The Professional Pastry Chef (3rd Edition) Review

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The Professional Pastry Chef (3rd Edition) ReviewCovers basic Doughs (bread, cake, pastry) Breakfast stuff, cookies, tarts cakes, individual cakes (including charlottes), custard soufflee and mousse, ice Cream, decorating with chcolate and sugar, and others. About 1150 pages.
This is an awesome book. It costs twice as much as any other book, but it's worth it. This book gives you the hows,whys, and principles of everything which is nice. For example it has a chart showing how creme caramel, creme brule, pastry cream, sabayon, pots de creme are all just modified creme anglais. However it does assume that you know a little bit, so for a first book "the cake bible" "the pie/pastry bible" or "baking with julia" might be more suitable. You know that all of the recipes are tested. There are a few things to look out for however. The first is that you will have to scale down all of the recipes - they are written for bulk. The second is that the photos and recipes aren't put together or indexed well - you have to hunt for the recipe for a particular photo. But all in all, a terrific book, definitely worth the price.The Professional Pastry Chef (3rd Edition) Overview

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The Essential Baking Cookbook (Essential Cookbook) Review

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The Essential Baking Cookbook (Essential Cookbook) ReviewI love to bake breads, cakes, cookies, but most especially pastry and this book is wonderful for all of these. Not only does it have great recipes, but it also provides pictures of right and wrong results and hints as to how to fix it. Each section begins with basics and ten moves on to recipes that build on those basics. I've never had a bad recipe out of this book.The Essential Baking Cookbook (Essential Cookbook) Overview

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The Artful Cupcake: Baking & Decorating Delicious Indulgences Review

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The Artful Cupcake: Baking & Decorating Delicious Indulgences ReviewI was delighted to find this book since, a few weeks ago, I looked through all my many books on baking for a simple cupcake recipe and I could find but one true cupcake recipe. And this was with a cake recipe on which I was not keen. I was doubly surprised to find not a single decent cupcake recipe at the Food Network web side at the time.
Upon reading this book, the first thing which struck me was that it was as much or more a craft book than it was a book on baking. The first clue is that the publisher specializes in craft books. It is not one of those major cookbook houses like Knopf, Clarkson Potter, Wiley, or even Ten Speed Press. The next clue is that the author's previous books are all on craft topics such as decorating with lights, gel candles, silk flowers, and scarecrows. The story becomes clearer when it is evident that the name on the front cover, Ms. Marcianne Miller, is probably much more a collector and editor of ideas than an author, let alone a baker. Among the fourteen (14) `Contributing Designers' names at the end of the book, her name appears last. A minority of the thirteen other individuals named and profiled here are professional bakers. Most are amateurs whose main vocation is in the arts, crafts, or non-baking part of the food service industry.
All this is to make the impression on you, dear reader, that this book is less about baking cupcakes than it is about baking AND DECORATING cupcakes. This is not to say this is a poor book. Just the opposite is true. This is a very good little book on baking AND DECORATING cupcakes.
The book begins, as expected, with basic baking. On this matter, the book is brief, but flawless in giving you the essentials of cupcake baking. As part of this introduction, it describes silicone muffin pans and mini-bundt pans, neither of which have I taken much notice until I saw them here. The section on basics includes an extremely useful instruction on how to convert all but sponge cake recipes into a cupcake recipe, based on the size of cake pan for which the recipe is scaled. The introduction continues with basic instructions on frosting and icing and how to use piping bags and other decorating equipment. The most important information in the intro is the three basic cupcake recipes for Classic White, Easy Yellow, and Chocolate Buttermilk cupcakes. This is followed by three basic recipes for classic buttercream, ivory buttercream, and cream cheese frostings.
Each of the remaining thirty-six main sections are a pairing of a cake recipe with a topping or decorating technique. Most of the cake recipes are familiar, but some such as the key lime tarts and the chocolate truffle cupcakes are quite a pleasant surprise. Not every section introduces a new cake, but every section does introduce a new decorating style, technique, or topping. Some of the toppings are borrowed from well-known standards such as a Maple Walnut Streusel and white chocolate roses. Many other toppings are elaborate. Some are elaborate in the extreme such as the chocolate domes which are worthy of a major pastry talent such as Jaques Torres or Pierre Herme.
The cupcake styling chapters are interspersed with sidebar sections on special techniques and ingredients such as baking with nuts, baking with fruit, fruit glazes, baking with spices, small decorative touches, and decorative sugars. I found no deep insights, or even any new facts in these sidebars, but they were often assuring me that my experience was not taking me off in the wrong direction.
If, like me, your primary interest is in baking and not in crafting, you will probably get your money's worth from the cake, frosting, and icing recipes. If you are primarily a craft person, you will get the straight scoop on the baking and lots of ideas for show-off decorations.
As a sturdy hard cover book for less than twenty dollars list, this book is a worthy addition to your library, as long as you have the need to make cupcakes, especially for kids, at least three or four times a year. The only thing the authors overlooked was to provide at least one cupcake suggestion for each major holiday where a cupcake might be an appropriate dessert such as New Years Eve, Valentine's Day, Easter, Mother's Day, Halloween, Christmas, and a child's birthday. I guess you will have to rely on Martha Stewart for this.
Highly recommended if you have the time and inclination to do fancy cupcakes.The Artful Cupcake: Baking & Decorating Delicious Indulgences Overview

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Recipes from the Raleigh Tavern Bake Shop Review

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Recipes from the Raleigh Tavern Bake Shop ReviewIf you like historical recipes, this is the book for you. If you prefer recipes that work in modern kitchens, this is the book for you. The author has taken recipes from the 18th century and adapted them to 21st-century kitchens. You get to choose which one to follow! (Personally, I recommend the modern version...)
The most requested recipe in this collection is the one for those wonderful gingerbread cookies everyone remembers from the Raleigh Tavern, but there are many others for tasty baked goods (pies, cookies, breads, etc.) that have been served for decades at Colonial Williamsburg. A wealth of good eating!Recipes from the Raleigh Tavern Bake Shop Overview

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Baking at Home with The Culinary Institute of America Review

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Baking at Home with The Culinary Institute of America ReviewThis was one of those books that actually angered me. In the introduction, they go out of their way to explain to you why mass measurements are superior to volume measurements, but then go ahead and supply volume only measurements for all of their recipes. This is unacceptable. It's one thing to find "American" style measurements in a casual chocolate chip cookie book, but for a large expensive baking book supposedly written by professionals, it behooves them to include mass measurements for serious home bakers.
But the real reason I disliked this book was that the recipes I tried simply did not work as advertised. The challah recipe was not a standard recipe; it seemed extremely large for a single loaf, the mixing technique was not like what I had encountered in amateur and professional books before, but I perservered and followed the directions fastidiously. The loaf was edible, but otherwise a failure. The fact that there is no explanation for this, and no anticipation of the problems I encountered is unacceptable. I have made dozens of challah recipes and I never had a problem before. Usually, when something goes wrong, I blame myself. I can tell when I have made a mistake and I take responsibility for my failures. This was one of those times where I blamed the recipe. This was just an odd ball recipe.
Similarly, the mudslide cookies did not work as the recipe stated they would. How hard is it to make a simple cookie recipe function properly? In the end, I managed to salvage these cookies through ingenuity and improvisation, but that's no excuse; careful faithfulness to the recipe should yield perfect results. Again, no explanation or attempt to anticipate such problems.
That was the last time I wasted my time with this book. Do yourself a favor and instead of buying this expensive paper weight, get yourself one of Pierre Herme's books, or Bo Friberg's Professional Pastry chef.Baking at Home with The Culinary Institute of America Overview

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Practical Baking Review

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Practical Baking ReviewThe "practical" in the title refers to the professional bakery, not the home kitchen. The author is a representative of the wheat industry, so the emphasis here is on bread products and the various varieties of wheat that are available. The most interesting feature are the sections diagnosing various production problems and their causes and solutions.
The dust jacket says that the book is good for both small and large baking operations, but the ingredient chapter is more relevant to a large operation rather than the neighborhood bakery. The production chapter is more suited to large scale applications and under-developed countries. The emphasis is on low per-unit cost and high through-put processes. As such, it is more apropos to the wholesale bakery operation rather than the neighborhood bake shop. The author often emphasizes quantity and convenience over quality and taste. As such, it is more suitable to wholesale bakery operations rather than the local bake shop or the bakery student, statements in the appendix not withstanding.
I do not have the necessary experience to judge the value of the recipes for either production dor learning purposes. However, the book seems to be meant as an all-purpose reference to sit on the shelf of a large, wholesale bakery rather than a study manual or a source to develope new baking procedures and recipes. For example, there is little distinction in the recipes for French, Italian, and Viennese loaf breads; they seem to assume an on-going baking procedure that needs assistance. It is more of a supplementary text to aid on-going production rather than a collection of basic techniques and procedures. As such, I am not sure of its value as learning tool for the student, statements in the Appendices not withstanding. As a learning tool, it is inadequate. As a reference book, it is, I guess, acceptable.
It is a 5th edition, but I found an unusually large number of editorial mistakes. There is "poor" rather than pour (p.445), p. 524 has "sufficient" instead of "insufficient", "fold" rather than hold, and the cakes chapter page headers are incorrect (has "common problems with fruit cakes" on top of brownie and cheescake sections). The author mistakenly states that increased acidity in the dough increases or strengthens the pH. In fact, it is the opposite: increasing acidity decreases the pH. Alkali, like baking soda, has a very high pH. In the international version of the recipes, the % of flour sometimes is and sometimes is not listed as 100%. He also states that there are "hard" cheddar cheeses versus the softer, grated "American-type", which seems to be a meaningless distinction.
The coverage of pastry and cakes is perfunctory at best. It is aimed at the professional baker, and is certainly not recommendable for the home baker. The book seems to have been designed as a textbook. As such, it is more useful as a resource rather than a tutorial, which is perfectly acceptable if this book is used along with a production manual as part of a professional course in baking. Its primary audience is experience bakers who need a reference book.Practical Baking Overview

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Encyclopedia of Classic French Pastries: History and Legends of the Great Pastries of France/Easy-To-Follow Recipes for Home Cooks Review

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Encyclopedia of Classic French Pastries: History and Legends of the Great Pastries of France/Easy-To-Follow Recipes for Home Cooks ReviewThis book has the best receipe for madelines anywhere. I love the histories about the pastries, just a little info that adds a touch of panache to a home baked goody.Encyclopedia of Classic French Pastries: History and Legends of the Great Pastries of France/Easy-To-Follow Recipes for Home Cooks Overview

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Bon Appetit Desserts: The Cookbook for All Things Sweet and Wonderful Review

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Bon Appetit Desserts: The Cookbook for All Things Sweet and Wonderful ReviewWe have always enjoyed the dessert recipes in Bon Appetit magazine so a purchase and review of the cookbook was not a question of if, but when. The Desserts cookbook is big, with quality printing and good color photos. The layout is easy to follow and we thought the use of whisks instead of stars to indicate the complexity of the recipe was creative.
The books begins with pantry and equipment suggestions and then techniques which might be helpful to many. The techniques sections uses illustrations where I believe pictures would have been better. For example, showing dough textures on page 37 is meaningless to the reader. We would suggest that the editor change this in the next version. From here we move to the recipes that starts with cakes.
There does not seem to be any order to how the recipes are organized in each section. There are subsections (example 5 in cakes), but if this was targeted for a large audience then perhaps sections should have started with the one whisk recipes and then moved to the four whisk recipes in each section. The pictures are well done but limited in scope. We have all seen magazines begin to have a light table grid of recipe pictures that could have played well here. At the beginning of each section they could have a 9 photo grid of each recipe and then cut back on the full page pictures. I enjoy pictures and cookbooks can always be lacking in too few of them. Pictures make me want to make the recipe.
The tips and layout of the recipes are good. The recipes selections would keep one entertained in desserts for quite a while with many visits to the treadmill. Our first recipe was a Cranberry Lime tart that did not disappoint. The holiday season will bring some other trials. Lime Snowball cookies looks interesting but it does require lime oil. We actually expected to find more recipes with uncommon ingredients but were pleased that they minimized their inclusion.
Overall we are pleased with the cookbook. You can find some of the recipes already on the Bon Appetit website and if you want a picture that may be the place to look. Amazon and Costco have very good pricing in the U.S.Bon Appetit Desserts: The Cookbook for All Things Sweet and Wonderful Overview

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Festive Baking: Holiday Classics in the Swiss, German, and Austrian Traditions Review

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Festive Baking: Holiday Classics in the Swiss, German, and Austrian Traditions ReviewRecipes in this book are not for novice bakers, neither are they for habitual offenders of baking mixes aisles or those who are afraid to touch dough with their bare hands. Following recipes of Sarah Kelly Iaia requires well-stocked pantry, precision, discipline, and ability to plan ahead. Many recipes specify that the dough is made a day in advance, and many baked goods are better 2 weeks - a month after baking. On a positive note, many ingredients are quite accessible and not expensive.
The taste and look of all those goodies is distinctly European and suit best those who like artisan baking. If you prefer chewey cookies, heavy cakes like German chocolate cake (which is not German at all), supermarket-sold white bread, and chemically tasting birthday cakes sold at price clubs, chances are you will not like most of cakes, breads, and cookies made from recipes in this book. However, this book is very usefull if you wish to enrich your baking repertoir, impress your guests or coworkers, or need to send a lot of presents across the country around Christmas. The author, using very specific easy-to-follow directions helps muster different types of gingerbreads, Sunday breads, stollen, crumbly sweet pretzels, and nut layer cakes. Both children and adults like chocolate-glazed heart-shaped honey cookies, the recipe for which alone is worth the price of this book.
I would prefer more photographs of finished products, but overall I have been quite satisfied with the results even without them.Festive Baking: Holiday Classics in the Swiss, German, and Austrian Traditions Overview

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Killer Pies: Delicious Recipes from North America's Favorite Restaurants (Killer (Chronicle Books)) Review

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Killer Pies: Delicious Recipes from North America's Favorite Restaurants (Killer (Chronicle Books)) ReviewThis cookbook is part of a series and this one is awesome! I bought it because we love the McEwen's on Monroe (Memphis) amazing banana cream pie. The owner told me about the new cookbook and loaned me his copy (this is an amazing delicious restaurant that treats you like family) until I ordered my own. It's one of those beautifully put together books with great recipes that I just keep buying and giving away everytime I need a birthday present, etc. So now I need to buy a stack! Gorgeous pictures and wide geographical range of delicious regional pies of North America.Killer Pies: Delicious Recipes from North America's Favorite Restaurants (Killer (Chronicle Books)) Overview

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Eric Kayser's Sweet and Savory Tarts Review

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Eric Kayser's Sweet and Savory Tarts ReviewThis is a superior tart book both for technique and a well-organized array of recipes with some excellent flavor combinations. For the knowledge of the chef, the quality of the recipes and the photography, design and layout of the book I would give it 5-stars.
HOWEVER, hopefully the US publisher will do a little heavy lifting on corrections for the next printing: my advice would be to make a trial run of each recipe before preparing one of these tarts for public presentation, use your best baking judgment on ingredient amounts, and use the weights listed for more accurate measure. Originally published in French, this English language edition does not credit any translator and I would venture a guess that the translator is not a baker, nor did they consult one. Suggested volume equivalents are often glaringly off (e.g. Pate Brisee), and technique for assembly is often better guided by the superior photographs than by the meager written instructions, which can lead to not-so-spectacular results. For example, the recipe for the apricot pistachio tart instructs the baker to use half of the filling mixture to to spread on top of the apricots...if you do this, you will not see any gorgeous golden glistening apricots in your finished product.
It's a little sad when publishing companies "buy-in" a superior foreign published book with excellent technical credentials, but don't bother to invest the time in verifying the technical translations. People will and ought to buy this book for more than the pretty pictures, but they had better know what they are doing in the kitchen until the publisher gets cracking on the corrections.
PUBLISHER: test bake these recipes and correct them.
NOT recommended for beginner bakers.Eric Kayser's Sweet and Savory Tarts Overview

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Artisan Breads, Pastries, Cookies, and Desserts: Techniques and Recipes from the Beach Pea Baking Co. Review

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Artisan Breads, Pastries, Cookies, and Desserts: Techniques and Recipes from the Beach Pea Baking Co. ReviewWe are lucky enough to live near the Beach Pea Baking Company. While everything that we've eaten there has been delicious, their fougasse bread is unbelieveable and I bought the cookbook specifically for that recipe. I spent today making the bread and it turned out beautifully! The instructions were easy to understand and told me everything I needed to know to make great bread despite a lack of experience making yeast breads. I am encouraged and look forward to making more of the recipes in this cookbook! The only downside is that I wish the cookbook had more recipes, but it was worth the price just for the fougasse recipe.Artisan Breads, Pastries, Cookies, and Desserts: Techniques and Recipes from the Beach Pea Baking Co. Overview

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The Art of the Cake: Modern French Baking and Decorating Review

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The Art of the Cake: Modern French Baking and Decorating ReviewPlease note carefully the sub-title of this book: Modern French Baking and Decorating. French cakes have little in common with American ones. Like its predecessors on pastry and cookies, this baking book on cakes is about the types that you will find in classic, pastry shops in France, and not their American cousins. It is also aimed at the serious amateur pastry chef, not the casual home baker. If you are looking for a book to tell you how to make and decorate a chocolate birthday cake for your children, this is not the book for you.
French cakes are both simple and very complicated; they are also amazing and can be heavenly like nothing else in patisserie that comes in a bewildering array of choices. Simply, a French cake is a cake base cut into layers flavored with syrup, sometimes with a flavoring agent between the layers, a filling and frosting of buttercream (but can also be flavored whipped cream, meringue, etc.), plus many decorative touches. The cake bases used are few in number and not that difficult to make. With simple variations in flavoring and decorations, the cake becomes totally different in taste and appearance. So, once you learn how to make one type of cake, you also know how to make at least a dozen other, totally different cakes. This book is a more or less complete guide for making most of the important, popular varieties of French cakes. I should also note that many of these cakes are ones that Americans will actively dislike. For example, succès brushed with flavored syrup is a French favorite, but is also a sugary, chewy, soggy thing that the average American will probably spit out with the first bite.
The organization is logical and also rather sophisticated. Each chapter starts out with a thorough description of a basic technique, and all the recipes in that chapter are based on that technique. For most recipes, you will also need procedures and recipes in other parts of the book, but the author always gives the page number to go to. The chapters are also arranged from easy ones to the more sophisticated ones; it assumes that you will proceed through the book sequentially, and not skip around. The chapters are: Simple Cakes, Round Sponge Cake Gateaux, Round Nut Meringue Gateaux, Meringues, Rectangular Gateaux, Bavarians (also Charlottes and Mousse Cakes), Logs and Leaves, Filling and Frostings, Finishing Touches, Basic Preparations, and a hundred or so pages of reference information. This is definitely not your mother's cake book (unless she grew up in France).
Sadly, making and decorating French cakes is difficult to do properly, and requires patience and practice. It will probably take you several tries to become successful at any one recipe. The techniques described in this book are very similar to professional ones, and, rightly speaking, are the only way you will have a chance. They have done a good job of describing these professional practices and explaining to the amateur chef how to do them. If you pay attention to what the author says and practice, you will succeed. I do have a few quibbles here and there (potato starch did not seem to improve the pound cake recipes; a flat icing spatula will not lay down an even layer of buttercream inside a cake ring; I find American cake circles to be perfectly acceptable, but have never used or seen a French one), but the information is reliable and of the highest caliber.The Art of the Cake: Modern French Baking and Decorating Overview

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VIENNESE PASTRY COOKBOOK, THE Review

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VIENNESE PASTRY COOKBOOK, THE ReviewI am Austrian (Viennese), and have used this book for years. I found my first copy at the United Nations bookstore, and now just ordered a second copy for my daughter. The book is well written, easy to read and follow. However, the most outstanding quality is that the recipes truly deliver authentic Austrian pastries without having to convert measurements! Thank you Leilly Reich.VIENNESE PASTRY COOKBOOK, THE Overview

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Beyond the Bread Basket: Recipes for Appetizers, Main Courses, and Desserts Review

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Beyond the Bread Basket: Recipes for Appetizers, Main Courses, and Desserts ReviewI live in Japan and the first time I was introduced to Maison Kayser's bread was several years ago in Tokyo in a "Boulangerie" they have not so far away from my place. Every single guest I have around I take to this place and they say this is the best bread they have tried, and it seems amazing to them that the best bread is in Japan, country of rice!
I have to say their breads are the BEST BREADS I ever tasted worldwide. My favorite is the olive bread followed by the cheese bread, among others. However, I was expecting this book to reveal more recipes of their bread and not just one main formula and ways to adjust it in order to get the recipes from the book, which is not the same then getting the formula/recipe for the bread it self.
I was expecting a breads book as well, therefore, I am slightly disappointed. I hope that Mr. Kaiser, do not delay on sending out the recipes for the delicious bread he sales in his Boulangeries "Maison Kaiser".
Even though, the book deserves to be purchased and used as well, because everything that comes out is good. I recommend buying it together with the "Eric Kayser's Sweet and Savory Tarts" which I rate 5 stars. SO GOOD!
MT-JapanBeyond the Bread Basket: Recipes for Appetizers, Main Courses, and Desserts Overview

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The Fundamental Techniques of Classic Pastry Arts Review

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The Fundamental Techniques of Classic Pastry Arts ReviewI've made several of the desserts in this book -- and most of them were amazing. Seriously, amazing. You haven't had a cheese Danish until you've had one straight out of the oven. It was fantastic. Hot brioche, the same. And the tarts, and the cookies...oh my. My roommates and coworkers alike are now hovering every weekend and Monday morning to see what I've made/brought to work. My dessert game has been elevated.
Keep in mind that the ingredients are listed in grams and ounces -- you'll need a kitchen scale. It's easy to get used to, but if you don't have one you can't even begin.
I do have one big complaint. As another reviewer mentioned, there are ERRORS in the recipes. (At the end of the genoise recipe, in the "tips" section, it says that for a 6-inch cake you use x amount of flour and an 8-inch cake, y amount...but shouldn't that be in the ingredients section? And if not there, shouldn't it say, in the ingredients section, "see page z for flour amounts"? I would think so.) An example is the lemon cake recipe. In the body it mentions adding sugar twice, but it's only listed once. I worried I'd get a sickeningly sweet cake if I added too much, so I only put in the amount listed...and got a blah, boring cake. (Though the light-as-a-cloud texture was delightful. Too bad it wasn't tasty, too.) And then sometimes equipment is in the ingredients section...line breaks are off... there are pictures of the execution of recipes that contradict the directions in the recipe... I found it very strange.
For an art that is as exacting as French pastries are, it's all the more striking that there are so many errors in the book. Most of the final products are AMAZING. But I wish they had paid as much attention to detail in the editing as you need to do to make pastries.The Fundamental Techniques of Classic Pastry Arts Overview

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The Advanced Professional Pastry Chef Review

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The Advanced Professional Pastry Chef ReviewI'm going to start with one little criticism, and I only do it because I love this book: If you live in a small town like I do, many of the ingreedients in this book will be nigh-impossible to find. Things like goat's milk cheese or some specific varieties of fruits or seeds or specific types of chocolates simply aren't available where I live. So, if you're also from a small town that lacks specialty shops or whose stores lack variety, prepare to do a lot of inventive substitution.
That being said, the book provides crystal-clear, step-by-step directions that lead you to create some of the most beautiful, delicious desserts you can imagine. Plus, it doesn't skimp on the science either, and for people like me who like to know the "why" as well as the "how", you'll appreciate that.
The book is shockingly specific. First of all, all measurments are given in weight, which is much more accurate. Someone here once said that volume measurments exist to keep us stupid and professional bakers in business, and they're absolutely right. So invest in a good scale. Plus, the book gives great information about compensating for altitude, which is a huge deal where I live (nothing's ever easy in Wyoming). The written directions make even the most difficult procedure simple to follow along, and where things get even a little hazy, the author includes diagrams and photographs.
Every recipe in this book is a perfect illustration of the fine balance between art and science that fine cooking really is. Not for those without the attention span to spend an hour or two in the kitchen, but if you have a passion for pastries you cannot do without this book.The Advanced Professional Pastry Chef Overview

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The Making of a Pastry Chef: Recipes and Inspiration from America's Best Pastry Chefs Review

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The Making of a Pastry Chef: Recipes and Inspiration from America's Best Pastry Chefs ReviewAs a student in culinary school, this gave me a clear understanding of what to expect in the food industry, the differences between a chef & a pastry chef, and what personality profiles fit each position. It was also entertaining to learn the inspirations of today's top pastry chefs. Very similar to "Becoming a Chef", by A. Dournenberg, but from a pastry perspective. I read the entire book in 3 days! Worth every penney.The Making of a Pastry Chef: Recipes and Inspiration from America's Best Pastry Chefs Overview

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How Baking Works: Exploring the Fundamentals of Baking Science Review

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How Baking Works: Exploring the Fundamentals of Baking Science ReviewLike most young people who bake today at home, I did not grow up learning from my mother or grandmother what happened when I added more flour or orange juice to a cake recipe. Without this knowledge, changes to recipes produce difficult-to-predict results. Though Ms. Figoni writes more for the professional pastry chef, her clear explanations of the chemistry of baking should enlighten the home baker as well.
I have used this book recently as I have tried to modify my American recipes while living in France. Before coming to France, I always followed my recipes exactly with pleasing results, but that is impossible in a different country, as various products are not always available. While for my regular cooking, this has rarely proved to be a problem, in pastries and breads, there is a complicated chemistry (particularly with products that rise) which can simply fail. Ms. Figoni's book has proven to be extremely useful in trying to deal with differently milled flour, finding baking powder (knowing the chemical composition helped), and understanding substitutions of ingredients. More importantly, reading the book has given me a more profound understanding of baking, allowing me to improve recipes systematically rather than rather at random.How Baking Works: Exploring the Fundamentals of Baking Science Overview

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Desserts by the Yard: From Brooklyn to Beverly Hills: Recipes from the Sweetest Life Ever Review

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Desserts by the Yard: From Brooklyn to Beverly Hills: Recipes from the Sweetest Life Ever Review`Desserts by the Yard' is by Sherry Yard, possibly the most prominent pastry chef in the United States today, as the Executive Pastry Chef to all of Wolfgang Puck's many restaurants, a winner of the best pastry chef award from the James Beard Foundation, and the author of the James Beard Award winning first book, `The Secrets of Baking'. When I reviewed her first book, I considered it one of the finest books on baking technique I have read. Since that time, I've seen several others which may be as good and even one from another restaurant pastry chef, Kate Zuckerman's `The Sweet Life'. But it is still a major achievement for someone responsible for so many restaurant responsibilities.
This book is much different. It is also much different from almost any other book of restaurant dessert recipes I've seen. The heart of the difference is that it reflects Ms. Yard's own career, beginning with her early experiences growing up in Brooklyn through her Academy Award banquet and `Iron Chef' appearances. In following this course, Ms. Yard has succeeded again in giving us one of the best restaurant baking books I have seen to date.
I am fully aware that this book's strong appeal for me lies in the large number of recipes which fit my particular interest and ethnic background (Austro-Hungarian). Strongly influenced by Herr Puck, with whom Sherry has been working for over twelve (12) years, her Spago era recipes contain many famous Austrian influenced desserts. What is so remarkable about the Puck - Yard collaboration is that Mademoiselle Sherry often disagrees vigorously with her boss, and usually wins. For his part, Puck is more than happy to go along with his pastry wonder woman, as the strong respect seems totally mutual.
My favorite aspects of the book, aside from the delightful snippets of memoir are:
Linzer Torte recipe. Even Wolfgang wasn't interested in this Austrian classic, until Yard produced a supremely moist version.
Strudel recipe. This is by far the most complicated recipe in the book, as making strudel dough is as much an athletic as a culinary exercise. It is similar to, but not the same as the Greek phyllo dough.
Dobos torte recipe. Another Austrian classic, taking about as much work as the strudel, but as totally impressive as a bouche de Noel or a baked Alaska.
Bill Clinton's Oatmeal cookies - The president could not eat chocolate, so Sherry wheeled out these delicious cookies. This is the first time I've seen it mentioned that the trick with oatmeal cookies is that you must work fast, or the oatmeal will absorb all the moisture and leave you with dry cookies.
Charlotte Russe - The dessert on the cover, for which Ms. Yard provides the recipe for the ladyfingers, and over which she and Wolfgang had a major row!
No Bake Cheesecakes - One of many relatively simple recipes. If Sherry Yard can make no-bake cheesecake, who am I to turn my nose up at it!
The English Interlude recipes, including Crumpets, Scones, Devonshire cream, Lemon Tea Biscuits, trifle, treacle tart, and peach melba. All are simple are delightful.
The large number of recipes which use fresh fruit, but which are not traditional pies. The version of Tarte Tatin is especially fascinating, in that it uses puff pastry and no pan! The most interesting of these was the rhubarb, apple, and fennel crumble recipe. Who would have thought of combining rhubarb and fennel!
The recipe for Lime-scented Floating Islands from her appearance as an assistant to Wolfgang on the `Iron Chef America Master Series' show. Unfortunately, she does not give us her technique for spinning sugar by hand, which made a big impression when we saw her do in on the show. This is the first time I've seen an `Iron Chef America' recipe in print anywhere.
The excellent tips and tricks given along the way and the concise section on basic techniques at the back of the book. The most novel and interesting suggestion was Sherry's statement that she prefers baking cake layers in half sheet pans rather than the traditional round pans. The second most interesting suggestion was the fact that cake crumbs are one of the most useful utility ingredients to have around, and Sherry gives several recipes which use them. The third most interesting suggestion was that a streusel topping should be made separately from the fruit filling, and heated on top of the fruit at the last minute.
The sure sign that this is book has something to offer is the fact that I read it from cover to cover in one sitting, and hardly noticed the time going by. If you are on the lookout for exceptional desserts, described by one of the craft's leading practitioners, this IS the book for you.Desserts by the Yard: From Brooklyn to Beverly Hills: Recipes from the Sweetest Life Ever Overview

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