Bread Machine Easy – book review & giveaway
May 31st, 2008 by chuck
One of the perks to having a food blog is that sometimes we get the opportunity to review new cookbooks that are coming on the market. I received an email from Octopus Publishing Group ( http://www.octopusbooks.co.uk/ ) from the UK, telling me about a brand new Bread Machine cookbook that they will be launching soon called “bread machine easy“. They were wondering if I would be interested in trying out a few recipes and telling my visitors on my blog and website about the launch. I agreed and they sent me two copies of the book. Whenever, I get a new cookbook I’m like a child with a new toy. I can’t wait to peek inside and see what tasty morsels I may find. I don’t know about you, but I always look at the photos first, then the recipes. I can’t help myself, I’m more of a visual person. Many of the recipes have a full page color photo of the finished bread, which I enjoyed very much. To be perfectly honest, I won’t buy a cookbook without photos inside. Mind you thats just me, but, I like to see how the recipe will turn out when finished. The photos are very simple, clean and delicious looking. The picture above came out of the cookbook and shows one of the breads I made – a ” Gingered Papaya and Pineapple bread”. Doesn’t that just sound like summer to you? The bread had a luscious taste both toasted and untoasted, perfect with a cup of freshly brewed coffee. Each recipe comes with a description, suggestion or comment; which I love reading because they really add to the visual appeal of the recipe.
The “bread machine easy” was created by Sara Lewis who has worked in magazines for over 12 years and has authored numerous cookbooks such as Gourmet Low Carb, Souffles, Veggie Food for Kids and Good Food for Mums. Sara Lewis did a great job with the technical aspect of the book, with a section dedicated to making the most of your bread machine to troubleshooting. I even learned a thing or two myself. Plus, each recipe has at least one helpful tip to make things move smoothly. The “bread machine easy” cookbook has about 70 interesting and tantalizing recipes, all categorized. You will find Everyday Classics, Gourmet breads, Sweet breads, Shaping breads, Wheat and Gluten Free breads to Tea-breads. One of the downsides of this book is that each recipe only makes a 1 1/2 lb loaf. So, if you want a larger or smaller loaf you will have to figure that out yourself.
One of the other loaves I tried was the Tarragon and Ricotta bread. There was no photo for this recipe and thats one of the reasons I wanted to make it. It turned out beautifully, full of flavor and very attractive too. This is the photo we took of the finished bread. There are many interesting recipes in this cookbook from Light whole-meal bread with omega boosters, Beer and brown sugar bread, Indian spice chickpea bread and Beetroot, Horseradish and caraway bread just to name a few. I really hope you will check out the “bread machine easy” cookbook and some of the other wonderful books at Octopus publishers, many of the books you won’t find here in North America.
COOKBOOK GIVEAWAY!!
Octopus Publishing Group was nice enough to give me an extra copy to give away to one of my lucky visitors. All you need to do is make a comment on why you would like this cookbook. Your comment won’t be the deciding factor because it will be a random draw. But, I thought it would be fun to make some kind of a rule.
I’m glad I have a copy myself and it will make a perfect addition to your collection. So, be sure to make a comment and the draw will be sometime on June 6th, 2008.
Hi,
I’d like the book since it’ll help me on my effort to eat more healthy foods. I like baking breads (to replace my usual breakfast of instant noodles… >_
Looks great! I’d love it because I just cannot seem to make decent bread!
Wow, I wish I could get loaves of bread to come out like that with my bread machine. I’ve been trying forever since my sister got me hooked on how easy it is supposed to be, but I always end up with a small dense loaf of bread – never anything light and fluffy. I could use the book and try out some of the recipes – maybe that will fix my problem.
Thank you for the offer. The tarragon ricotta bread looks wonderful!
I recently used “leftover” ricotta (from making lasagna) to make a bread – and didn’t take the time to document the ingredients (ricotta I used was mixed with egg, and other cheeses) – but should have because the result was wonderful (and likely never to be duplicated!) — Would love to be entered. Thank you.
Sounds like a great book. Up to now I’ve only used my breadbaking machine to make more or less regular bread. Never really tried doing something fancy. This book would help me to try out more fancy recipes
I recently started to bake bread and would love to have the book.
I need motivation to pull my bread machine out. It probably needs a good cleaning since it has been sitting on the shelf so long. Winning this cool cookbook would certainly motivate me to pull it out and start using it again.
I’d love to be entered to win the book! I actually got rid of my bread machine awhile back because it was taking up too much room in my kitchen. I kept the recipe book that came with it, though, and have been able to do my favorites by hand. There’s just nothing like homemade bread.
I love to bake bread, but have lately been sticking to challah and boule. This cookbook would help me explore more adventurous recipes and combinations like tarragon and ricotta in bread!
Just what I needed. I have some ricotta left over have been looking for a way to use it!
My mother gave me a bread machine for Christmas and six months later I’ve yet to use it. This cookbook might give me a little more motivation
Love the cookbooks and enjoy baking bread too!
because i love bread
Love my bread machine, only wish I have more yummy recipes like this one.
Honetsly speaking..I’d like the book cuz it’s free!! And besides, I think it would be helpful for my bread baking even i don’t have a machine!
I’ve been wanting to get a bread machine and the book would be a great reason to finally make the purchase!
Another great lookin’ bread there Chuck. I’m surprised you even have a bread machine… I figured you did it all by hand all the time. I don’t need the book as my bread machine was given away long ago. But it looks like it might be a good one for those with machines!
I wish I had a slice of fresh homemade bread right now…mmmmmmm…
Because I love baking bread!
As a take off from this – it would be fun to see your picks on bread machines. I thought I had a good one until it blew up – and I mean literally blew up in my kitchen – smoke, fire and all. I’d like this cookbook to motivate me to get another bread making machine.
Maybe this book will wean me away from the same old boring bread machine recipe I’ve been using for 7 years. ???
Because I really would like to start to use my bread machine more and this looks like it would be full of great ideas!
I do not remember hos I stumbled upon your site but I love it! Bread it just the best. Thanks for sharing. And thanks for the giveaway offer!
I would loveeee to be able to give this book to my mom, an avid bread baker. I think she would love it!
Thanks for the giveaway offer. I never get lucky with these things,
but maybe someday… 
I usually go on a bread baking hiatus in the summer, so as not to heat up the house. I need some COOL bread machine recipes!
I got my first bread machine for Christmas and have only tried 3 or 4 recipes. I need more inspiration than the machine recipe book. I love homemade bread!
I just got my first bread machine and I would love to ahve a great variety of recipes. Hubby can’t wait for fresh home baked bread and, without a machine, I am hopeless at breadmaking.
What a great gift for my wife. She got a bread machine for her birthday and since then we’ve been enjoying bread every morning. To be honest she needs a few fresh ideas.