Customer Reviews

How Baking Works: Exploring the Fundamentals of Baking Science

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Like most young people who bake today at home, I did not grow up learning from my mother or grandmother what happened when I added more flour or orange juice to a cake recipe. Without this knowledge, changes to recipes produce difficult-to-predict results. Though Ms. Figoni writes more for the professional pastry chef, her clear explanations of the chemistry of baking should enlighten the home baker as well.

I have used this book recently as I have tried to modify my American recipes while living in France. Before coming to France, I always followed my recipes exactly with pleasing results, but that is impossible in a different country, as various products are not always available. While for my regular cooking, this has rarely proved to be a problem, in pastries and breads, there is a complicated chemistry (particularly with products that rise) which can simply fail. Ms. Figoni's book has proven to be extremely useful in trying to deal with differently milled flour, finding baking powder (knowing the chemical composition helped), and understanding substitutions of ingredients. More importantly, reading the book has given me a more profound understanding of baking, allowing me to improve recipes systematically rather than rather at random.

This book is more like a text book with the questions at the end of each chapter and experiments to try. I got this book to actually learn from it and try and avoid the high cost of culinary school. I read each chapter, answered the questions and did the experiments. The book is a great way to go if you really want to learn about what goes into baking great tasting breads and pastries.

Truly a scientific vision on everything that you ever need to know about baking. The information covered in each chapter are essential knowledge for everyone, whether an experienced bake or someone who is just getting started. I have been baking for many years, but after reading this book, everything seems to make a lot more sense to me. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in baking whether professionally or just for fun.....

I'm very well impressed with this work. Here are some of the things I have learnt so far:

-The most fundamental secret that makes professional bakers an entirely different animal from serious-home bakers. Funny, but there is actually a reason professional bakers get consintently way better results than average bakers.

-Why baking is the most challenging the of culinary arts.

-Why if a recipe calls for a certain type of flour you should respect that, or else you risk having bad results.

-What's the role of milk in baking and why you have other options if you want to experiment.

-What baking powder is, and how it is different from baking soda? What would happen if you used too much of these ingredients or if you didn't use them at all.

-Which ingredient in baking has many functions and is very difficult to replace in baking products.

-What kind of chocolates exist, what makes them different and when you should use one or another to obtain certain effects.

So far I have had two baking experiences with this book:

1. I was struggling with a brownie recipe I found in another book which I think is just plain-wrong. The first time I did it was just before "How baking works" arrived. The results were disastrous. The brownies turned out a little bit rocky!

When "How baking works" arrived I did some experiments and voilá. Much better results!

2. The other day I was going to make hot-cakes and I practically ran out of one ingredient. I said to myself "well, lets see if I can use what I have learnt so far to pull this off". Since one of my ingredients was in a different amount I changed the quantity of my other ingredients. I tried and guessed that my hot cakes were going to rise much more and have an even softer texture. They did!!!

What a great book! Now, this is BAKING! This is the real deal, the real pleasure. Baking is like a game and "How baking works" explains the rules so you know how and when to brake them and still have great desserts!!!

Which is exactly the reason I got this book in the first place. I want to experiment with recipes, to add some flavor or change the texture. This is just the book for that!

Many books give you recipes, which is OK, but if you don't know what you are really doing then you become slave of your recipes. And problems begin when the final baked product doesn't turn out how it was supposed to. The recipe might be all right, but maybe there are different factors in your kitchen, oven, ingredients, etc. that are spoiling everything for you.

The way I see it, these kind of books are the ones that really turn you into a professional baker, because they give you the knowledge you need to be in command.

Great addition to any baker's collection!

When I first got this book, I thought, "Uh, oh. This is more than I want to know." Turns out, though, that I keep going back to the book because the ins and outs of baking are fascinating: why this works, why this doesn't, and when. The expected discussions include such things as which type of flour is best for a particular use. The more esoteric topics include, but certainly aren't limited to, the physiology of taste, the factors that affect appearance of food, why milk is white and how bakers control the flavor of bread.

Abounding in detail, this is a textbook for professional baking students or true baking enthusiasts. There are exercises and experiments at the end of each chapter not only designed to teach methodology, but also to help you evaluate your success. Case in point: rolled sugar cookies. A single recipe, detailed procedures, and tips to assess the quality and feel of the dough as you mix it and the consistency of each batch depending on the type of flour used, and the sensory characteristics of the baked cookies will awaken you to the feel and smell of ingredients as you combine them, making baking simultaneously an adventure in kitchen chemistry and a physically and sensually engaging experience.

If the chemistry of cooking and the idea of being intimately involved with your baking appeal, you'll enjoy this book and probably will learn more from it than you would imagine.

Happy baking.

I learned to bake old-world style, meaning, **everything** is from scratch! My grandmother and grandfather (prof. baker) added a little bit of this; a little bit of that, and it all turned out great; but I always wanted to know "why" and "how." To satisfy my own curiosity, I purchased this book to learn the actual science of the baking process. This book is a hybrid of Baking and Chemistry 101.

The reader will benefit from the down-to-earth (plain English) style of writing. Each segment is followed by "Questions for Review" and various exercises and experiments. Anyone who bakes from scratch realizes how each step has a significant impact on the quality of the final product (from ingredient make-up and mixing through temperature and cooling) . . . everything is an art and requires patience!

Most importantly, I found the baker's formula section to be invaluable! After inheriting my grandmother's old recipes that simply state: "Add a little bit of this; a little bit of that; and mix real good" . . . I can now re-formulate everything from cookies, kuchens, and kolachky's through breads and pizza into old-world treats reminiscent of childhood. A true piece of heaven.

One note: I downloaded this book to my Kindle. Everything was great except for the data / tables; they aren't completely illegible, but can be very difficult to read. Therefore, the hard copy may be better for some people.

Overall: Paula Figoni did a great job compiling this book!

I am a culinary student majoring in Breads and Pastries. This book is the required textbook for the course I am taking. It is jam packed (no pun intended) with useful information. I will continue to use it as a resource after my course of study is completed.

While not easy to read, this book is worth the effort if you like tinkering with baking recipes or creating your own.

The author breaks down baking into its component parts (heat, mixing, cooling, flour, eggs, sugar, fat, etc) and explains how each component works (both chemically and mechanically), and how each component reacts when exposed to other components. After reading the book a few times I began to understand why not all of my baking creations work.

The only parts of the book that I didn't care for were the "questions for discussion" and the "exercises and experiments" sections at the end of each chapter. The concept is great for a classroom environment, but as an individual I found the volume of exercises overwhelming. What made it worse was the absence of an "answer section". If the answers had been included in an appendix I might have tried a few of the exercises or experiments. But I'm too lazy/busy so after the first chapter I didn't even bother reading the discussion questions or the exercises.

But even without trying any of the exercises, the book is still a great learning tool.

For many years home bakers have been producing baked goods for their family. Most have little knowledge of the science and "why" that is going on. Very useful for those with inquiring minds. I have been judging foods at county fairs for 20 years and find this book containing useful, additional information to pass on to fair exhibitors. Some people quit trying when they have product failure, this wonderful textbook might give them enough information to try again.

This is an exceptional book. Loaded with both technical, and information geared to make you understand the world of flours. This is a "how to" and a "whats involved" for anyone looking to expand their knowledge and where to start and finish in the world of baking. From weight conversion, dough relaxation to function of fats and more. It has a very scientifc approach that will guide you beyond the ordinary cupcake baker. If you are serious minded want to enhance your skills and thinking pasty, this is the book to buy.