Customer Reviews

The Pastry Chef's Companion: A Comprehensive Resource Guide for the Baking and Pastry Professional

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

 

 

I am a home baker, not a professional or a culinary arts student. 309 of the 375 pages of the book are a glossary of usual and unusual baking terms, types of pastry, almost anything and everything associated with the discipline. The problem is that this book is filled with information and terms that are readily available on the internet. When a term in a cookbook is unfamiliar, I type it into a search engine. It takes an instant to obtain an answer, in fact it takes less time than taking out this book and looking it up. My interest in baking is substantial, but even so, the book makes for dry reading (like reading from the dictionary) to simply sit and absorb the contents - which I assume wasn't the intended purpose. From my perspective, although the extensive amount of research that went into compiling this comprehensive volume is obvious and admirable, the reality is this reference book would have been absolutely invaluable to a wide audience 15 or 20 years ago.

The remaining 64 pages of the book contain some universally useful information. Tables are included for Important Temperatures Every Pastry Chef Should Know, Weight and Volume Equivalents for Most Common Ingredients, Sugar Cooking Stages, Conversion Formulas and Equivalents, Seasonal Fruit Availability, The 12 Steps of Baking (Bread baking), Classic and Contemporary Flavor Combinations and What Went Wrong and Why - an area in the book where common baking mishaps are discussed. Some of the information, like Sugar Cooking Stages, is common information that appears in many cookbooks, but some of the tables are inspired and will be helpful to all. The book finishes up with a list of Specialty Vendors and the references utilized in the creation of the book.

The book is a 6 x 9 inch paperback with no photographs and it it printed with dark brown ink. The font size appears to be 10 point. The information in this book will be particularly useful if the reader does not have regular access to the internet or a need exists to have this information in a single volume.

I am in the hotel industry and don't know how I survived all these years without this book! It assists me when I talk to customers so that I can easily explain items and show pictures to them. The only problem is that I need to get another copy so that I have one at home and one in the office. I think that anyone who likes to bake or is a "foodie" needs to BUY THE BOOK!The Pastry Chef's Companion: A Comprehensive Resource Guide for the Baking and Pastry Professional

This is an excellent reference tool I highly recommend for any baker or pastry student. I am enrolled in the Le Cordon Bleu Diploma in Patisserie and Baking and have found this an invaluable resource in my studying and baking. Fellow students have also purchased this book along with our school library. The author's have done an amazing job in their research and organization, I refer to this book on a regular basis. Thank you!

I am not a professional baker but this book helped me feel like one. It is informative, easy to use and a wonderful resource. I bought five of them for friends who love to cook and suggest anyone does too!

I enjoy this book, I like the info in the back of the book and it reminds me of the culinary guide, but this focuses on the pastry aspect which i love. i recommend this book for sure. explains the definitions of what pastry items/ingredients are

I am a professional pastry chef and have a similar pedigree as the authors. Their book would have been terribly useful in school and I'm a bit bummed that I'm only now getting a copy. It's very thorough on all the topics, and I find it useful to help translate my pastry geek-speak into terms those around me can understand. Specific tools, uncommonly talked about products, techniques, etc are all briefly touched on in the book. The charts in the back are phenomenal. They cover seasonality of produce, pairing of ingredients, and even troubleshooting for common problems with finished product. Definitely for those who are intrigued by the world of baking and pastry!

I bought this book recently and find it to be extremely helpful, it contains all of the terms and definitions you could possibly need in the baking/pastry world. A must have reference book!

This is a spectacular book. It's got tons of definitions in it, flavor combinations, and a temperature guide that every pastry chef should know. I used it in school to define almost every work that we had for my baking classes. I have found that it could be added to--like, maybe an updated edition with even more definitions and flavor charts, but the book is excellent. Definitely a must have.

Very happy with the book and it arrived very quickly! As a professional in the industry I think I will find a lot of use for this book.

I am a food enthusiast and as a non-professional, this book is extremely informative and useful in the kitchen. It has numerous pages that have been researched and explained in a way that any ordinary person who does not bake regularly can understand. It has a glossary consisting of important terms to know, explanations of certain methods, and acts as a great reference guide. For my baking purposes, this was a great buy.