breads. This book is fun, informative, and has great recipes. If some of the other reviews that mention time and complexity scare you, you should realize that there the recipes in this book vary in complexity from extremely simple to complicated and that you should decide which recipes to make accordingly. Lastly, like all recipes, a certain amount of experimentation/variation may be needed to suit your needs; the authors teach you how to do it exactly right, but a little cheating will still yield awesome bread.
Rating: 
Summary: Good for people with lots of time to experiment
Review: I found this book very disappointing. It should be titled 'How to use your Bread Machine as a Mixer, not a Bread Machine". The vast majority of their recipes have you baking the bread in a conventional oven after the bread machine has done a little of the preparation. I would have thrown the book away, but I've kept it for the few recipes that actually use the bread machine to finish and bake the bread. Bread machines are designed to make baking bread simple, this book just makes bread baking tedious.
Rating:
Summary: Who Needs Pictures?
Review: I have been baking bread for over 40 years...in a bread pan. You know...the old fashion way...knead, rise, knead, rise....
A few years ago I received a very nice bread machine which helped tremendously but...I needed more. Every loaf looked the same.
I have been playing around with different cookbooks that were geared to a bread machine but none gave times or temperatures for baking off the bread in a regular oven.
This book gives times, temps, ways to shape loaves...it is a wonderful book. I have learned more tips and tricks than I thought possible. Tonights loaf of sourdough was the best I have ever made.
Buy this book...you'll be glad you did!!!
Rating:
Summary: Mmmm.....very good!
Review: I have one thing to say to Larry from NM...."Phhbblltt!" (That's as close to a phonetic spelling of a raspberry I can think of.) I have a genetic disease that causes me to have tendonitis in my shoulders and elbows, making it impossible to bake bread from scratch. I bought a bread machine and love it but a square loaf is a square loaf. I LOVE THIS COOK BOOK! Finally I can bake bread by letting the machine do all the work and then I just have to shape and bake. Thank you so much for this wonderful collection of recipes and tips.
Rating:
Summary: Finally, techniques for texture
Review: I love this book. I own two other bread making books, and this is my favorite. The other books give little antecdotes followed by a recipe, but they don't explain anything. This book has a lot of useful information on obtaining the perfect texture (creamy yet airy) and a chewy crust. My bread also rises better than it used to. And thanks to this book, my starters are finally working. I agree with the reviewer who said that the techniques discussed in the beginning of the book are not reiterated in the recipes, but they are straight forward enough to keep in mind.
Rating: 
Summary: Valuable tips
Review: I'm glad I got the book, if only to learn about using the dough cycle on my bread machine. Many of the breads are as fabulous as described and taste great. They can still be a little too finely textured, however, without the big holes that the cover picture and the descriptions would lead you to believe will happen. The pan ordinaire baguettes came out more like Italian bread the first time I made them. So I still had to play around with the dough a bit to get them to turn out exactly as described. In many cases, the dough actually has to be wetter than the recipe would indicate in order to get them to come up to expectations.To my mind, the basic bread flour breads are the best recipes in the book. When the authors get into other flours and flavors (rye, etc.), the results were less appealing. I also think the authors go overboard continuously suggesting organic flour and bottled water. Most of us won't go to this bother, and it seems gratuitous on their part to insist that they're really that much better.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful book for many reasons
Review: I've made quite a few of the breads in this book and everything has come out to rave reviews from whoever I serve the results to. From the basic French bread to the Brother Juniper's Santa Rosa Struan, to Challah, to bread sticks--just great! The authors also explain a lot of the "why's" of ingredients and actions you take in bread making. (Such as exactly what "spritzing" a loaf in the oven with water will do to it & why.) This book, my Breadman & my "stone" are all I need....
Rating:
Summary: A great bread machine book
Review: If you are looking for a great bread machine book, this may be the one for you! I made the basic french bread that bakes in the machine and it was wonderful - far and away the best bread to come out of my bread machine EVER! They gave a lot of great suggestions and ideas to try to improve the quality of the bread you make in your bread machine. Some of the suggestions (such as using spring water) may not be for everyone, but there are a lot of good ideas. Many of the recipes do require baking in your oven rather than in the machine. Also, a good number of the recipes require you to make a starter (not all of them), so this wouldn't be my one and only bread machine book. If you love the good crusty breads, but don't always have the time to make the dough, try this book and let your bread machine do the work. You won't be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Re-Discover the Joys of Hot Fresh Quality Bread
Review: On the surface this book provides a multitude of ideas from its enthusiastic authors. Sadly however, the book suffers extensively from contradiction and inconsistency. Points made in the introductory section are not followed through in the recipe section. Particularly confounding are incorrect cross references and mixing of terminology to the point where it becomes very difficult to understand what they're on about!
More extensive proof reading and testing of the recipes would have ironed out these problems. If you're experienced in the world of bread baking, then you might still find this book useful from an inspiration point of view. If, however you're looking for recipes which you'll follow to the letter, steer clear of this one: you'll be in for some not-so-pleasant surprises.
Rating:
Summary: Good for people with lots of time to experiment
Review: The book "Rustic European Breads from Your Bread Machine" covers an appealing topic and is a nice bookshelf work, beautiful paper and layout, but I can't really recommend it as a book for people who actually want to bake directly with immediate result for the following reasons: - Recepies often refer to preparatory recepies, so when you pick something out of the index, expect to have to read many pages before you have the whole picture.
- Indicated quantities needed to be adapted for them to work. Granted I only tried two recepies, but the family pizza dough of page 192 for instance needs 1 1/2 cups water instead of 1 cup and 2 tbl spoons water. I bake a lot, also from other books and never needed this kind of adaptation.
- It feels like they want you to get every measuring spoon you own dirty for ingredients that really do not need such precision.
- And yes, most of it needs to be finished in the oven. Summary:
If you have the time and like to tinker, great book, because of great results.
If you want to have good sure results from your bread machine, look elsewhere.
| 
