Baking at Home with The Culinary Institute of America [Hardcover]

The Culinary Institute of America (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 27, 2004

A complete, illustrated volume of lessons and recipes for the home baker.

The Culinary Institute of America is the place where many of today's leading chefs and pastry chefs have learned the fundamental skills that launched their careers. Now, in this companion to Cooking at Home with The Culinary Institute of America, the CIA draws on its extensive expertise and experience to give home bakers an outstanding course in the essentials of baking, along with a wealth of irresistible recipes. It outlines all the basic information on equipment, ingredients, and methods necessary to create top-quality cakes, pastries, breads, frozen desserts, and more. Readers learn the techniques step by step, with detailed instructions and photographs that clearly explain what to do and how to do it.

Ideal for developing skills and building a repertoire, the book's 200 recipes - all specially created by the CIA - are delicious, attractive, and easy to make, from Cream Scones and Streusel-Topped Blueberry Muffins to Flourless Chocolate Souffle Cake and Warm Lemon Pudding Cakes.

Complete with 250 beautiful full-color photographs of procedures and finished dishes, Baking at Home with The Culinary Institute of America is a comprehensive resource that will enable home cooks to master the art of baking in their own kitchens.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"…a reassuringly substantial volume, carefully informative, with glossy color photos giving step-by-step guidance.." (Associated Press, December 10, 2004)

This gorgeous cookbook makes delicious perfection look doable. Replete with artful color photos of flawless custards, silky glazes and deftly done tortes, it also includes expert tips and techniques. (USA Today, November 25, 2004)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (September 27, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471450952
• ISBN-13: 978-0471450955
• Product Dimensions: 10.4 x 9.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #140,258 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

87 of 105 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A total disappointment, August 8, 2005

By 

Jason Rabin (Toronto, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Baking at Home with The Culinary Institute of America (Hardcover)

This was one of those books that actually angered me. In the introduction, they go out of their way to explain to you why mass measurements are superior to volume measurements, but then go ahead and supply volume only measurements for all of their recipes. This is unacceptable. It's one thing to find "American" style measurements in a casual chocolate chip cookie book, but for a large expensive baking book supposedly written by professionals, it behooves them to include mass measurements for serious home bakers.

But the real reason I disliked this book was that the recipes I tried simply did not work as advertised. The challah recipe was not a standard recipe; it seemed extremely large for a single loaf, the mixing technique was not like what I had encountered in amateur and professional books before, but I perservered and followed the directions fastidiously. The loaf was edible, but otherwise a failure. The fact that there is no explanation for this, and no anticipation of the problems I encountered is unacceptable. I have made dozens of challah recipes and I never had a problem before. Usually, when something goes wrong, I blame myself. I can tell when I have made a mistake and I take responsibility for my failures. This was one of those times where I blamed the recipe. This was just an odd ball recipe.

Similarly, the mudslide cookies did not work as the recipe stated they would. How hard is it to make a simple cookie recipe function properly? In the end, I managed to salvage these cookies through ingenuity and improvisation, but that's no excuse; careful faithfulness to the recipe should yield perfect results. Again, no explanation or attempt to anticipate such problems.

That was the last time I wasted my time with this book. Do yourself a favor and instead of buying this expensive paper weight, get yourself one of Pierre Herme's books, or Bo Friberg's Professional Pastry chef.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Book for beginners with no prior baking experience., August 4, 2009

By 

Philo (Montreal QC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Baking at Home with The Culinary Institute of America (Hardcover)

The how-to information provided is really basic and assumes the reader is new to baking. Nothing here for the intermediate or advanced baker wanting to learn something or to be challenged, just a collection of recipes. Unfortunate for the beginner, there are errors in the recipes that the beginner wouldn't recognize. For example, the Banana Nut Bread on p. 82 should say 1-1/2 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp baking soda. (Instead it lists 1/2 tsp baking powder.) Silly me, I second guessed my instinct and followed the recipe as written. I really should have searched the 'net for errata BEFORE I made the banana bread. Another criticism of the book is, as others have noted, the use of volume measurements rather than weights. ("Three medium bananas" isn't quite specific enough for my liking.) There really are other, better books to teach baking skills. I'd recommend instead Labensky's On Baking: A Textbook of Baking and Pastry Fundamentals, or for a more in depth approach, Figoni's How Baking Works.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great tips, January 3, 2006

By 

pp (Ontario) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Baking at Home with The Culinary Institute of America (Hardcover)

I have been baking for few years now and even though my cakes turn really well, I was not aware of all those small tips that make baking more convenient and efficient. Tempering eggs, making custard( finally with pictures!!) or even kneading yeast dough to make it strong and elastic - all you can find it here.