Customer Reviews

The Practical Encyclopedia of Baking Breads Muffins Cakes Pies Tarts Cookies Bars Over 400 Step-by-Step Recipes with Over 1,500 Photographs

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

 

 

I seriously doubt that anybody tested these recipes before they wrote this book. A couple of the recipes I really love, but some I have tried repeatedly and they never turn out. Don't bother with any of the bread recipes and most of the cake recipes. Very disappointed. I threw it away and then dug it back out for the couple of recipes I do like.

Not everything I make from this book comes out like I'd expect. For example, the Na'an comes out like pita and a cookie bar recipe needs more topping. I take notes here and there in the margins but, at its core, a useful book.

I use this book much the way it was intended...as an encyclopedia for all my baking adventures. I often find myself looking up a recipe and then adapting it a bit to meet my needs and the book always provides a great base from which to start. I've had a lot of success with many of the bread and cake recipes in particular. Love that there are so many pictures, including snapshots of tricky steps so you know what they mean in the text. Excellent resource for any baker of any skill level!

This book has truly shaped the baker in me! The illustrations speak a thousand words. The step-by-step instructions allow a novice baker to bake like a professional, and believe me, you will hear such rave reviews about your final products!!! The technique section taught me the basic skills that I could not do without!! I am so excited about this book. Buy it, and tell your friends!!

The photos in this book are so seductive that I keep on trying new recipes from it even though they never turn out right. I am not a novice baker, yet I could not produce anything acceptable using this book. The ingredients quantities are often incorrect; the instructions are neither detailed nor precise enough. Some of the recipes call for very delicate and advanced techniques, but in this book they are simplified or ignored completely so it is impossible to achieve success.
I do not recommend this book, even though it might be very hard to resist the tempting photography.