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Rating: 
Summary: good food, good feeling
Review: an amazing cookbook... and more! the cheeseboard collective works not only has great, easy to follow recipes, it also tells the story of a group of folks creating a better way to do business/
Rating:
Summary: Almost as good as going to the Cheese Board!
Review: Going to UC Berkeley - and thus living only a block from The Cheese Board - one wouldn't expect me to have much use for this cookbook. But I love it! If you love to cook and want to experience some truly delightful foods, but this book! I think that it makes a great gift for anyone who wants to take a little taste of Berkeley home. It's also good for those who, like me, don't always want to leave the comfort of home to get some great food.
Rating:
Summary: Love it!
Review: I admit that I haven't been to the Cheese Board in Berkeley, but I've heard so many wonderful things about it -- including the pizza, baguettes and cheese selection -- that I couldn't wait to get this book. It definitely met my expectations, with wonderful recipes for scones, sweet breads (including Sunday bread and stollen), cheese breads, pizzas (with sourdough crust) and more and a great chapter on domestic and international artisinal cheeses. While the quotes from the collective's members get a bit old, the book also gives an interesting overview on an alternatively-run business that's had much success over the last 30 years. Highly recommended!
Rating: 
Summary: great read
Review: I read it cover to cover, great fun, lots of fascinating history of the collective. The pizza recipe I tried was excellent. But if you are looking for a book with lots of detailed information on different cheeses and what to serve them with, note that you won't find that here -- the food focus is on baking.
Rating:
Summary: Fun book with some great recipes
Review: If you ever been to the Cheese Board in Berkeley, you've experienced how fun, and delicious it is. It's a destination, not just a food store.The book is the same way. The recipes are delicious, and actually work. But it's filled with fun facts and info on the Cheese Board history and culture. So far, I've made the challah (Excellent!), banana muffins (very good), ginger shortbread (good), and simple whole wheat bread (bit of a disaster). The only criticism I have is its overemphasis on sourdough. Many of the recipes assume creating sourdough with their recipe, so if that's not to your taste, it's not clear exactly how to proceed.
Rating:
Summary: Generousity of Table and Knowledge
Review: There are two types of generosity that one deals with in regard to cooks, bakers and other culinary artists. The first is generosity of table where what is put before you food wise reflects time, effort, attention and care. Memorable meals, hosts and foods all show a generosity of the table. What is harder to find is generosity of knowledge where a cook will give you their prize techniques, recipes and knowledge for no other reason then to spread knowledge and pleasure though it might dilute their "brand" or mystique. You know people who never let go of a prize recipe because it is too valuable, too precious; something to be passed on to generations. I am happy to say that this cookbook reflects both kinds of generosity. The Collective really tries to convey the table type of generosity by providing a lot of blurbs from members and clients. Trying to give the atmosphere of a cheese shop where you and the seller spend time establishing trust and tasting models one thin cheese slice at a time. This book displays the generosity of knowledge by providing ALL the recipes loved by customers of the Cheeseboard. I spent a fortune buying the Olive Provolone bread, zampanos and other heady bread goodness that could be bought every time I left home and returned. When I left Berkeley sometimes I would think back longingly to bread from the cheeseboard during my travels. Now to the technical aspects. The book is definitely designed for people who have had previous experience with baking though they do show some rudimentary things like the window pane for gluten development. Still I would say that this book is not for the beginner but someone already comfortable with the bread making process. It is not as technically exhaustive as Silverton's _Breads of La Brea Bakery_ or Rheinhart's _Baker's Apprentice_but it does provide basic ideas and recipes that are used. Layout --
The layout is not as user friendly as I would like with clear break-out steps so it is highly recommended that you read the recipe before using because the movement of the eye is not broken with subheaders and lines. The color of the paper is cream with use of black and red typography. It is done as a paperback that with use will become the scratch and sniff type of cookbook easily. If you bake and collect consider getting two copies because one will get quite a beating. Recipes -
Solid gold for those who know how to bake and have the necessary equipment, like a baking stone. For those who have no patience to spend DAYS doing a sourdough starter this is not the book for you. Also, if you are a newbie to baking bread use Reinhardt's _Baker's Apprentice_ as a way better introduction since this book assumes you know what tacky and elastic dough refers to. I recommend this book highly with its anecdotal style, generosity of knowledge for any baking collection especially, a collection specializing in the northern California food revolution. However, for those just starting the adventure of baking there are way better teaching books.
Rating:
Summary: Generousity of Table and Knowledge
Review: There are two types of generosity that one deals with in regard to cooks, bakers and other culinary artists. The first is generosity of table where what is put before you food wise reflects time, effort, attention and care. Memorable meals, hosts and foods all show a generosity of the table. What is harder to find is generosity of knowledge where a cook will give you their prize techniques, recipes and knowledge for no other reason then to spread knowledge and pleasure though it might dilute their "brand" or mystique. You know people who never let go of a prize recipe because it is too valuable, too precious; something to be passed on to generations. I am happy to say that this cookbook reflects both kinds of generosity. The Collective really tries to convey the table type of generosity by providing a lot of blurbs from members and clients. Trying to give the atmosphere of a cheese shop where you and the seller spend time establishing trust and tasting models one thin cheese slice at a time. This book displays the generosity of knowledge by providing ALL the recipes loved by customers of the Cheeseboard. I spent a fortune buying the Olive Provolone bread, zampanos and other heady bread goodness that could be bought every time I left home and returned. When I left Berkeley sometimes I would think back longingly to bread from the cheeseboard during my travels. Now to the technical aspects. The book is definitely designed for people who have had previous experience with baking though they do show some rudimentary things like the window pane for gluten development. Still I would say that this book is not for the beginner but someone already comfortable with the bread making process. It is not as technically exhaustive as Silverton's _Breads of La Brea Bakery_ or Rheinhart's _Baker's Apprentice_but it does provide basic ideas and recipes that are used. Layout --
The layout is not as user friendly as I would like with clear break-out steps so it is highly recommended that you read the recipe before using because the movement of the eye is not broken with subheaders and lines. The color of the paper is cream with use of black and red typography. It is done as a paperback that with use will become the scratch and sniff type of cookbook easily. If you bake and collect consider getting two copies because one will get quite a beating. Recipes -
Solid gold for those who know how to bake and have the necessary equipment, like a baking stone. For those who have no patience to spend DAYS doing a sourdough starter this is not the book for you. Also, if you are a newbie to baking bread use Reinhardt's _Baker's Apprentice_ as a way better introduction since this book assumes you know what tacky and elastic dough refers to. I recommend this book highly with its anecdotal style, generosity of knowledge for any baking collection especially, a collection specializing in the northern California food revolution. However, for those just starting the adventure of baking there are way better teaching books.
Rating:
Summary: Berkeley Institution in a Book
Review: When I recently returned to Berkeley and discovered The Cheese Board book, I bought it sight unseen. It was the best purchase I've ever made. Who can imagine an amazing bakery providing recipes for every single product that they carry? The Cheese Board owners painstakingly recreated their large-scale recipes for the home baker. Scones, "chocolate things," pecan sticky rolls, legendary sourdough crust pizza....it's all in there! If you have fond memories of the Cheese Board as a former Berkeley resident, it's likely this book can bring tears to your eyes through photos of the evolving shop and the various owners who may have served you. If you haven't experienced the Cheese Board (where I've been a customer for 20 years) but want to delve into delicious baking experiments and make the best pizza possible, I highly recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: At the heart of the Gourmet Ghetto in Berkeley, CA
Review: With Alice Waters' fledgling restaurant, Chez Panisse, on the east side of Shattuck Ave and The Cheese Board right across the street on the west side, the foundation was laid in the 60s for what has become known nationwide as the Gourmet Ghetto, the center of California's culinary revolution. The Cheese Board is a collective with everyone earning the same amt of money, pretty darn good fringe benefits, rotation of jobs so no one gets bored and so anyone can fill in at any position, an active Berkeley-style social ethos, and unlimited cheese tastings. Wonderful pizzas, a bakery, and the cheese store combine into a neighborhood institution.
At last, they have put out a collection of their most favored and treasured recipes; just flipping through the pages makes you very, very hungry.
With a foreword by Alice Waters herself, it's sure to go on the holiday wish list of all the locals - and of lovers of good food everywhere.
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