First Rule

Some of the recipes in this book look short and straightforward. You’ll think, “No problem; I can do this.” Other recipes will look long. We mean looooooong, with many steps. When you see lengthy instructions, you might be tempted to skip the recipe, but don’t be discouraged! When the recipes are long it’s because we want to tell you everything you will need to know. We want you to make beautiful and delicious breads and pastries, and that sometimes requires a detailed explanation.

There’s a full range of recipes in this book, in terms of difficulty and time requirements. Some are familiar and easy, and some are moderately difficult, mainly because they require scheduling for fermentation times. A few recipes are real projects—they could take a full day of active work and involve a range of techniques. Some could take many hours of elapsed time but not a huge amount of active work. Some have multiple components that can be made over many weeks and refrigerated or frozen and then assembled on the day you want to serve them.