From Publishers Weekly
If you haven’t heard of Panera Bread or come across one in your neighborhood, that’s likely to change soon. With 669 bakery-cafés in 35 states and 145 more to come this year, Panera Bread has been expanding rapidly since its founding in 1981, giving consumers across the nation a taste of artisan breads. As Peter Reinhart acknowledges in his introduction, to enjoy artisan bread in the current carbohydrate-phobic climate, much less bake one’s own, verges on heretical. But the Panera Bread Team, banking on the café’s name and America’s continuing obsession with the yeasty loaves, offers this simple cookbook, which is surprisingly short on bread recipes. The first few chapters do describe how to bake artisan breads at home using real baker’s formulas, but they omit any discussion of kneading, assuming instead that the baker will be using a mixer. A smattering of basic and advanced bread recipes follow, including Country White Bread, Kalamata Olive Bread and Vegetable Wheat Bread. Taken in combination with the earlier bread-making tips, the recipes will be fairly easy to follow for anyone with baking experience, but they are not for absolute beginners. The rest of the cookbook is friendlier to bakers who don’t want to tackle making the actual bread used in the recipe. Dishes like Eggs Goldenrod with Hot Hungarian Paprika call for slices of the Country White Bread, but the authors allow that purchased multi-grain bread can substitute. And even the carb-averse will be able to stomach the Fandango Salad, an "exclusive Panera Bread menu favorite" made up of walnuts, greens, raspberry vinaigrette, cheese and Mandarin oranges. Anyone looking to recreate Panera’s signature breads will be disappointed by this compilation, but those more interested in the café side of the restaurant should find plenty here to satisfy.Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From the Inside Flap
Nothing satisfies or delights the appetite quite like bread, from rustic sourdough sandwiches and crostini piled high with Roma tomatoes to Sunday morning French toast and savory Thanksgiving stuffing. No one knows better than Panera Bread that well-made bread is the centerpiece to a great meal. Now America’s favorite bakery-cafe offers a practical guide to baking artisan breads at home, along with more than 120 recipes for tantalizing dishes that begin with handcrafted bread—whether you’re baking your own or starting with a warm, crusty loaf fresh from your local bakery.

Panera’s expert bakers guide you through the six easy steps to successful bread-making at home, outlining the ingredients, tools, and techniques that guarantee a perfect loaf. Learn how to work with fresh yeast, adjust recipes according to the baker’s percentage, and craft more than a dozen varieties of white, wheat, and rye breads.

Too often, great bread is relegated to the sidelines during a meal, so the Panera Bread team also serves up creative ways to cook with artisan breads in appetizers, breakfast and brunch fare, sandwiches, soups, salads, sides, and even desserts. Innovative sandwiches such as Fuji Apple and Fontina Panini and new twists on family favorites like Bananas Foster French Toast showcase the bold flavors and remarkable textures of breads like Kalamata Olive, Raisin Pecan, Three-Cheese, and Focaccia. Panera Bread also shares, for the first time ever, a handful of recipes from their award-winning bakery-cafe menu.

A thorough introduction to bread-making for beginners and an indispensable reference for experienced bakers, The Panera Bread Cookbook is a celebration of this eternal comfort food—a must-own for bread lovers and bakers everywhere.

About the Author
Panera Bread freshly bakes more bread each day than any other bakery-cafe in the country. Every day, at every location, expert bakers handcraft each loaf from scratch, using all-natural ingredients to deliver fresh, authentic artisan breads to hundreds of neighborhoods nationwide.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Nothing satisfies or delights the appetite quite like bread, from rustic sourdough sandwiches and crostini piled high with Roma tomatoes to Sunday morning French toast and savory Thanksgiving stuffing. No one knows better than Panera Bread that well-made bread is the centerpiece to a great meal. Now America's favorite bakery-cafe offers a practical guide to baking artisan breads at home, along with more than 120 recipes for tantalizing dishes that begin with handcrafted bread—whether you're baking your own or starting with a warm, crusty loaf fresh from your local bakery.

Panera's expert bakers guide you through the six easy steps to successful bread-making at home, outlining the ingredients, tools, and techniques that guarantee a perfect loaf. Learn how to work with fresh yeast, adjust recipes according to the baker's percentage, and craft more than a dozen varieties of white, wheat, and rye breads.

Too often, great bread is relegated to the sidelines during a meal, so the Panera Bread team also serves up creative ways to cook with artisan breads in appetizers, breakfast and brunch fare, sandwiches, soups, salads, sides, and even desserts. Innovative sandwiches such as Fuji Apple and Fontina Panini and new twists on family favorites like Bananas Foster French Toast showcase the bold flavors and remarkable textures of breads like Kalamata Olive, Raisin Pecan, Three-Cheese, and Focaccia. Panera Bread also shares, for the first time ever, a handful of recipes from their award-winning bakery-cafe menu.

A thorough introduction to bread-making for beginners and an indispensable reference for experienced bakers, The Panera Bread Cookbook is a celebration ofthis eternal comfort food—a must-own for bread lovers and bakers everywhere.

SYNOPSIS

Each time Panera Bread opens a new caf￯﾿ﾽ in the neighborhood, the locals cheer. No one understands better than Panera, after all, that great bread makes a great meal, from made-to-order sandwiches and fresh salads to wholesome soups served in bread bowls. Now, from America's favorite bakery-caf￯﾿ﾽ, comes this essential guide to enjoying delicious, handcrafted breads at home.

With easy steps for bread baking basics and more than 120 bread-based recipes for every occasion--including Artichoke Crostini, Asiago Bagel Breakfast Bake, Poblano Pulled Pork on Country White, Corn and Oyster Mushroom Chowder, and Banana Charlotte--The Panera Bread Cookbook promises to be a valuable resource for baking enthusiasts interested in cooking with artisan breads in their own kitchens, whether they start from scratch at home or with a loaf from Panera's bakery.

The Panera Bread Cookbook includes a foreword on the cultural importance of bread by revered baker and James Beard Award-winning author Peter Reinhart, as well as tantalizing recipes from Chef Ward Bradshaw and Joel Cammett of Atlanta's celebrated hotspot restaurant, Teaspace. Illustrations and international bread "tidbits," along with detailed advice on the best ingredients and products to use for perfect results, make The Panera Bread Cookbook as engaging as it is practical. Color photographs of dough preparation, bread baking, and finished recipes add to the visual appeal of this must-own addition to any cookbook collection.

FROM THE CRITICS

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