The Il Fornaio Baking Book: Sweet and Savory Recipes from the Italian Kitchen Review

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The Il Fornaio Baking Book: Sweet and Savory Recipes from the Italian Kitchen ReviewI have long felt that Il Fornaio's restaurants are the closest thing to eating in Italy in this country (USA). In my many trips to the San Francisco Bay area, I have always made it standard procedure to go to Il Fornaio for at least an evening, and usually breakfast as well, to be reminded of my all-too-short time in Italy. I have never been disappointed. Quite the contrary, I'm frequently stunned and delighted at the quality of food and service they provide. Naturally, when I ran across this book, I was so excited, I could hardly wait to get home and begin baking some of the wondrous items they so capably turn out every day.
I would add to the previous review that Italian cooking in general (and particularly recipes from the Emilia-Romagna region a la The Splendid Table) is at once sublimely simple and intimidatingly complex, requiring many subtle layers of preparation and execution. For all the spectacular effort some of these recipes require in all but the best-stocked of kitchens, however, the results will astound you with their beauty, their unfailing goodness, and the pure spirit of the Italians' passion for life, family, and truly great food.
This is not to say beginners should avoid this book. Rather, beginners should seek out this book to learn that with which Franco Galli has successfully imbued this gorgeous (and extremely tactile) book... the tried and true methods of Old World baking. It is filled to the brim with useful information on ingredients, techniques, stories, history, and peppered with the occasional bit of good humor that makes me long for a childhood spent in Italy, learning traditions passed on through untold generations.
My hat is off to Franco Galli in grateful acknowledgement for his tremendous restaurants, this excellent book (thank you thank you thank you), and the chance to live a tiny piece of Italy through his life experience as a baker. As a footnote, I have so far not experienced any of the measurement inaccuracies mentioned in the previous review.The Il Fornaio Baking Book: Sweet and Savory Recipes from the Italian Kitchen Overview

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The Italian Baker Review

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The Italian Baker ReviewWhen I was hired to be the bread baker at an Italian restaurant in Carrboro, NC, I had no experience baking. The chef told me the restaurant wanted to start baking its own bread instead of buying it from a local bakery. She handed me this book, and I took it home to read and to pick out some recipes to try out.
I found the book quite readable, and I agree with the reviewer below who praises the book's "detailed, insatiable descriptions of the regions, and history of the recipe at hand." Also worthy of praise are the sections on the fundmentals of baking, which were particularly helpful to me when I was learning to bake. By covering the fundamentals and the various techniques used in different regions of Italy, the book gave me a good idea of what aspects I could experiment with comfortably, and which steps were more or less prescribed.
Our baking program turned out to be a success. Diners were especially fond of the scroll-shaped loaves that we learned to make from "The Italian Baker." Later we started making sourdough bread at the restaurant, based on techniques learned from this book. One night after we had been at it for a few weeks, one of our waiters came back into the kitchen to pass on compliments from a diner from San Francisco who said that our sourdough bread was as good as any she had had at home in SF. We were ecstatic. Only a few months before my cooking expertise had been more or less limited to heating up canned soup!
So I give this book a very enthusiastic recommendation for anyone wanting to bake Italian bread and then possibly go on to improvise their own loaves. In addition to being well-written, it is also a very handsome volume.The Italian Baker Overview

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Sweet Maria's Big Baking Bible Review

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Sweet Maria's Big Baking Bible ReviewThe definition of true Italian-American Baking. If a person is looking for the perfect recipe book for baking, look no further. This book contains all of the necessities for the typical Italian cookie tray. Recipes are easy to follow and it is a must have in any baking household.Sweet Maria's Big Baking Bible Overview

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The Cheese Board: Collective Works: Bread, Pastry, Cheese, Pizza Review

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The Cheese Board: Collective Works: Bread, Pastry, Cheese, Pizza ReviewThere are two types of generosity that one deals with in regard to cooks, bakers and other culinary artists. The first is generosity of table where what is put before you food wise reflects time, effort, attention and care. Memorable meals, hosts and foods all show a generosity of the table.
What is harder to find is generosity of knowledge where a cook will give you their prize techniques, recipes and knowledge for no other reason then to spread knowledge and pleasure though it might dilute their "brand" or mystique. You know people who never let go of a prize recipe because it is too valuable, too precious; something to be passed on to generations.
I am happy to say that this cookbook reflects both kinds of generosity. The Collective really tries to convey the table type of generosity by providing a lot of blurbs from members and clients. Trying to give the atmosphere of a cheese shop where you and the seller spend time establishing trust and tasting models one thin cheese slice at a time.
This book displays the generosity of knowledge by providing ALL the recipes loved by customers of the Cheeseboard. I spent a fortune buying the Olive Provolone bread, zampanos and other heady bread goodness that could be bought every time I left home and returned. When I left Berkeley sometimes I would think back longingly to bread from the cheeseboard during my travels.
Now to the technical aspects. The book is definitely designed for people who have had previous experience with baking though they do show some rudimentary things like the window pane for gluten development. Still I would say that this book is not for the beginner but someone already comfortable with the bread making process.
It is not as technically exhaustive as Silverton's _Breads of La Brea Bakery_ or Rheinhart's _Baker's Apprentice_but it does provide basic ideas and recipes that are used.
Layout --
The layout is not as user friendly as I would like with clear break-out steps so it is highly recommended that you read the recipe before using because the movement of the eye is not broken with subheaders and lines.
The color of the paper is cream with use of black and red typography. It is done as a paperback that with use will become the scratch and sniff type of cookbook easily. If you bake and collect consider getting two copies because one will get quite a beating.
Recipes -
Solid gold for those who know how to bake and have the necessary equipment, like a baking stone. For those who have no patience to spend DAYS doing a sourdough starter this is not the book for you. Also, if you are a newbie to baking bread use Reinhardt's _Baker's Apprentice_ as a way better introduction since this book assumes you know what tacky and elastic dough refers to.
I recommend this book highly with its anecdotal style, generosity of knowledge for any baking collection especially, a collection specializing in the northern California food revolution. However, for those just starting the adventure of baking there are way better teaching books.The Cheese Board: Collective Works: Bread, Pastry, Cheese, Pizza Overview

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Sweet Maria's Italian Desserts: Classic and Casual Recipes for Cookies, Cakes, Pastry, and Other Favorites Review

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Sweet Maria's Italian Desserts: Classic and Casual Recipes for Cookies, Cakes, Pastry, and Other Favorites ReviewMake Delicious Italian Desserts at Home
In her latest cookbook, "Sweet Maria's Italian Desserts: Classic and Casual Recipes for Cookies, Cakes, Pastry, and Other Favorites," baker Maria Bruscino Sanchez offers traditional family recipes for the home baker. She demystifies the "handful of this and that" that one often finds with "old country" family recipes. Italian baking, like Italian cooking, is regional. Maria offers recipes from her Neapolitan and Abbruzzese heritage; from her Sicilian husband's heritage; and from her travels all over Italy. She shares updated traditional and contemporary recipes from her own Sweet Maria's Bakery in Waterbury, Connecticut, where Italian-Americans and others purchase desserts.
The recipes in this cookbook are easy to follow. Here you will find authentic Italian recipes for everything from cookies (including biscotti), cakes (including cheesecakes), pies and tarts, pastry (wonderful cannoli), sweet breads, frozen desserts, fruit desserts, and dessert sauces.
Of special interest are recipes for tiramisù (including savioardi--Italian ladyfingers), homemade limoncello, crostata di fico (fresh fig tart), millefoglie (thousand-layer apricot tart), biscotti di cioccolata con noci (chocolate hazlenut biscotti), and apricot-almond semi-freddo. For special occasions, such as St. Joseph's Day (March 19) and Easter, Maria tells how to make "Pane di Pasqua con Uovo" (Braided Easter Bread with Eggs). For Christmas, there are recipes for "Panettone" (Christmas Fruit Bread) and "Crostata di Natale" (Christmas Tart).
Sidebars occur throughout this cookbook that offer tips such as "How to Make an Italian Cookie Tray," "Bomboniere" (favors for Italian weddings and bridal showers), and "Al Dente." Another sidebar tells how ". . . Italian pastry chefs traveled with Catherine de Médici when she went to live in France . . . .who showed the French chefs some of their basic techniques for pastry making, which they then adapted to make some of their legendary sweets."
Highly recommended for authentic Italian dessert recipes!Sweet Maria's Italian Desserts: Classic and Casual Recipes for Cookies, Cakes, Pastry, and Other Favorites Overview

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Sweet Maria's Italian Cookie Tray: A Cookbook Review

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Sweet Maria's Italian Cookie Tray: A Cookbook ReviewI was thrilled to find this book. There's something special about an Italian cookie bakery with the variety of designs and flavors. I tried four recipes. Two were good but were similar to recipes I already had: Coconut Macaroons and Anise cookies. The other two were failures: the Florentines were so thin that they separated from the almonds and the Sesame cookies were inedibly bitter. Many of the recipes use the same base ingredients which makes for easy preparation but somewhat redundant taste. I wished for the more elaborate cookies. My biggest issue was the lack of photos for visual guidance. Also appearance is a huge part of Italian cookies. I'm sure that the absence of photos kept the cost of printing down but it was a false economy. I will try more recipes in this book but will also look for others with more instruction.Sweet Maria's Italian Cookie Tray: A Cookbook Overview

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