The cheapest one is $48.15. That's well under $100. 

It's a good price, and well worth it. 

My bread blog: http://grainpower.wordpress.com

bshuval-

thanks for the info, the cheapest I see it on Amazon.com is 79.99. do you have the link to the 48.15 price.

thanks

a

http://www.amazon.com/Village-Baker-Classic-Regional-America/dp/0898154898/ref=ed_oe_h

My bread blog: http://grainpower.wordpress.com

thanks bshuval, not sure what I was looking at. is this really a good book/guide?

a

It's one of the first books out there on Artisan baking. 

It has some very interesting recipes, and very good instructions. Worth the money. I bought a copy for a similar amount a while back. 

My bread blog: http://grainpower.wordpress.com

... not one I'm going to chase too hard.

There are others I'm going to worry about first. However, if I should ever trip over a copy at a reasonable price (for me) then I won't hesitate!

The thing with book recommendations is that much depends on the prospective reader.

As the review on this site http://www.thefreshloaf.com/bookreviews/villagebaker says :

" Though I had heard a great deal about it, I finally got around to reading The Village Baker this month. I actually found reading it to be underwhelming. It's a great book, but I've read so many books that follow the same format, that contain recipes for the same breads, and that discuss the same techniques, that it was difficult for me to appreciate how big a deal this book had been. ...

... I don't think I would recommend this book to someone just getting into artisan bread baking and looking for their first book on the subject: even though it is the book that started it all, the complexity of some of the recipes is daunting.

For those of us who are already obsessed with bread baking, who own multiple bread books and are always on the lookout for more books on the subject, The Village Baker is a must-have book. The recipes that I've managed to bake have been excellent, and the writings on technique, such as how to deal with slack doughs, I've found to be extremely valuable. And it's just plain "an important book" that any self-proclaimed bread junkie should own."

So, for me, a book I want, but not something I need, right now, with a $$$ passion.

What books do you have already, and what, specifically, are you hoping to learn about? People may have other suggestions for you!

Hi

I have the following books in my library so far:

Crust & Crumb: Master Formulas for Serious Bread Bakers

The Bread Builders: Hearth Loaves and Masonry Ovens

I have on order the following:

Nancy Silverton's Breads from the La Brea Bakery: Recipes for the Connoisseur...

World Sourdoughs from Antiquity by Wood, Ed

I use a clouche to bake all my bread and am working on perfecting my sour dough at the request of my daughter. I am looking to learn some new techniques for the home baker and would like to continue to use the clouch because I've had so much success with it but would like to use other techniques.

This book got some good reviews on Amazon, on the fence about the price.

What kind of books do you guys have in your library and again if you want to sell the Village Baker for a reasonable price let me know.

Thanks

a

Here are four books (that are currently in print) I would get in the meantime if I were you.   They will give you a similar journey and learning experience. 

Local Breads by Dan Leader (similar travels to artisan bakers)

Maggie Glezer's Artisan Baking Across America

The Art of Handmade Bread by Dan Lepard (also called The Handmade Loaf)

and Bread: A Bakers Book of Techniques and Recipes by Hamelman.

BTW, you can get tiny snippets of Ortiz's book at google books  Call Ten Speed Press and ask them to put The Village Baker back into print and/or place an order for it.  I was told they have a large number of back orders, and they usually re-print at the number they have, but haven't yet for some reason.  Hopefully if there are enough orders they will reprint it.