Customer Reviews

Baking

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I got this book and was very eager to jump right in - this would be 5 stars based on the photos, tips, and several of the recipes (the Devil's food cake is the BEST I've made, it was simply perfect). BUT I've found several typos, 1st one is professional buttercream on page 45 - 1 1/2 cups of butter is not 1 1/4 pounds of butter. So the 1st time I made this I grabbed 3 sticks of butter and was confused on why my buttercream was gooey and did not set up, and I thought the mistake was in my soft-ball sugar which is the hard part, when it turns out I just didn't have enough butter. There are also a few instances of incorrect page numbers when referencing side bars. I have only made a few things so far but but if you use this book just be forewarned of the poor editing and lack of recipe testing prior to mass release.

Lastly, the only way to really make sure your measurements are correct is to weigh your dry ingredients, especially flour, so I am actually disappointed that there aren't more weights vs. volume and that I had to spend time doing math. I hate math.

UPDATE: I just downgraded this review, baking times are super wrong (I made the cinnamon rolls - after spending almost 6 hours making the dough, it said to bake them for 40 minutes. They were inedible... so dry and hard from cooking that long I wanted to cry and throw this book away.) I've given a few other recipes a try but for the most part this book is sadly full of fail due to not running anything through a test kitchen prior to print. James Peterson might be talented, but his editors are not.

I purchased James Peterson's brand new humongous tome on BAKING a few days ago. It is wonderfully illustrated and clear in its instructions. It's got me thinking I can do far more baking-wise than I've ever attempted before because the processes are so clearly broken down in steps. (Which reminds me of something often attributed to Julia Child: There are no such things as difficult recipes. Some just have more steps.)

The one complaint I have about the book - and to me it's a substantial one - none of the measurements for the recipes are by weight. I believe this is a big mistake when so many recent baking books (including this one) talk about the precision of baking. There can be a meaningful lack of accuracy when doing measurements solely by volume.

To finish on the positive, I am eager to start working my way through all Peterson's recipes and increasing my baking vocabulary and technique. There's a huge amount to learn here and it all looks delicious!

James Peterson has produced yet another outstanding cookbook. He focuses on technique, first and foremost, and the recipes are accompanied by numerous color photos, sometimes more than a dozen.

There are helpful tips throughout the book, such as "judging the amounts of frosting, glaze, and simple syrup needed for layer cakes," "reconstituting congealed buttercream," or "making brown butter." The cakes are elegant, sophisticated, and Peterson provides instructions and photos to decorate them professionally, such as making a caramel cage to top a torte. He has extensive info on how to construct cakes, from ensuring that a cake rises properly, wrapping cakes with chocolate strips, to filling and stacking.

The book is divided into the following main chapters (after a couple intro chapters with fundamental info), and since there are over 350 recipes in the book, I'll list a few of each:

Cakes - sponge cakes, almond flour sponge cake, pound cakes, buttercreams, mousselines, carrot cakes, frostings, making rolled fondant, assembling square and round cakes, decorating cakes with flowers or a gelatin mirror.

Pies, Tarts, and Pastries - cream cheese pastry, pate sucree, lining square and round tart pans with dough, baking blind, making liquid fondant, cream filled pies, passion fruit meringue tart, apricot frangipane tart, banana cream pie, pithiviers, eclairs, napoleons, danishes, gougeres, croissants

Cookies - butter cookies, madeleines, palmiers, macarons, chocolate sable cookies, tuiles, financiers, langues de chat

Breads, Quick Breads, and Bread-Based Desserts - white bread, white bread made with mature starter, rye bread, ciabatta, pizza, focaccia, brioche, challah, coffee cakes, cinnamon rolls, banana nut bread muffins, apricot bread, popovers, scones, apple charlottes

Custards, Souffles, Fruit Curds and Mousses - pots de creme, cremes caramels, creme brulees, grand marnier souffles, lemon curt, passion fruit curd, passion fruit mousse, chocolate mousse, cheese souffle.

A great baking/dessert resource. There are typos in the book, however, so I recommend that the publisher fix that for future editions.

This book gives excellent step-by-step instructions for preparing impressive desserts and baked goods. The photographs are clear and the recipes are easy to follow. For those who wish to start baking at home this is a great book: the recipes are accompanied by photos of each pertinent step as well as the finished product. Eperienced home cooks will benefit as well from the broad range of recipes and the inspirational presentations. This book would be an ideal gift as well - it's impressive contents have an equally impressive cover.

This book has been very disappointing. As a baker with intermediate level experience, I find this book speaks to only expert bakers, and NOT beginners. The recipes do not thoroughly explain detail to detail in steps of baking process, and the recipes have so far been disappointing. Although the book layout in typography and photography are beautiful and nicely presented, I find it's all a cover up for poor recipes and lack of baking education. I have given the book many chances, but tonight have been convinced will probably not use this book any longer. My last recipe made from this book were the cinnamon buns, and the dough came out hard and crispy and the interior cinnamon and butter did not spread well and leaked all over the baking sheets. I have followed each explicit direction in this book, but still the recipe does not match up to the picture or what it should be. I have been baking for years, so these baked goods are not new to me in the kitchen. I'm sorry to say, thought it would be an excellent baking education edition to my library, but have been thoroughly disappointed. Do NOT recommend this book.

This is one of my favorite cookbooks! I literally can make everything in here, it looks so enticing! Tons of step by step photos and detailed instructions and tips make it so user friendly. I have made the "Fraisier" for my daughter's birthday and it came out fantastically. I have had success with all the recipes I've tried out of here thus far. He gives so much information. I'm learning a lot, not just following a recipe. I like that. I'm seeing how things connect in pastry making, like how the pastry cream I'm familiar with making is the foundation of mousseline, which I was unfamiliar with before making the "Fraisier cake".

I am making the Devil's Food Chocolate Cake next week and I did notice the typo in that recipe, but I haven't found any others yet. And even if I do, I still give it 5 stars because what the book contributes outweighs a few errors. I'm so glad I came across this book. It's a wonderful addition to the rest of my books. Don't hesitate to buy this one.

I took this book out of the library for 3 weeks before purchasing it. I wanted to test a few recipes and see if I would find it useful. After a week, I ordered it. The book covers a wide range of recipes and pictures to go with them. At this point, it's the only baking book I need. It covers breads, desserts, cakes, pastries and more. I am not an expert or experienced baker, but I found it to be very easy to follow and everything I have tried actually works, which I could never say of many other recipe (baking) books.

My wife learned to bake since moving here from the Philippines. She is not an expert; but, so far, the things she has made from this book are the best we have had anywhere period. The more recipes we try from this book, the more we rave about it. I own hundreds of cook books. Many have recipes similar to or identical to other books. The recipes we have made from this book are different and are very good. The blueberry muffin recipe came out so good and my wife has made them several times. This weekend she made a pecan pie. Similar to other books right? Wrong... Chopped pecans in the filling means more pecan flavor, not as runny, and not too sweet like some others. In summary, the recipes we have tried are the best of the best...

This book is just like having a mother to ask questions of.
I started baking but had problems with my dough. this book explained what to do just as if it was my mother talking to me.

My sister is the sort who will toss off terms like, "Classic bottom-of-the bowl French salad dressing" over dinner. I, not being a cooking person until my celiac diagnosis, usually have no idea what she is talking about. Needless to say, she's taught me a lot about how to cook.

When I started writing a gluten-free cookbook, she said, "You should look at basic baking techniques, to get an idea of what you're actually trying to accomplish." For that, this book is exactly what I needed: the author explains basic things like the fact that there are really only six types of cakes; there are directions on how to proof yeast--which is essential to gluten-free baking for structure and loft; there are clear explanations of the different kinds of breads; there are extensive instructions on fruit tarts, desserts, and the reason I really bought this book--how to make lemon bars.

The photographs are beautiful; if you were to pair this with Bette Hagman's pastry recipe, a few gluten-free cake mixes, and a gluten-free bread mix, you would find that suddenly you can make the gluten free version, of any gluten containing bread, pretty easily.

(And the lemon bars are perfect.)