Professional Baking, Trade, 3rd Edition [Hardcover]

Wayne Gisslen (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0471346470 | ISBN-13: 978-0471346470 | Publication Date: October 3, 2000 | Edition: 3

For peerless coverage of the theory and practice of baking. This edition is packed with new material and features - from six new chapters on pastry, desserts and sugar work to hundreds of colour photographs and a stunning new user-friendly design. Features extensive contributions from the Le Cordon Bleu Cooking School, including procedures, techniques and tempting new recipes. 600 classic and creative recipes with 350 colour photographs.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Classic". -- Food and Wine (on the Second Edition)

From the Inside Flap

If you’re serious about baking, you’ll want to join the tens of thousands of bakers and pastry chefs who have used Wayne Gisslen’s Professional Baking to learn the basics of their craft. With more information and more recipes than ever before, the new edition of this outstanding book gives you a complete foundation in the art of making pastries, cakes, desserts, and artisan breads. You’ll find detailed information on proper selection of ingredients, mixing and baking techniques, makeup and assembly, decoration and presentation, and more. Procedures are explained clearly, step-by-step, with over 700 classic and creative recipes–250 of them new–to help you develop your skills and build confidence. Along the way, hundreds of color photographs of techniques and finished dishes are a valuable source of guidance and inspiration. A special feature of this edition is the participation of Le Cordon Bleu, one of the world’s most prestigious cooking schools. Its master chefs have contributed procedures and techniques as well as 175 recipes ranging from classic crêpes and puff pastry to intriguing modern variations on the basics, such as Passion Fruit Bavarian and Cointreau Iced Soufflé. The book also features a Foreword written by André J. Cointreau, President of Le Cordon Bleu. Best of all, Professional Baking shows you not only what techniques work, but also why they work–and how to get the best results every time. Throughout, the book’s bright, fresh format makes it easy to find key information at a glance, so that you can spend less time reading and more time creating in the kitchen. As every baker knows, success begins with the best ingredients–and there is no better place to start than with Professional Baking.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 672 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 3 edition (October 3, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471346470
• ISBN-13: 978-0471346470
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.9 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #419,418 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars good book, but be warned, March 21, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Professional Baking, Trade, 3rd Edition (Hardcover)

Very good book, very comprehensive. Just be warned that everything is done by weights and the recipies make really big batches for the standard home cook. You'll probably need to scale them down.

34 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Be careful, the measurements don't add up., July 9, 2003

By 

A reader (Kirkland, WA USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Professional Baking, Trade, 3rd Edition (Hardcover)

The second edition is much better. I bought this (3rd) edition for my culinary school baking class while everyone else was still using the 2nd edition. (My class started in October 2000 just as the 3rd edition was being released. I wanted to be on the cutting edge when compared to my fellow students so I bought the then-new book; everyone else had the 2nd editon.)

None of my recipes turned out compared to those using the same recipe in the second edition. Upon closer examination, we found discrepancies in quantities in nearly every recipe over the second edition. For example, many recipes had differing weight values for metric versus imperial measurments. Unfortunately, this wasn't consistant in that metric was "always" higher than imperial. Sometimes the metric measurement was higher (off), and sometimes it was less (still off). Sometimes one tablespoon equalled 28 grams (it should be 15 grams [rounded]) other times 1 ounce equalled 15 grams (it should be 28 grams).

Buy the used 2nd edition to get a quality book. It's acurate, even if there are fewer photos and recipes.

Note: I have many Wayne Gisslen books and I think very highly of him as a culinarian. I think his other books equal five stars. He is a quality author and we're lucky to have him author so many high-value culinarian books. The problem with this particular book is the editing. This had to have been edited by a rookie editor. There is simply no other excuse for such a highly regarded author to publish a book with so many errors sliding by to publication.

28 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It should really get 6 stars, March 22, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Professional Baking, Trade, 3rd Edition (Hardcover)

Before I read this book, I though I knew a little about baking. Now I know I that I knew very little about baking. To me, flour was just flour. Now I know which type of flour is best for which recipe. There is so much information packed into this book, it's a wonder that it doesn't burst.