Customer Reviews

Baking and Pastry: Mastering the Art and Craft

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

I can't recommend this book enough! About a year ago, I didn't know the first thing about yeast breads. I started with Artisan Breads in Five Minutes a Day, and from there became obsessed with breads and pastries. Feeling completely disappointed in traditional cookbooks (Betty Crocker, Better Homes and Gardens, Joy of Cooking, etc), I looked for a book that had it all. A book that had traditional and professional BAKERY recipes, not grandma or home-shortcut recipes.

This book has it all. For example, to make the perfect blueberry muffin: cream butter and sugar for 5-10 minutes on high with a mixer (yes, that long; Betty Crocker doesn't tell you that), use vegetable oil in addition to this, buttermilk, flour, eggs, etc and various flavorings, and there you are: a bakery muffin. Not a just-okay home-made muffin, but bakery muffin. Don't know how to cream butter and sugar? Flip back a few pages for a whole instruction on the principles of the creaming-mixing method and how to do it. Again, you won't find anything like that in a Joy of Cooking book (besides perhaps a simple "cream the butter and sugar" in the instructions). The creaming mixing method, the blending method, the two-stage mixing method, angel food mixing method, cold and warm foaming methods, separated foam mixing method, combination mixing method, chiffon mixing methods: it's all here. Croissants, pies, breads, simple sauces that will elevate your strawberry shortcakes to new heights, it's all here. In all it's 1,000 or so pages where no space was wasted.

I've studied this book on my own at home for the past year. I've made everything I can. Of course, it's not perfect for the home baker. Recipes must be scaled down in cases, which may result in a failure of the recipe (pound cake and high-ratio cakes). That's to be expected.

If you want to learn how to bake, and can't afford the education, THIS is it. This book contains what the professional bakers know, and home bakers don't. Of course this book won't be able to supply you with everything you need for your education: take some classes on the hardest techniques you just can't learn on your own, or search for videos on the internet of the techniques. But take the extra effort to really learn the principles and mechanics of baking.

This book has definitely helped place me into my first baker/pastry chef position at a reputable bakery. Perhaps a career I will continue for the rest of my life. There is still much more to learn, but I'll always have this book on hand as my guidance and resource.

great book with alot of recipes and techniques. Need to understand how to convert measurements as the recipes are weight measurements and are scaled for mass producing. IN other words a single recipe yields 6 cakes not 1 and asks for oz of eggs and pounds of sugar rather than 2 eggs and a cup of sugar. A bit confusing and a little annoying for the homebaker to have to go through and figure out the proper recipe usage in order to attempt one. Otherwise the book is invaluable for anyone who wants professional results in their baking.

Great reference book for the Culinary Student or Home cook wanting to know and learn more... Starts at the begining and explains things all the way through...

Great baking reference and book. Can be a bit overwhelming for those not versed in baking but overall a great book.

The instructions are easy to follow and it helps one understand the art of baking in depth. Great for beginners and proffesionals.

This is not your everyday cookbook.. This is for those who want to learn all the whys and wherefores of how receipes evolve.. Basically for students who want to progress in their craft.. I loved it and am still learning something new each day.. Wonderful receipes, tho usually for large batch pies, cakes etc.. I recommend this to people who enjoy learning "more"

I highly recommend the purchase of this textbook. Currently I'm a student in a well known Culinary School in Puerto Rico. I've noticed that the chef was using our school textbook and this one. We've tested the recipes out and they had a greater flavor, texture and work really well in comparison to our other textbook. I would prefer this book over On Baking a million times! If you're a culinary student you will love this textbook! =D