First, the positive: this is the book that started me baking bread. A complete baking novice, I read the article in Mother Earth News, bought the book, and found that it really was an easy, fool-proof recipe. The idea of keeping a large amount of dough in the fridge to use as needed is the most useful idea in the book. And it's not bad bread.

But it could easily be better. Cut back on the yeast, cut back on the salt, and give the initial rise more time. The flavor improves, the crumb opens up and you save a TON on yeast. Once I started making other no-knead recipes, especially the fantastic Almost no-knead from Cook's Country, I stopped using this book and haven't gone back since.

While it's certainly not my favorite bread, it was the reason I started baking in the first place. It deserves credit for turning countless non-bakers into breadmakers. If you're interested, get it from the library or find the recipe on the Mother Earth News website and try it before you go out and buy it.