Quite often you see celebrity and professional chefs taste the meat or sauce from a dish that is clearly not fully cooked. Is there a different length of time you should wait before sampling an uncooked dish (e.g. beef versus chicken) and do chefs ever suffer food poisoning for the sake of their art? 
Take a look at the Josey Baker Bread book. He is a former elementary school science teacher turned professional San Francisco baker. The lessons start with the simplest no-knead bread and progressively add to that foundation with new concepts and techniques.  In a number of ways it feels like an elementary school science textbook.  It might be the best match for what you are looking for.  http://www.joseybakerbread.com/the-book 