Bread for All Seasons: Delicious and Distinctive Recipes for Year-Round Baking

by Beth Hensperger, Victoria Pearson (Photographer)

In the best-selling tradition of Beth Hensperger's earlier titles, this engaging collection of 80 mouthwatering recipes is inspired by international traditions and enhanced by a cornucopia of fresh, seasonal ingredients. Accompanied by a selection of special holiday breads, this gorgeously illustrated cookbook is sure to become an integral part of any bread lover's repertoire all year round.

Genres: Cookbooks, Food, Nonfiction, Cooking

168 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1995

About the author

Beth Hensperger is a passionate professional- and home- baker who is both extremely creative and extraordinarily prolific as an author and developer of quality recipes. Her training included a ten-year apprenticeship as a restaurant and hotel pastry chef as well as having her own custom wedding cake business and attending classes given by some of the top bakers in America. Though restaurant trained, she considers herself more of a dedicated home baker than a chef.
Beth’s writing career began when she was chosen as the Guest Cooking Instructor for the March 1985 issue of Bon Appetit. She is now the author of fifteen cookbooks, many of them best sellers. Her most recent books include: Williams Sonoma Breads (Weldon Owen), Bread For Breakfast (Ten Speed Press), and The Bread Lover's Bread Machine Cookbook (HCP). The Bread Bible (Chronicle Books) is the recipient of The James Beard Foundation Award for Baking in 2000. Beth's Basic Bread Book (Chronicle Books), a sequential text for the beginning home baker, published in the Fall of 1996, was chosen as one of the best baking books of the year by People Magazine. She has been nominated twice for the IACP Julia Child Cookbook Awards. Her books are all represented at the prestigious Culinary Collection of the Schlesinger Library at Radcliffe College in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
When she isn't up to her elbows in flour, Beth is a monthly food columnist with the San Jose Mercury News "Baking By the Seasons". She is a regular contributor to Cooking Pleasures, Food & Wine, Shape Magazine, Bon Appétit, Veggie Life, and Pastry Art and Design Magazines.

Reviews

[Mary Cokenour · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well put together book for anyone interested in becoming a better bread baker. The recipes are detailed, and many have histories behind the origin of the bread item. Wish there were more photographs though, especially detailing steps along the recipe.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful little book with delicious recipes of all varieties.

[Ruth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been experimenting with bread making for a few months ago and somehow was led to this book. I had read Artisan bread in 5 minutes a day and apparently was the only person in the universe who didn't find the book to be that useful (the container with the bread dough took up half my fridge.. I only got 2.5 loaves out of each batch.. and I set off the smoke alarm in my house TWICE heating up the baking pan sprinkled w/ cornmeal...) so I was looking for something else. I find bread making to be quite straighforward actually and didn't need it to be dumbed down. But speaking of dumbing down, a friend loaned me her bread machine over Thanksgiving week and I just LOVED loved loved it and almost returned this book to the library without reading it. But then while the kids were inthe tub I took to reading it and loved how the recipes were organized by month and season and gave a little history of each bread type and that the vast majority of them did NOT have exotic ingredients that I would have to go in search of. (Virginia Beach is not exactly a gourmet's paradise so everytime a recipe calls for something like unmilled sorghum bread flour, I sigh and turn and the page. but I digress..) Yes, the book has some recipes that have random ingredients but mostly they are things you have in the house and can make on a whim without a grocery store run. Tomorrow i'm going to make the Sweet Vanilla Challah and I can't wait to try it!
edited to add: the vanilla challah was FANASTIC as were the petit pains au lait..

[Yaaresse · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are some delicious recipes in this book, but part of how I rate cookbooks is by their functionality in actual use. On strength of the recipes, this should easily be a four star book. That's great if you're just going to read it like a novel, but cookbooks are (supposedly) meant to be used. The font is tiny, the page layout is cluttered (so easy to lose your place while cooking), and the book won't lie flat. If you try to make it lie flat, you crack the spine and then the pages come out altogether. Maybe when (if) they come out with an e-book edition, those problems will be solved and I can give this the rating the recipes and information deserve.

[Valerie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I keep trying to cook every recipe in this book. I think I've tried about seventy percent of them. It is my favorite bread book.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Every recipe I've tried has been delicious and inspired me to build upon her ideas. The photography is also really nice. Easy to use. Highly recommend it.

[Jesse D · Rating 1 out of 5]

The four sections for the different seasons are called "Springtide," "Sun Food," "Autumn and Harvest" and "Winter Darkness." Are you serious, book? Yes, but you shouldn't be.