I meant to respond earlier – sorry. I hope you see this. As an intro to Peter Reinhart’s books, I’d say either Artisan Breads or The Bread Baker’s Apprentice are a great choice. They’re fairly similar. Some of the recipes in Artisan Breads are those he’s re-tooled from BBA, so you might say that Artisan Breads contains his latest and greatest techniques, but I LOVE BBA and wouldn’t have thought any of the recipes needed any further work. Both books rely on delayed fermentation (mix it – or at least a starter – one day, bake another), but Artisan more heavily emphasizes the ability to delay fermentation more than just one or two days (it’s usually up to four). Although I tested for Artisan, I’ve baked more heavily from BBA just because I’ve had it so long and love it, and I’ve actually only had a chance to bake one bread from the real Artisan book – instead of an email from Peter – so I’m not yet as familiar with the layout and book itself. I just know the recipes are good. Basically, I’d say buy whichever strikes your fancy: you can’t go wrong with either.

Once you’ve gotten familiar with whichever you choose, I’d get Whole Grains. The recipes tend to be a bit more complex, and whole grains can be more difficult to work with. (The other books do have some whole grain recipes, by the way.) But it will seem pretty easy if you’ve been baking for a while. I do recommend that you read the somewhat lengthy intro, which explains his technique.

Very cool about meeting Jeff Vandermeer – I love a good book, so I’ll definitely have to check his out…

Thanks for the book recommendation. It really sounds great. To someone who has baked bread a few times (but not nearly enough to her liking) and would like to do so more often, would you recommend this one over The Bread Baker’s Apprentice (or any of his other books)?