Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

If you've never seen the first version of this book, Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking, then spend a few minutes reading its reviews. Then, if you decide you like the reviews of the original version, come back here and buy this updated one instead. The updates are welcome improvements over the original. There are some obvious improvements: * A couple dozen new recipes * A chapter of gluten-free recipes * More color photographs Less obvious changes, but more important to me: * Recipes now include weight measurements for flour! This is important to me. In the first edition of this book, when measurements were only given by volume, I wasn't always sure I was getting the right amount of flour, and would sit down and work out weight calculations by hand. Now, the authors have done the calculations for me. * The authors have learned a LOT from their readers! They have a regularly updated website where readers post questions and comments and recipe variations. The authors have incorporated much of this information into the new edition. For example, the "tips and techniques" chapter has been significantly expanded to address a variety of issues that have come up over the last several years (such as "What do I do about changes in the dough toward the end of its storage life?"). If you already have the first edition, should you invest in this new one? It depends. Here's how I look at it: * If you are an avid follower of the authors' website, then you are probably "up-to-date" on subtle tips, new recipes, and so on. So, this book might offer little beyond your original purchase. However, it does nicely integrate all the old material along with new information gathered over the last several years. * If you have the old book, but do not follow the discussions on their websites, then you are likely to appreciate all the new information packed into this new edition. Buy the new version, and pass along the old version to introduce a friend to the "5 minutes a day" approach to baking bread.