Ultimate home bread

If you have any interest in baking bread at home, check out this nerdy, obsessive, gigantic tome, Modernist Bread At Home, by Nathan Myhrvold. Sure, you can find bread recipes online, but this is different. Every possible type of bread in the known world, in all possible variations, tested through all manner of mistakes, are clearly illustrated. There are two volumes ($120), one with astounding images and one spiral bound for the kitchen with recipes, but the two are actually a digest distillation of a larger ultimate 5-volume set aimed and recalibrated for the home. This reference is very good for giving you enough guidance to try new kinds of bread you would not have tried making before. Not every home baker will need this level of expertise, so check it out at your local library. — KK