Advanced Bread and Pastry [Hardcover]

Michel Suas (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 4, 2008 | ISBN-10: 141801169X | ISBN-13: 978-1418011697 | Edition: 1

Advanced Bread & Pastry has a unique approach to providing advanced level concepts, techniques and formulas to those aspiring to be professional bakers and professional pastry chefs. It is the only available resource covering complex bread making, viennoiserie and pastry into one book. Exquisite photographs are throughout to further inspire learners and professionals of the unlimited potential of the craft. Advanced Bread and Pastry provides in depth information and troubleshooting strategies for addressing the complex techniques of the advanced level of bread and pastry arts.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This is the most thorough, well researched, and detailed baking text I have seen. Advanced Bread and Pastry is more comprehensive than any of the competing texts I have reviewed." - Paul V. Krebs, C.C.E., Professor of Culinary Arts and Baking, Schenectady County Community College, Schenectady, New York

"I think that the strength of the authors' technical knowledge really is evident here." - Christopher S Harris, Pastry Chef/Instructor, South Seattle Community College, Seattle, Washington

About the Author

Michel Suas is an internationally known baking and pastry chef and founder of the San Francisco Baking Institute. In 2002 he was recognized by the Bread Bakers Guild of America and awarded the prestigious Golden Baguette award for his talent and dedication to the art of professional pastry and artisan bread baking.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 1043 pages
• Publisher: Cengage Learning; 1 edition (April 4, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 141801169X
• ISBN-13: 978-1418011697
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 1.8 x 11 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (52 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #190,664 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

102 of 102 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars EXCELLENT WORK May 12, 2008

By C. Terzis

Format:Hardcover

This is without doubt the largest, most informative, most inclusive bread and pastry book in existence. Just imagine the 'Professional French pastry series' and the 'Special and decorative breads series' in one huge tome.The book does not have 880 pages as stated in the description, but 1043 including the indexes.
Mr Suas has created a comprehensive, easy to follow textbook for advanced baking and pastry. The book uses the French tradition in baking/pastry apprenticeship and includes both American and French products. Mind that this is not a coffee table book but a student's guide to advanced baking/pastry. So the author approaches the reader as a teacher would approach the student. There are explanations for every single detail and at the end of each chapter there are questions. A word of caution; this is a book strictly for professionals. One cannot just open it and start measuring cups and spoons to make a cake. Anyone lesser than an apprentice will probably get lost in the plethora of information. So if you are not a professional or a very knowlegable amateur, don't blow your money.
The book starts with a history of bread and pastry making and is divided into three main sections: Bread, Vienoisserie and Pastry. Each section is then subdivided into many others. The chapters are:
PART 1: INTRODUCTION
a) History
b) Food safety
PART 2: BREAD
a) Baking process and dough mixing
b) Fermentation
c) Advanced flour technology and dough conditioners
d) Alternative baking processes
e) Bread formulas
PART 3: VIENNOISERIE
PART 4: PASTRY
a) Cookies
b) Quick breads
c) Pastry dough
d) Pies and tarts
e) Cake mixing and baking
f) Syrups,creams,custards,egg foams,icings
g) Mousses
h) Classic and modern cake assembly
i) Petit-fours and confections
j) Frozen desserts
k) Plated desserts
l) Advanced decoration
m) Chocolate
There are photos throughout, including procedures and most of the products, the paper is glossy, and there are tables with information interspersed between the text. All formulas are given in Metric, Baker's percentage, US decimal, and Lbs and Oz. Also there are instructions to sites in the internet where one can expand on what is in the book and get additional information. These are throughout the book and in all the sections.
In the bread section, all the different breadmaking procedures are discussed, including the straight dough method, retarded dough method and sourdough method. This is the only book I know that in some products uses two different sourdoughs to produce a bread. Another innovation is the inclusion of a whole program for breadmaking on a professional scale, with days and times for each procedure spanning several days. There is also an extensive discussion on par-baked goods which are being favored lately by many bakers.
Bread products include: Baguettes, ciabatta, San Francisco sourbread, challah, rye breads, naan, tortilla, pita, pan de los muertos and many other European and American breads.
The Viennoiserie section is one of the most comprehensive and inclusive and can be only compared to the ones in the 'Traditional and decorative breads'. All the known products are here, including croissants, danish, kugelhopf, brioche, panettone. Different methods are given for the production of the same product eg retarded croissant, sourdough croissant etc.
The pastry section is larger than the bread one by 200 pages. The theory is divided between the chapters, as each family of products has its own technology and science, besides the basic science that goes for all pastry.
There are literally hundreds, if not thousands of products in this section. Most of the classics are here, as well as modern pastries. Too many to mention.
On the downside. Some recipes (not many) use shortening, a blasphemy against both health and taste. I also noticed a few typographical errors in some of the recipes and the temperatures, eg 375F is given as 96C in one recipe, while it should be 196C.
These faults though, are a drop in an ocean of excellence.
To conclude, at this low price this book is a give away. Just think that for the same money you can only get one tome of the 'French pastry series' with 200 pages and here you get more than a thousand pages.
Top quality, top price, the best money can buy.

54 of 55 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Almost Perfect. But Is It Worth It For The "Home Baker"? July 20, 2008

By M. Valerio

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

This book is written mostly for "the trade", but the home-chef (like me) can get a lot out of it. Apart from Bread and Pastry, it has extensive chapters on cakes, icings, cookies, chocolate(confection), ice-cream and quick breads (banana bread, scones, muffins) amongst other things. It is very comprehensive. The science can be understood by almost everyone, and the book is well illustrated (pictures of how to shape a baguette, etc). There are no "stories" from the author about how he first made this and that, and learnt this from there - and so forth. It reads like a school book. Very informative!

I was at first worried that this book had 1000's of recipes, but it says on the back that it has just under 300, which means there is a lot of theory in it (which I think is good). I has 2 Pannetone recipes and about 4 Croissant recipes. It has sachertorte, and black forest gateu, chocolate truffles and loads of other stuff. The carrot cake recipe is the best I've ever tried, and I've ended up using ALL the sections in the book (except for the ice-cream chapter), even though I only bought it for the Bread/Pastry initially.

For me there is one problem: I don't have a Mixer. That makes it hard to to follow the bread formulas (recipes) 100% accurately. There is enough science in the book, that you might find a "do-it-yourself" way if you experiment (at least I hope so).

In each bread formula in the book the author will specify what type of mix method to use: Short, Improved or Intensive (which basically is the 3 diffent speeds of the mixer kneading the dough).
- "Shortmix" is almost like kneading by hand, however quite few recipes call for a short mix.
- "Improvedmix" one can almost replicate by hand (but one might need to experiment with longer fermentation times and yeast amount to compensate and get a stronger dough).
- However I am more sceptical about for instance Pannetone and Brioche which call for an "Intesivemix", which is difficult by hand. Luckily there are quite few recipes that call for this mix method. Only bread with a lot of butter/sugar/eggs. But there is a "handmix" recipe for croissants.

When it comes to Ovens there is no discussion on how to compensate for lack of steam (the book is as I say, written for the apprentice/prof. in mind).

One last thing: I've had no problems with quantities in the recipes, because he always gives a so-called "test" amount (in OZ). But you can also divide the grams and kg. by 5 to get the right "home" batch if you use the metric system (I live in Norway, so i do).

Conclusion: I would recommend this book to the home-chef, but be prepared for a challenge :)

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars deep, well-researched and informative June 19, 2008

By L. Wu

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Although dense and designed for the professional (experienced) baker, I learned a great deal from this book, which is as deep as Hamelman's book on Bread, and yet covers pastries and other sweet goods for the second half. A wonderfully informative and well-researched book for the price!