About the Author

Beth Hensperger, a New Jersey native who has lived in California since her teens, has been educating, writing, and demo-lecturing about the art of baking for over 30 years. In the last few years, she has shifted focus to countertop appliance-driven cookbooks that embrace adapting traditional and professional recipes for the home cook: the bread machine, the rice cooker, the microwave, and a four-volume compilation specifically for use with the electric slow cooker, stressing personal creativity in preparation and selection of ingredients. Hensperger is the author of over 22 cookbooks, including the best-selling Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook series, which includes NYMSC Recipes for Entertaining, NYMSC Family Favorites, and NYMSC Recipes for Two, along with the blockbuster first volume, Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook. Her other books include highly-acclaimed titles such as The Bread Lover's Bread Machine Cookbook, The Ultimate Rice Cooker Cookbook, NYM Microwave Cookbook, and NYM Weeknight Cooking. She is also the author of The Bread Bible (Chronicle Books), winner of a James Beard Award in 2000. She has twice been nominated for the Julia Child/IACP Cookbook Award. Hensperger wrote a San Jose Mercury News food column for twelve years, Baking with the Seasons. She is a contributor to dozens of national and online cooking & lifestyle magazines, such as Food & Wine, Rachael Ray Magazine, Veggie Life, Cooking Light, Working Woman, Victoria, Prevention, and Family Circle, and is a sought after newspaper and radio interviewee speaking on slow cooking, bread baking, and entertaining. She lives in the San Francisco Bay area. Visit her website at www.bethhensperger.com and blog at www.notyourmotherscookbook.com.

Reviews

Hensperger's smaller quick breads book includes 100 recipes from her earlier Art of Quick Breads, now out of print, as well as 50 new ones. In addition to quick loaves, both sweet and savory, there are waffles, dumplings, biscuits, popovers, and a variety of other easy baked goods, along with some tasty accompaniments, such as the Fruit Salsa for her Hopi Blue Corn Hotcakes. For most collections. Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

Unlike electric ice cream makers and pasta machines, the bread machine hasn't really enjoyed wholehearted acceptance in the culinary world. There are hordes of enthusiasts, no question about it, but many who consider themselves serious bakers look upon the machine with a skeptical eye. However, the newer generation of machines turns out excellent bread, and after being bombarded with know-how by this James Beard Award-winning writer, even the most reluctant may be inspired to give it a go. The book opens with an excellent orientation to both the machine and the basics of bread making. Step-by-step instructions are given for a few basic loaves. (Less helpful is a "what went wrong" section, which displays a firm grasp of the obvious.) The 300-plus recipes are so far-ranging it's hard to believe a bread exists that isn't included here. There are white breads and sourdoughs, all manner of whole wheat and grain breads and breads featuring nuts and dried fruits, cheese and savory flavorings. There are crusty ciabattas, a sturdy Irish Potato Brown Bread and a variety of challahs. Hensperger also includes dozens of sweet breads, including croissants, coffee cakes and traditional holiday confections. There are recipes for pizza and flatbreads, as well as selections from a variety of traditions, from Alsatian kugelhopf to Zuni Indian bread. She even offers instructions for using bread machines to make pasta, jams and chutneys. By the end, Hensperger (The Bread Bible, etc.) will have convinced readers that it's time to overcome any qualms and get to work. The bread machine is here to stay. (Aug.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.