Monday Must Have: The Bread Baker's Apprentice Book

I have a little confession to make.

If you have been following my blog for a little while, you may have remembered me mentioning something about joining a bread baking group about five months ago (or maybe not and now I've pointed out something that I haven't followed through on). This group called The BBA Challenge(Bread Baker's Apprentice) was formed by Nicole at Pinch My Salt and the goal was to make a recipe per week and post about each result.

From the very beginning, it was stressed that although many people would follow a weekly schedule, you could go at any pace that is best for you and your schedule, so don't worry if you didn't bake a recipe every single week. I was very excited and all ready to jump on the bread baking wagon, especially since I owned the book and had made some recipes from it while I was in culinary school. Now, here is another bit of information to add--I also joined the Daring Baker's Kitchen at about the same time and have found that a monthly challenge has worked much better for me and my level of commitment at that time.
Back to my confession.

I made the first bread recipe (LOVED IT), posted about it and then...work and life got busier and I never made it back for the second recipe (if you look at the side bar with the labels, you'll notice there is only (1) BBA post). I used to follow the google discussion groups and other members of the groups blogs for the first month or two, but then I felt SO guilty about not keeping up, that I had to stop. And it's not like I'm even being held accountable for whether or not I'm making any of the breads, but I still feel a twinge of guilt about not following through. I guess I am on the slow, slow, SLOW schedule and have now made a goal to bake at least three more recipes by the end of the year (yep, I think I can perhaps handle one per month).

So what is my point today? Just this. I saw the book on my shelf, looked outside at the overcast, cold, fall-ish weather outside and thought, "Hey, today is a great day to make bread and maybe others would like to know more about this great book." Also, we have some freshly ground hard white wheat that needs to be used (see picture with large container of flour two pictures down). And hey, fresh warm bread straight from the oven? I think I can make that sacrifice on my day off.

Let me introduce or re-introduce (if you are already aware of this book), The Bread Baker's Apprentice, by Peter Reinhart.



This book is a wealth of great information and contains excellent directions for making delicious bread. Even if you haven't had much experience in baking bread, but want to learn and know more, then this book is for you. If you don't have this book, but would like to try a recipe from it, click over to my post about the Anadama Bread recipe. Try it and let me know what you think about it.

I will be making one of the many great recipes from this book today and later this week, I'll post pictures and more information about how it turns out.

In the meantime, I'd love to know what your favorite bread to make is or if you don't make bread, what is your favorite bread to eat?
Happy Bread Baking Monday!