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Understanding Baking
 
 
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Understanding Baking [Kindle Edition]

Joseph Amendola (Author), Nicole Rees (Author)
3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews) |
Digital List Price: $29.95 What's this?
Print List Price: $29.95
Kindle Price: $18.72 includes free wireless delivery via Amazon Whispernet
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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

The essential-and accessible-guide to the science of baking
Baking is as much a science as an art. That's why, in addition to mastering basic techniques and recipes, every baker must also learn about the science that underlies the baking craft. Guided by contemporary baking and pastry research and practice, this new edition of Joseph Amendola's invaluable reference gives readers knowledge that they can apply to their own baking-whether it's selecting the right flour, understanding how different leavening agents work, or learning about using new baking ingredients and additives to enhance favorite recipes. Written in a clear, easy-to-understand style, Understanding Baking is an essential companion for anyone who is serious about baking.

Product Details

  • File Size: 3520 KB
  • Print Length: 288 pages
  • Simultaneous Device Usage: Up to 4 simultaneous devices, per publisher limits
  • Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.; 3 edition (May 31, 1970)
  • Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
  • Language: English
  • ASIN: B000PY4POI
  • Text-to-Speech: Enabled
  • Lending: Enabled
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #343,584 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
27 of 27 people found the following review helpful
Baker's Best Friend July 7, 2003
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
Understanding Baking gives the student baker all the baking science he or she will actually ever need in day to day operations. This new edition has a much friendlier tone and eliminates a great of the repetition and overly arcane or dated material that existed in the previous editions. Theory and concepts are related to actual products much more clearly. Rees/Amendola lucidly and concisely explain the chemistry of ingredient interaction, baking physics and supply useful ingredient definitions. The reference tables and troubleshooting guides are helpful and clear. The new information on wild yeast starter/artisan bread is timely and interesting as is the discussion of trans and cis fats. Any pastry chef can tell you that the most complicated presentations begin with a good grounding in the basics. From there, it's up to you. Industrial baking, which this edition, for the most part, sidesteps, is now so specialized, automated and artificially preserved you need an whole set of encyclopedias to understand the processes that are usually performed by a machine. On the other hand, with this book and it's companion volume, The Baker's Manual (also recently revised with many, many appealing new formulas), you could start a fine little pastry shop. It impowers you to be the best baker you can be.
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25 of 25 people found the following review helpful
By sss
Format:Paperback
I am a cake designer by trade and I'm getting ready to teach my first college level course and this is the book that I will be using for my students.

The reason for this is simple: value for money with a clear understanding of baking principles.

Most professional tomes like the Gisslen or Friberg book will set you back 50-75 dollars a book. You can have both of Amendola's books for the cost of just one. Sure, they might not have all the pretty pictures, but why go out and spend hundreds of dollars that you don't need to.

And to set the record straight, I completely disagree with the person who complained that the books were boring and too scientific. The act of baking is not an art - it's all about science and if you think that's boring then you shouldn't be baking.

A good baker and cake designer will know and understand why cakes are made the way they are, otherwise, he or she will not have the knowledge needed to overcome the problems and issues that every baker will face at some point in his or her career, whether professional or home baker.

If you're a home baker and you want a less "science-driven" book then I'd suggest The Baker's Dozen. If you love cake and really want to understand what it's all about then you can't beat Joseph Amendola - he is a master.
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17 of 18 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
I received this book when I started culinary school and by far it is the book I use the most when I have questions about baking. It throughly explains the baking process, the ingredients, and science behind it all. If you ever wanted to know anything about baking, this is the book to get.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Serious Baker - Get this Book
In 1979 I bought this book. It is a great source for understanding the interaction of the various ingredients have on the finished product. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Robert Kent
Disorganized Mish-Mash
Joseph Amendola is a well-respected expert and writer, but I was shocked and dismayed by the haphazard way this book was hurled together, with omissions, unnecessary repetitions,... Read more
Published 10 months ago by L. Morey
Helpful, but confusing
This book has lots of useful information in it, but there are many places where the author uses unfamiliar terms and does not explain them.
Published 13 months ago by Janice L. Del Valle
Wiley, wake up
Let me ignore what the text says, and focus instead on how Wiley chose to present it: using non-black ink. Brown. Lighter than it should be for good reading... every word of it. Read more
Published 20 months ago by G. Shadduck
Good start, but I was a bit let down
I am new to making breads. I've tried following some recipes and got mixed results(sometimes using the same recipe multiple times). Read more
Published 21 months ago by G. S. Gourde
Nice baking book
Very helpful for undestanding more about how baking really works, easy to apply the information to real life baking situations. Well written. Definitely recommend.
Published 22 months ago by L. Hatcher
How to really understand Baking.
First, this is definitely NOT a cookbook! It contains no recipes for breads, cookies, or cakes.

What it does contain is clear, easily understood information about how... Read more
Published on March 4, 2010 by Kenneth Green
An Essential
This book is exactly what I was looking for. I set out to find a book that would give me an understanding of the science involved in baking, and this book did just that. Read more
Published on September 30, 2008 by SpinningBeanie
Understanding Baking/ The Baker's Manual
The older editions were geared towards professional bakers
or those that wanted to be. Joseph Amendola's work is
hard to see in this latest edition. Read more
Published on February 19, 2003 by tina powers
A gem.
This book is great because it covers the fundamentals of baking. I believe that fundamentals are important as they serve as a starting point for pastry chefs. Read more
Published on October 10, 2002
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Joseph Amendola
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Egg yolk foams are notoriously thick, easily deflating the egg whites when the two are combined. To make yolks less viscous, beat a whole egg with the yolks (more if the batch is large), effectively transferring one white to the yolks. Even though this reduces the volume of beaten egg whites in the recipe, less total batter volume is lost. &quote;
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heavy cream that is slightly overwhipped and appears grainy can be brought back to a smooth state by beating in more heavy cream. &quote;
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Replacing a small portion of flour specified in a recipe with a pure starch, such as cornstarch or potato starch, makes for an even more tender cake. &quote;
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