The Best Bread Cookbooks: A Complete Guide

We all know how brilliant bread machines are are.

Easy to use, versatile and — most importantly — creators of some truly delicious loaves.

So why would you need the best bread cookbooks if these machines do all the work for you?

Well, aside from being practical and convenient, baking your own bread with a bread machine can be great fun too — and once you’ve mastered the standard recipes that come with the machine it’s likely that you’ll get the baking bug and want to experiment a little more.

The best way to do this is to invest in a cookbook containing recipes specially designed for bread makers. These bread machine cookbooks have the most accurate measurements and instructions to bake bread in a machine.

Feeling the urge to do some creative baking? We’ve sought out the best bread cookbooks around to get you inspired…

Best Bread Machine Cookbooks

The Bread Lover’s Bread Machine Cookbook

Widely considered one of the best bread cookbooks around right now, The Bread Lover’s Bread Machine Cookbook was penned by professional baker Beth Hensperger. It combines her passion for baking and writing in this comprehensive cookbook containing over 300 recipes.

Suitable for any make and model of bread maker, this bread cookbook gives a solid foundation for budding bakers with chapters to help them understand the baking process, plus how their bread machine works and how to make it work for them.

The varied selection of recipes includes rustic whole wheat breads, sweet breads, pizza doughs, savory nutted, herbed, spiced and cheese breads as well as recipes for jams and chutneys.

This book will appeal to beginners as well as veteran bread bakers.

The No-Fuss Bread Machine Cookbook: Hands-Off Recipes for Perfect Homemade Bread

Super easy to follow, this cookbook focuses on the convenience of a bread maker and provides over 150 recipes for your delectation.

Accompanied by beautiful images to make your mouth water, these quick, simple recipes are perfect for novice bakers and busy people who don’t have a lot of time to dedicate to baking. The recipe instructions are also adapted according to the desired loaf size, making them great for singles and small families who don’t want to waste bread.

As well as basic breads author Michelle Anderson has put together a great selection to choose from, including fruit breads, cheese breads, grain, seed and nut breads, holiday breads, sweet breads, and creative combination breads. Yummy!

Betty Crocker Best Bread Machine Cookbook

Iconic Betty Crocker is a trusted source for recipes, and this bread cookbook is no exception.

With a handy glossary plus explanations of the different features of bread makers and how to use them, this book demystifies the process of baking with a bread machine.

Over 130 recipes are included, with fruit and vegetable loaves, flatbreads, wholegrain and sweet breads among them. With plenty of pictures and step by step instructions, the Betty Crocker Best Bread Machine Cookbook is an ideal choice for a beginner.

The Bread Machine Cookbook

This revised edition of the very first bread maker cookbook ever written has been reworked to incorporate updated recipes tried and tested on more modern bread making machines.

Written by experienced baker and bestselling cookbook author Donna Rathmell German, this practical volume features over 130 recipes for whole grain breads, croissants, and breads for the allergy-sensitive, alongside old favorites such as fruit, vegetable and spice breads.

Many of the recipes will appeal to the health conscious and those who like to customize their recipes by adding their own choice of flavorings.

Rustic European Breads: From Your Bread Machine

Jointly written by esteemed authors Linda West Eckhardt and Diana Collingwood Butts, this almost 100 recipe strong volume features an excellent range of tasty European artisanal breads and rolls including speciality flatbreads, dark breads, bagels and brioche, as well as sweet, holiday and dessert breads.

These surefire recipes have easy to follow instructions to give great results — even for the inexperienced baker — and adventurous bakers will love the variety.

The Gluten-Free Bread Machine Cookbook: 175 Recipes for Splendid Breads and Delicious Dishes to Make with Them

If you’re one of the huge number of gluten intolerant people, this bread machine cookbook could become a fast favorite.

Gluten-free bread is notoriously difficult to get right — particularly if your bread maker doesn’t have a gluten-free program.

Shannon Kinsella and Jane Bonacci have solved that problem with these 175 gluten-free recipes compatible with any bread machine — whether it’s pizza dough, special breads like coconut curry or olive and oregano, or just a great rustic wholegrain loaf.

The Gluten-Free Bread Machine Cookbook gives detailed but simple explanations of the science behind making great gluten-free bread, including explaining innovative baking techniques using the different gluten-free flours available.

Best Bread Cookbooks

If you’re so inspired by your bread maker that you want to experiment a little further, why not take a look at some more traditional bread cookbooks?

Here are a few recommended cookery books especially dedicated to traditional bread baking methods.

Flour Water Salt Yeast: The Fundamentals of Artisan Bread and Pizza

Ken Forkish — famous artisan chef and bread maker — shares his secrets of baking bread and pizza dough in this acclaimed cookbook. This book is educational and enlightening, yet the clear and simple recipe instructions make baking with this book a breeze.

Flour Water Salt Yeast is a cookbook that experienced bakers will love, but serious beginners will also appreciate the in-depth basic knowledge. It includes around 40 recipes ranging from sourdough and wholegrain recipes to exotic pizzas.

The Bread Bible

Blogger baker and author Rose Levy Beranbaum brings you The Bread Bible — a cookbook with an emphasis on understanding the science and the art behind baking.

The 150 recipes are simple enough for beginners to follow with ease, and the extensively detailed background information will appeal to those who are already more skilled.

Recipes are categorized by bread type, and comprise everything from batter breads and brioche to hearth breads and sourdoughs.

The New Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking

A revised edition of the incredibly popular original version by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë François, this cookbook makes baking truly accessible, and takes into account the busy lives we lead and the need to bake breads, pizzas and pastries quickly and simply.

This is a fun cookbook filled with hints and tips and laced with glossy photos of delicious baked creations — it even includes a chapter on gluten-free breads.

The New Artisan Bread is very well illustrated with 100 recipes inside its pages.

The Bread Baker’s Apprentice, 15th Anniversary Edition: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread

Perfect for those new to baking, The Bread Baker’s Apprentice makes artisan baking straightforward for home bakers.

Culinary author Peter Reinhart has a scientific, technical approach taking the reader through 12 different stages of bread baking. The book has a clear and comprehensible structure and features some beautiful photography, making it both helpful and appetizing.

Choose from such archetypal breads as rustic ciabatta, nourishing pain de campagne, New York bagels, and pain à l’ancienne.

Tartine Bread

Tartine Bread is often regarded as one of the best bread cookbooks on the market.

Famed US baker Chad Robertson co-owns his own Tartine bakery in San Francisco where he has mastered his own unique baking techniques that he shares in this cookbook. Robertson intertwines his recipes for country breads, semolina and whole-wheat breads, baguettes and days-old breads with autobiographical tales and stories that let his passion for baking shine through.

This cookbook requires a little time and patience, but it’s very rewarding for bakers of every skill level.

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What’s your favorite bread machine cookbook?