The Bread Machine Book

This is a great book for beginners, because it explains every step. There are about four dozen recipes. From potato-oatmeal bread, which has great texture by the way, to cinnamon and apricot buns, the recipes are adventurous and varied enough to keep you interested. It's also a nice book for breadmakers with some experience, because the recipes make a great platform for adaptation. I made the cinnamon apricot buns with home-made reduced-sugar plum jam and pecans, substituting barley malt for sugar in the glaze. Ms. Doeser gives the technique, you vary the ingredients. It's full of interesting ideas that you can follow as written or adapt to your own taste or available ingredients. If there's a down side, it's that there's not enough of it. The 95-page book (not counting the index) leaves me wishing it was twice as long.