Baking and Pastry: Mastering the Art and Craft [Hardcover]

The Culinary Institute of America (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

"The Culinary Institute of America holds nothing back in its mission to provide students, professionals, and enthusiasts with everything they need to know about the baking and pastry industry. This updated edition is an indispensable guide." — En-Ming Hsu

"It is not often that a pastry text elicits the exclamation: 'What a fantastic book!' With hundreds of recipes and plenty of photographs, this book is well suited to a variety of eager readers, from first-time students just beginning their journey, to those embarking on a second profession, to the home baker." —Gunther Heiland

"WOW!!! This is the most comprehensive professional baking and pastry book that I have come across in my thirty-five years of working in the industry. It offers a complete array of basic and advanced recipes, with complete information on ingredients and tools as well as the most recent methods and techniques." — Biagio Settepani

"The Culinary Institute of America has outdone itself with this book. This is the first true, completely illustrated text appropriate for all levels of ability to be published in many years. Its 625 easy-to-follow recipes cover everything from simple breads to wedding cakes and range in difficulty from basic to advanced. Congratulations." — Norman Love

"From perfect croissants to elegant wedding cakes, this book will become the essential tool of apprentices and chefs alike. The talent of The Culinary Institute of America staff shines through this masterpiece. They have pulled together reference techniques, recipes, and sources that will assist pastry chefs in their daily quest for perfection." — Gilles Renusson

Exclusive Recipe Excerpts from Baking & Pastry

Croissants

Sunflower Seed Rolls

Product Details

• Hardcover: 944 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 2 edition (May 4, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 047005591X
• ISBN-13: 978-0470055915
• Product Dimensions: 11.2 x 8.5 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #11,920 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #9 in Books > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Baking > Pastry

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A bit disappointed, September 8, 2010

By 

Toobzymom - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Baking and Pastry: Mastering the Art and Craft (Hardcover)

I am curious how deep some of the individuals with the rave reviews have actually delved into this book?! Yes, it is 'beautiful' and exhaustive in its recipes and techniques, and in many ways it is an indispensible tool for any pastry student. However, this book is full of errors. The typos, indicating a lack of adequate proofreading, I would not expect in a book of this professional and teaching level, but the greatest transgression is the errors in the recipes themselves - incorrect baking times and temperatures, incorrect quantities - I am only four weeks into a pastry course and we have found numerous errors with recipes that require adjusting. I was truly excited to try most of the amazing recipes, but now am concerned I will be wasting time and money except on recipes we have "pre-tested" in the course I am taking. I must say, overall I am disappointed that the book is not living up to my expectations. Do not judge this book by its cover...sadly, the cover is better than the contents.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Errors found but still a good book., July 11, 2010

By 

Ricky E. Daniels (Atlanta) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Baking and Pastry: Mastering the Art and Craft (Hardcover)

Found four errors, three mathematical in the recipes. I contacted the publisher and was to hear back but I never did; for example the croissant dough recipe, the flour amount is listed in grams but obviously should have been kg.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Save your money, December 8, 2010

By 

A. Barnes (Orange County, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Baking and Pastry: Mastering the Art and Craft (Hardcover)

Used this book for my C.A. Baking and Pastry class. There seemed to be more recipes with errors (or perhaps just bad recipes overall) than good, usable recipes. A few of the recipes were quite good, but I hesitate to risk wasting my money on recipes from the book that were not tested in class (unless I compare them with another similar recipe first, and who wants to go to that trouble?). I heard Bo Friberg's book The Professional Pastry Chef: Fundamentals of Baking and Pastry, 4th Editionis excellent and plan to invest in it for myself for Christmas.