Book Review: Bread Machine Cookbook for Beginners

Dear Diary,

I’ve just read a recently published cookbook destined for beginner bread machine users (just like myself, perfect timing), let me share my thoughts on it. Please welcome the Bread Machine Cookbook for Beginners by Zea Heptinstall.

My first impressions on the Bread Machine Cookbook for Beginners by Zea Heptinstall

Bread Machine Cookbook for Beginners by Zea Heptinstall provides a great resource for starting to explore the endless possibilities of using a bread maker machine. It is a well-collected recipe book with tons of recipes, even paying attention to the costs as well. Now let’s get to the bottom of this.

Allow me to jump straight to the end of the book

Very thoughtful and even more useful for me are the conversion tables I found at the end of the book so I could easily transform the US standard measurements to the conventional ones used in Europe (and also by me). Sure, you can Google them one by one or use a converter app but it’s much faster this way.

Before these tables, there is a short glossary, making it easier for the bread baker newbies (like myself) to understand the terms related to bread-making.

There are some further references in the Connecting with the Bread-Making Community section for finding further inspiration online (thanks, I’ll definitely take a look at them).

I’m sure the section dedicated to common mistakes and how to solve them spares some headache for many of us, starters. You can find out what to do when the center of your bread remains uncooked or how to handle a sticky dough.

The recipe section

Bread Machine Cookbook for Beginners by gives us about 120 bread and dough recipes to try out, I’m sure that everyone will find the ones suitable for themselves.

It starts with the timeless classics like French and Italian Bread, Sourdough Bread and Whole Grain Bread recipes followed by some delicacies such as the Jalapeño Cheddar Bread (I’m sure my husband would appreciate it).

The Sweet Sensation chapter takes us, sweet-toothed, to a

delightful journey into the world of sweet breads, where we explore the softer, sweeter side of bread-making

to quote the author of the book, Zea Heptinstall here. I cannot wait to try out the Blueberry Lemon Bread or the Nutella Swirl Bread or the Cherry Chocolate Bread or the Raspberry White Chocolate Bread or… I think I’ll just stop here ’cause I’m already drooling after these sweet delicacies.

When buying my bread maker, I secretly hoped that I can make some tasty desserts with it just as easily as baking a bread, now I have here tons of recipes to experiment with.

The next chapter takes us to an International Bread Adventure, and I’m happy to embark on the journey. I’m curious to try out the Indian Naan I’ve heard so much about in the movies or see whether my Greek Pita Bread turns out better than the one I usually eat in restaurants here.

The following chapter will be a great help for those who are on a diet with basic gluten-free, low-carb, vegan, keto, paleo etc. bread recipes, supplementing the list with a few sweet but diet-friendly options as well.

The last chapter of the recipes section is dedicated to dough recipes other than bread. Pizza Dough will soon become everybody’s favourite, I’m absolutely sure about it (you know someone who doesn’t like pizza? nah.. me neither). Croissant Dough and Waffle Batter Dough also sound tempting, along with the English Muffin Dough recipe.

Not to forget about the introductory part

Prior to the well-collected recipe section there are some basic stuff that are good to know about bread making such as the cycles of the bread baking process used by the bread machines, the main types of programmes these machines generally have and some instructions on how to read the recipes in this cookbook.

There is a short comparison of homemade vs. store-bought bread and a few tips on how to stay budget friendly while using organic ingredients, highlighting its benefits.

The author emphasizes the cost-effectiveness of bread maker machines, reflecting my exact thoughts shared in one of my previous post where I calculated how soon my bread maker machine would pay for itself and shared a calculator where everyone can do the same.

There is a short section dedicated to the ingredients: a guide on how to select and store them, a presentation of different flour and yeast types.

At the beginning of the book there is a general presentation of bread machines along with some key benefits of homemade bread.

Bonus content

Along with the book came a bonus chapter, Crafting the Perfect Sandwich: From Classics to Gourmet with 20 additional recipes for different sandwiches. It guides us on how to make the perfect Grilled chicken Caesar sandwich on parmesan rosemary bread or Smoked salmon and cream cheese on avocado bread. I’m sure your dinner guests will be totally amazed if we serve them these sandwiches.

Conclusion and remarks

All in all, I think it’s a well-composed cookbook with dozens of recipes in every category with specific directions for bread maker machines. The selection is so wide that everyone will find recipes here that suits them. The introductory and closing chapters provide a deeper insight for rookies like me by providing useful information on different topics.

The only thing I think could have been added to the book is some pictures of the baked goods, I would be curious how they should look like. But other than that, I think it’s a good one.

You can find it on Amazon.

My future plans

I already got my to-do list from this cookbook’s recipes, let’s get to work! (Or should I say, let’s give our bread maker machine some work to do for us?) I plan on starting with some easier recipes from every section then dive into the ones needing more experience.

Check back later, I’ll keep you posted on how they turn out!

XOXO from my kitchen 🙃