---
product_id: 331459
title: "The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread"
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url: https://www.desertcart.nz/products/331459-the-bread-bakers-apprentice-mastering-the-art-of-extraordinary-bread
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---

# 50+ master bread recipes 12 classic bread-making stages 100+ step-by-step photos The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread

**Price:** NZ$105
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## Summary

> 🍞 Elevate your kitchen game—become the bread artisan everyone envies!

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- **What is this?** The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread
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## Key Features

- • **Recipe Goldmine:** 50+ expertly tested formulas from rustic ciabatta to iconic pain à l’ancienne.
- • **Master the Art of Bread:** Unlock 12 essential stages to craft bakery-quality loaves at home.
- • **Baking Science Meets Art:** Blend food history, advanced techniques, and practical tips for extraordinary results.
- • **From Novice to Bread Ninja:** Friendly, accessible teaching style that grows with your skills.
- • **Visual Learning Powerhouse:** Over 100 detailed photos guide you through every step with clarity.

## Overview

The Bread Baker's Apprentice by Peter Reinhart is a definitive guide for aspiring and experienced bakers alike, featuring over 50 master recipes, 12 foundational bread-making stages, and more than 100 step-by-step photos. This acclaimed book combines baking science, culinary history, and expert techniques to help you create extraordinary artisanal breads at home, transforming your baking from routine to remarkable.

## Description

Co-founder of the legendary Brother Juniper’s Bakery, author of the landmark books Brother Juniper’s Bread Book and Crust & Crumb , and distinguished instructor at the world’s largest culinary academy, Peter Reinhart has been a leader in America’s artisanal bread movement for over fifteen years. Never one to be content with yesterday’s baking triumph, however, Peter continues to refine his recipes and techniques in his never-ending quest for extraordinary bread. In The Bread Baker’s Apprentice , Peter shares his latest bread breakthroughs, arising from his study in several of France’s famed boulangeries and the always-enlightening time spent in the culinary academy kitchen with his students. Peer over Peter’s shoulder as he learns from Paris’s most esteemed bakers, like Lionel Poilâne and Phillippe Gosselin, whose pain à l’ancienne has revolutionized the art of baguette making. Then stand alongside his students in the kitchen as Peter teaches the classic twelve stages of building bread, his clear instructions accompanied by over 100 step-by-step photographs. You’ll put newfound knowledge into practice with 50 new master formulas for such classic breads as rustic ciabatta , hearty pain de campagne , old-school New York bagels, and the book’s Holy Grail–Peter’s version of the famed pain à l’ancienne . En route, Peter distills hard science, advanced techniques, and food history into a remarkably accessible and engaging resource that is as rich and multitextured as the loaves you’ll turn out. This is original food writing at its most captivating, teaching at its most inspired and inspiring–and the rewards are some of the best breads under the sun. — Food52, Most Anticipated Cookbooks — Every Day with Rachael Ray, Round-Up

Review: Very Highly Recommended Source on Artisinal Breads - Just when you think you have seen the best possible book on bread, a new volume comes out, generally written by Peter Reinhart, which tops the previous book. This is certainly the case with the author?s ?Crust and Crumb? being trumped by his latest bread volume, ?The Bread Baker?s Apprentice?. Both volumes have won James Beard awards up the wazoo, and both books deserve all the praise they get for how well they address the relatively difficult and arcane corner of gastronomica that is artisinal bread baking. Before you form any impressions that this praise means you simply must get this book, be warned that you will be perfectly capable of making superior bread at home without cracking any one of Reinhart?s books. There are several more accessible sources. My favorite, recommended by Reinhart himself is the bread baking chapters of ?Baking with Julia (Child)? co-authored by baking writer Dorie Greenspan. Another even broader and older source is Bernard Clayton?s ?Complete Book of Breads? which covers over six hundred pages without once using the words ?poolish?, ?biga?, or ?sponge?. Reinhart?s books are for professionals (especially ?Crust and Crumb?) and very serious bread baking enthusiasts and hobbyists (especially ?The Bread Baker?s Apprentice?). If you go back to Reinhart?s very first book ?Brother Juniper?s Bread Book?, you may even say these books are for those people who treat bread as part of their religion. Being true to the derivation of the word ?religion?, it is for people who truly wish to be connected to bread making. ?The Bread Baker?s Apprentice? is no less serious and no less rigorous than Reinhart?s earlier books, but it is clearly more accessible to the lay reader than ?Crust and Crumb?. Aside from having one of the most attractive covers I have seen on a culinary work in a long time, it is glossier and more invitingly designed by Ten Speed Press, the publishers of both volumes. ?Apprentice? opens with a story of the author?s winning a James Beard Bread Baking competition and how that lead him to a trip to Paris and a tour of several of the French Capital?s leading boulangerie. His experiences with the French apprentice system, especially as used by some of the city?s leading bread bakers is the source of the book?s title, as well as being the source of the great pound sign marked boule being held by the very attractive Reinhart apprentice on the cover of the book. ?Apprentice? also devotes close to eighty pages to explaining in great detail the steps of artisinal bread baking. Reinhart?s books, especially this one, are some of the very few I have seen which explain many of the things which go on while making bread. Everyone who uses yeast knows these microorganisms eat sugar or starch and exhale carbon dioxide. What people do not commonly know is that they also exhale ethanol and, in artisinal breads, wild microorganisms that create lactic and acetic acids that give sourdoughs their distinctive flavoring enhance their action. The book also explains that the first rise in bread baking has much more to do with flavor development than it does with creating the airy texture in the bread?s crumb. The only other book which does as good a job of explaining bread baking technique is Joe Ortiz? ?The Village Baker?. ?Apprentice? also has as good or better illustrations of baking techniques than both ?Crust and Crumb? or ?The Village Baker?. ?Apprentice? presents several of the same ?formulas? that appear in ?Crust and Crumb? but in every case, where the same bread is presented, ?Apprentice? goes into greater depth regarding the history of the bread, the special techniques needed, and the variations commonly done with the same basic formula. Both books use the Bakers Percentage Formula presentation of ingredient amounts, but both also present ingredient amounts in very easily measured ounces. I am surprised that neither book includes metric weights, as they are immeasurably easier to scale up or down, especially when you are dealing with such small amounts as in fractions of an ounce of salt or yeast. One complaint I have seen of Reinhart?s books is in the large size of some of the recipes (meaning an implementation of a formula). I sympathize with this comment, but point out that Reinhart is not writing for the occasional home baker, he is writing for the professional and the devoted amateur baker. In the author?s treatment of Brioche, both books deal with this bread as the archetype of a whole family of breads; however ?Apprentice? goes into this family tree to a greater depth than I have seen in any other book. It gives formulas for ?Rich Man?s Brioche? with 88 percent butter, ?Middle Class Brioche? with 50 percent butter, and Poor Man?s Brioche with 24 percent butter. While ?Crust? gives formulas for brioche family members Kugelhopf and Challah, ?Apprentice gives formulas for brioche cousins Casatiello and Challah. If I were a consecrated member of the bread baking fraternity, I would want both of these book. Well, I want both anyway, since my philosophy is that a 35-dollar book has paid for itself if it yields up one good ideas, and both books are goldmines of information and ideas about bread baking. If you must choose between the two and you are not a professional, take ?Apprentice?. The cover alone is worth the price of admission. If you are a professional or professional wannabe, take ?Crust?. It has a more extensive bibliography and list of mail, web, and professional sources. In a culinary publishing niche with lots of excellent sources, Reinhart?s books, especially ?The Bread Baker?s Apprentice? is clearly one of the best for the serious baker.
Review: Must Own Book For Any Bread Baker (Beginner to Experienced) - Simply one of the best written bread baking books out there. It's time tested (I ordered the 15th anniversary edition) and approved by hordes of fans. If you already own the original copy you might not need the newest edition. However, it does include 3 new master recipes (on top of the previous 50 or so), and a big new section on sourdoughs (aka wild-yeast starters). The sourdough section is rather simple, but like the rest of the book it's well written in a friendly and understanding tone (you don't ever feel pretentiousness or "my way is the only way"). Below are the reasons you should consider this book based on your baking experience: Beginner baker (little to no experience, but lots of interest): This book teaches you the fundamentals of solid baking and breaks everything down into easy-to-understand steps that can be applied to all baking. These steps are critical knowledge to becoming a good baker and not having to rely as heavily on recipes (and being able to adjust based on variables). The book is written well, easy to understand, has a friendly tone, and very much feels like it's written for the home baker with the understanding that sometimes you have to work with what you have (e.g., not everyone has a la cloche or dutch oven). The book also uses a decent amount of pictures to show you how things should look, and each recipe feels like it is personalized by Reinhart, often times including notes for changing the recipe. By simply following any recipe in this book (and the recommended techniques) you will create a bread that amazes friends and family (and probably yourself). This book represented a major shift in my understanding of the baking process and has helped me (in less than 6 months) go from a simple recipe follower to someone who can create his own bread based on learned knowledge and techniques. Somewhat experienced baker: With some experience you'll be able to use this book to it's fullest extent. The recipes may not blow your mind as an experienced/somewhat experienced baker, but they are all delicious and reliable. The techniques and approach to teaching the recipes and techniques is what makes this book shine for me. If you have felt like you were struggling to take your baking to the next level or to really understand the how/why behind baking techniques and recipes, then this book is for you! This book will help you better understand and combine techniques (provided you have learned others to combine with) as well as improve your understanding of recipes. It sets the stage for a leap into expert level baking. Highly experienced baker: As an experienced baker you won't find this book to be ground breaking, but it could teach you a few tips and tricks you may not have known. Reinhart does a great job of adding notes to recipes that tell you how to adjust/change things up. He also does an amazing job of breaking down all the steps of baking (all 12 of them) and explaining what they are and how they are applied in different bakes (some combine/skip steps). The techniques portion of this book offers interesting professional approaches tried and tested by Reinhart but seems to fully accept (and even occasionally mention) that there are other techniques/recipes/etc. The recipes in this book are solid, and you'll find them to be tasty and appealing (although as an experienced baker you may already have preferences for other recipes). The sourdough section won't blow your mind, but it's a useful refresher. I would not recommend purchasing this book solely for the sourdough section. Wrap-up: Combining this book's recipes and techniques with other books I've read/am reading has allowed me to exponentially improve my baking techniques and understanding. Reinhart's writing style and teaching style come through in this book, you can tell it was written by a teacher and someone who loves baking (not one or the other, but both!), and for that reason I love it.

## Features

- Used Book in Good Condition

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| Best Sellers Rank | #219,488 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #10 in Bread Baking (Books) #124 in Culinary Arts & Techniques (Books) #264 in Food Science (Books) |
| Customer Reviews | 4.8 out of 5 stars 4,518 Reviews |

## Images

![The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/91Q0L57XM0L.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Very Highly Recommended Source on Artisinal Breads
*by B***D on July 22, 2004*

Just when you think you have seen the best possible book on bread, a new volume comes out, generally written by Peter Reinhart, which tops the previous book. This is certainly the case with the author?s ?Crust and Crumb? being trumped by his latest bread volume, ?The Bread Baker?s Apprentice?. Both volumes have won James Beard awards up the wazoo, and both books deserve all the praise they get for how well they address the relatively difficult and arcane corner of gastronomica that is artisinal bread baking. Before you form any impressions that this praise means you simply must get this book, be warned that you will be perfectly capable of making superior bread at home without cracking any one of Reinhart?s books. There are several more accessible sources. My favorite, recommended by Reinhart himself is the bread baking chapters of ?Baking with Julia (Child)? co-authored by baking writer Dorie Greenspan. Another even broader and older source is Bernard Clayton?s ?Complete Book of Breads? which covers over six hundred pages without once using the words ?poolish?, ?biga?, or ?sponge?. Reinhart?s books are for professionals (especially ?Crust and Crumb?) and very serious bread baking enthusiasts and hobbyists (especially ?The Bread Baker?s Apprentice?). If you go back to Reinhart?s very first book ?Brother Juniper?s Bread Book?, you may even say these books are for those people who treat bread as part of their religion. Being true to the derivation of the word ?religion?, it is for people who truly wish to be connected to bread making. ?The Bread Baker?s Apprentice? is no less serious and no less rigorous than Reinhart?s earlier books, but it is clearly more accessible to the lay reader than ?Crust and Crumb?. Aside from having one of the most attractive covers I have seen on a culinary work in a long time, it is glossier and more invitingly designed by Ten Speed Press, the publishers of both volumes. ?Apprentice? opens with a story of the author?s winning a James Beard Bread Baking competition and how that lead him to a trip to Paris and a tour of several of the French Capital?s leading boulangerie. His experiences with the French apprentice system, especially as used by some of the city?s leading bread bakers is the source of the book?s title, as well as being the source of the great pound sign marked boule being held by the very attractive Reinhart apprentice on the cover of the book. ?Apprentice? also devotes close to eighty pages to explaining in great detail the steps of artisinal bread baking. Reinhart?s books, especially this one, are some of the very few I have seen which explain many of the things which go on while making bread. Everyone who uses yeast knows these microorganisms eat sugar or starch and exhale carbon dioxide. What people do not commonly know is that they also exhale ethanol and, in artisinal breads, wild microorganisms that create lactic and acetic acids that give sourdoughs their distinctive flavoring enhance their action. The book also explains that the first rise in bread baking has much more to do with flavor development than it does with creating the airy texture in the bread?s crumb. The only other book which does as good a job of explaining bread baking technique is Joe Ortiz? ?The Village Baker?. ?Apprentice? also has as good or better illustrations of baking techniques than both ?Crust and Crumb? or ?The Village Baker?. ?Apprentice? presents several of the same ?formulas? that appear in ?Crust and Crumb? but in every case, where the same bread is presented, ?Apprentice? goes into greater depth regarding the history of the bread, the special techniques needed, and the variations commonly done with the same basic formula. Both books use the Bakers Percentage Formula presentation of ingredient amounts, but both also present ingredient amounts in very easily measured ounces. I am surprised that neither book includes metric weights, as they are immeasurably easier to scale up or down, especially when you are dealing with such small amounts as in fractions of an ounce of salt or yeast. One complaint I have seen of Reinhart?s books is in the large size of some of the recipes (meaning an implementation of a formula). I sympathize with this comment, but point out that Reinhart is not writing for the occasional home baker, he is writing for the professional and the devoted amateur baker. In the author?s treatment of Brioche, both books deal with this bread as the archetype of a whole family of breads; however ?Apprentice? goes into this family tree to a greater depth than I have seen in any other book. It gives formulas for ?Rich Man?s Brioche? with 88 percent butter, ?Middle Class Brioche? with 50 percent butter, and Poor Man?s Brioche with 24 percent butter. While ?Crust? gives formulas for brioche family members Kugelhopf and Challah, ?Apprentice gives formulas for brioche cousins Casatiello and Challah. If I were a consecrated member of the bread baking fraternity, I would want both of these book. Well, I want both anyway, since my philosophy is that a 35-dollar book has paid for itself if it yields up one good ideas, and both books are goldmines of information and ideas about bread baking. If you must choose between the two and you are not a professional, take ?Apprentice?. The cover alone is worth the price of admission. If you are a professional or professional wannabe, take ?Crust?. It has a more extensive bibliography and list of mail, web, and professional sources. In a culinary publishing niche with lots of excellent sources, Reinhart?s books, especially ?The Bread Baker?s Apprentice? is clearly one of the best for the serious baker.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Must Own Book For Any Bread Baker (Beginner to Experienced)
*by Z***N on January 4, 2017*

Simply one of the best written bread baking books out there. It's time tested (I ordered the 15th anniversary edition) and approved by hordes of fans. If you already own the original copy you might not need the newest edition. However, it does include 3 new master recipes (on top of the previous 50 or so), and a big new section on sourdoughs (aka wild-yeast starters). The sourdough section is rather simple, but like the rest of the book it's well written in a friendly and understanding tone (you don't ever feel pretentiousness or "my way is the only way"). Below are the reasons you should consider this book based on your baking experience: Beginner baker (little to no experience, but lots of interest): This book teaches you the fundamentals of solid baking and breaks everything down into easy-to-understand steps that can be applied to all baking. These steps are critical knowledge to becoming a good baker and not having to rely as heavily on recipes (and being able to adjust based on variables). The book is written well, easy to understand, has a friendly tone, and very much feels like it's written for the home baker with the understanding that sometimes you have to work with what you have (e.g., not everyone has a la cloche or dutch oven). The book also uses a decent amount of pictures to show you how things should look, and each recipe feels like it is personalized by Reinhart, often times including notes for changing the recipe. By simply following any recipe in this book (and the recommended techniques) you will create a bread that amazes friends and family (and probably yourself). This book represented a major shift in my understanding of the baking process and has helped me (in less than 6 months) go from a simple recipe follower to someone who can create his own bread based on learned knowledge and techniques. Somewhat experienced baker: With some experience you'll be able to use this book to it's fullest extent. The recipes may not blow your mind as an experienced/somewhat experienced baker, but they are all delicious and reliable. The techniques and approach to teaching the recipes and techniques is what makes this book shine for me. If you have felt like you were struggling to take your baking to the next level or to really understand the how/why behind baking techniques and recipes, then this book is for you! This book will help you better understand and combine techniques (provided you have learned others to combine with) as well as improve your understanding of recipes. It sets the stage for a leap into expert level baking. Highly experienced baker: As an experienced baker you won't find this book to be ground breaking, but it could teach you a few tips and tricks you may not have known. Reinhart does a great job of adding notes to recipes that tell you how to adjust/change things up. He also does an amazing job of breaking down all the steps of baking (all 12 of them) and explaining what they are and how they are applied in different bakes (some combine/skip steps). The techniques portion of this book offers interesting professional approaches tried and tested by Reinhart but seems to fully accept (and even occasionally mention) that there are other techniques/recipes/etc. The recipes in this book are solid, and you'll find them to be tasty and appealing (although as an experienced baker you may already have preferences for other recipes). The sourdough section won't blow your mind, but it's a useful refresher. I would not recommend purchasing this book solely for the sourdough section. Wrap-up: Combining this book's recipes and techniques with other books I've read/am reading has allowed me to exponentially improve my baking techniques and understanding. Reinhart's writing style and teaching style come through in this book, you can tell it was written by a teacher and someone who loves baking (not one or the other, but both!), and for that reason I love it.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Easy enough to follow for the beginner, but really a textbook on bread
*by N***S on March 1, 2013*

Wow. I got in over my head. I understand the words in this book, and I can follow the recipes and the advice; but wow, this is a LOT of information. I bought this book because it has a great recipe for pizza dough and is supposed to teach you the "Zen" of bread (and pizza dough). It does that, but it does so much more. This book is not for the casual user. It is easy to read, but it sucks you in and converts you into a bread snob (something I aspire to be now that I know there is so much cool stuff to know!) The book breaks down like this: A few stories, a whole bunch of bread theory, and recipes. It shows you how, but also why. It really is a book for "the apprentice," and it is written by a master who fearlessly credits his mentors, sources, and even rivals. This is interesting id you have **time** but I just wanted a killer recipe for pizza dough, and having scoured the Internet I found that you have to go to the source: the "bread mastah's." I am VERY happy to have this book, but I am angry that it shows me how much there is to know and challenges me to stop what I am (happily) doing and spend time learning about bread. Bread, it turns out, is like wine. You can drink wine, but there is an endless supply of information about the complexities of wine, and grapes, and how the weather affects grape production, and how soil affects the grape, and how all of this goes into each year's crop (vintage) of wine. Yaaargh!! It is information overload! Look: If you want to make a kick-ass cake, buy a box of mix and go to town, but if you have the insane desire to make the kind of goodies we all pay too much for at cafes and bakeries, this is the book for you. It is NOT hard. The ingredients are in your local store it turns out, and Amazon sells whatever is not, so you are covered. It is not expensive, and this book shows you a lot of cheats, in case you don't have all of the super fancy bread making equipment and specialty ovens (and whatnot). You may have to use a little ingenuity but if you have a toaster oven you can make (very small batches of) GREAT bread, dinner rolls, pastries, pizza, and whatever. This book is not at all "microwave friendly" (just so you know) -- you DO need an old-fashioned "oven" of some sort, but bread making is a passion, and a tasty one! This book is intimidating. It is a brick: big, and thick, and heavy, and written by a guy who really knows his stuff. But I read through it. Hint: you can skip around and STILL get great results. You do want to read the basics though, because by understanding the basics of bread you know how to improvise and use what you have to get great results. It really is a great book, and it has satisfied my need to know about bread. I can stay with this book, and a handful of recipes, and improve EVERY meal I make, all without having to do a lot of study. This is a lifetime skill (just being able to make bread from scratch without a lot of fuss) and it provides instant rewards (you get to eat the bread). I cannot recommend this book highly enough--but just beware that it will try to take over your brain. It is a wealth of information and cunningly seductive in its methods of creating a desire in you to be some kind of ninja baker. Hope this helps. Thanks for reading :-)

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*Store origin: NZ*
*Last updated: 2026-10-06*