Advanced Bread and Pastry Author: Michel Suas | Language: English | ISBN:
141801169X | Format: PDF
Advanced Bread and Pastry Description
Advanced Bread & Pastry has a unique approach to providing advanced level concepts, techniques and formulas to those aspiring to be professional bakers and professional pastry chefs. It is the only available resource covering complex bread making, viennoiserie and pastry into one book. Exquisite photographs are throughout to further inspire learners and professionals of the unlimited potential of the craft. Advanced Bread and Pastry provides in depth information and troubleshooting strategies for addressing the complex techniques of the advanced level of bread and pastry arts.
- Hardcover: 1043 pages
- Publisher: Cengage Learning; 1 edition (April 4, 2008)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 141801169X
- ISBN-13: 978-1418011697
- Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.7 x 2.1 inches
- Shipping Weight: 7.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
This is without doubt the largest, most informative, most inclusive bread and pastry book in existence. Just imagine the 'Professional French pastry series' and the 'Special and decorative breads series' in one huge tome.The book does not have 880 pages as stated in the description, but 1043 including the indexes.
Mr Suas has created a comprehensive, easy to follow textbook for advanced baking and pastry. The book uses the French tradition in baking/pastry apprenticeship and includes both American and French products. Mind that this is not a coffee table book but a student's guide to advanced baking/pastry. So the author approaches the reader as a teacher would approach the student. There are explanations for every single detail and at the end of each chapter there are questions. A word of caution; this is a book strictly for professionals. One cannot just open it and start measuring cups and spoons to make a cake. Anyone lesser than an apprentice will probably get lost in the plethora of information. So if you are not a professional or a very knowlegable amateur, don't blow your money.
The book starts with a history of bread and pastry making and is divided into three main sections: Bread, Vienoisserie and Pastry. Each section is then subdivided into many others.
This book is written mostly for "the trade", but the home-chef (like me) can get a lot out of it. Apart from Bread and Pastry, it has extensive chapters on cakes, icings, cookies, chocolate(confection), ice-cream and quick breads (banana bread, scones, muffins) amongst other things. It is very comprehensive. The science can be understood by almost everyone, and the book is well illustrated (pictures of how to shape a baguette, etc). There are no "stories" from the author about how he first made this and that, and learnt this from there - and so forth. It reads like a school book. Very informative!
I was at first worried that this book had 1000's of recipes, but it says on the back that it has just under 300, which means there is a lot of theory in it (which I think is good). I has 2 Pannetone recipes and about 4 Croissant recipes. It has sachertorte, and black forest gateu, chocolate truffles and loads of other stuff. The carrot cake recipe is the best I've ever tried, and I've ended up using ALL the sections in the book (except for the ice-cream chapter), even though I only bought it for the Bread/Pastry initially.
For me there is one problem: I don't have a Mixer. That makes it hard to to follow the bread formulas (recipes) 100% accurately. There is enough science in the book, that you might find a "do-it-yourself" way if you experiment (at least I hope so).
In each bread formula in the book the author will specify what type of mix method to use: Short, Improved or Intensive (which basically is the 3 diffent speeds of the mixer kneading the dough).
- "Shortmix" is almost like kneading by hand, however quite few recipes call for a short mix.
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