Book Reviews

The Ultimate Bread Machine Cookbook

Author: Tom Lacalamita

I would say I love my bread machine, but that would be weird don't you think?  Well I will say it is a great addition to my kitchen and the smell of fresh bread baking is wonderful on so many levels.  I relax, and I feel super cool multi-tasking in the kitchen.  I will have the bread machine going and working on dinner.  For those of you who have trouble with baking bread or just would like a hand every now and then; a bread machine is a great purchase.  It is self contained unit, don't open the lid to often though, you will let the warmth out.  I have on many occasion not had dough rise enough, I would guess it was due to peeking a few times too many.  Alright, back to the book, it is an older print, 1993 to be exact, I picked it at a sale, and I like the many recipes it offers.  There are some new release books for bread machines out now, and they are getting creative, check one out soon.

The chapters are broken out into great categories to quickly find what you want to make, from basic breads to flavored breads, as well as flatbread, pizza dough, bagels, and brioche!  The Introduction section gives some tips for ingredients that may come in handy if you want to reduce certain things be it salt, or fat amounts.  There are pictures throughout the book, but if you like a picture for each recipe than this isn't the best book for you.  Although with bread machine loafs they are a different shape and unless you just want the machine to mix the dough and let it rise for you, then you can take it out and shape it in the size and shape you desire, that is an option, and I would guess you have made bread by hand and you already know how the bread should look.

This book gave me more recipes than the short book that was with the bread machine, it has suggestions with each recipe as well as a trouble shooting section at the end of the book.  What I learned from this book is what key areas to look for in the next book I buy, because this one was done well.  I expect the next book to have lots of choices, tips, and not a lot of fluff. One thing is sure, there are new shapes and additional features to the bread machines out now, and the recipe books are keeping up with the machines.  I will be upgrading to a new model and new books very soon. May bread fill your home with warm goodness.