Tartine Bread Book

The book is gorgeous but inadequate. The instructions are not clear and Robertson seems more interested in his image as a too-cool-for-you surfer dude baker than in creating a book that is what it should be: a fool-proof method for baking great bread at home. If that's what you want, I'd advise buying Jim Lahey's My Bread or Thomas Keller's Bouchon Bakery, both of which I've used with zero problems ever--and Keller also gives expert foolproof instructions for making your own starter, so it's not as if the intention is any different than Roberston's. Tartine Bread excited me until I started using it. I had the same problems getting the results Robertson promised as did the many, many people who complain and ask questions on his blog. Don't believe me, go read them. And I worked as a professional baker for ten years and have made thousands of loaves of bread, so I didn't come at this like a complete amateur. Sorry, but I don't recommend this book unless you want to waste a lot of time and money on a trial and error approach that books like this are supposed to help you avoid.