LindaL

Hi Abra, Normally I would just look and drool but your cinnamon buns look soooo yum to remain quiet. Which recipe is this? I have always used Peter Reinhart's recipe in his Baker's Apprentice book, I'm happy with it but wondering if I can be even happier . Thanks for sharing.

Choice between my favorite cake and my favorite pie? The Cake wins. Come to think of it what is my favorite pie?

The airconditioning should be enough to overcome the humidity and allow you to made nougat (and work with chocolate). Abebooks is a network of used book sellers that is world wide. www.abebooks.com They will have all 3 of the books that were mentioned. You won't find the time-life books at Borders as they are out of print. Try abebooks or e-bay. Not that I would want to discourage an 8 hour trip to Borders. Both Bittersweet and Pure Chocolate are books that I looked at and didn't buy, because at the time they came around I was after books only about molding etc. If I found them at my cheap bookstore these days I would likely pick them up. Bittersweet particularly gets lots of positive mentions on eG. What do you want your chocolate books to cover? If you are thinking chocolate as confectionary, eg molding, dipping, tempering, I would recommend the books by eG's own 'chocartist' Elaine Gonazalez. Chocolate Artistry is out of print but can be found on e-bay at times and abebooks at times. The Art of Chocolate is still in print and you will likely find it at Borders. The Chocolate Bible by Karl Teubner is also a good 'entry level' book. Fine Chocolate by Wybauw is a professional level book that can be found for the best price at www.chocolat-chocolat.com. If you are a visual learner, you might also find the videos on DVD that I have made to be helpful. Info on my website. I find I learn best by seeing then supplimenting with reading. ← I have Chocolate Bible ! Was reading it this morning before leaving for work. I never ever thought one can actually attempt these things at home. I bought the book for the pictures a year ago. I am inspired, but like my fellow Malaysian said, good quality ingredients are hard to find where I live but I am not about to give up before having even started, I should at least crash first before giving up. Will get some reading materials (thanks for all the recommendations), go through your website and hope for good weather.

Hi Yunnermeier Yes I know all about limited resources. I have been going crazy looking for Dutch Processed Cocoa for a couple of years now. I think its time to give up, people look at me funny when I ask if they have this in stock. Maybe I'm just not looking at the right places. Anyway, I am now looking for Valrhona chocolates. Any ideas?

What's the worst that can happen? Sweet, nutty goo that you have to eat with a spoon. Go for it! ← How true Kerry. I do have lots of things against me, even the weather is not on my side! Humidity is always high here but I guess I can always do it in an air conditioned room (I am supposing that is sufficient ??). I think I will pay Borders a visit this weekend ( it will be 8 hours round trip for me ) I hope I can get the books that have been recommended earlier. By the way Kerry, any opinions on Bittersweet and Pure Chocolate as general chocolate book. What about their candy making section, since I am now introduced to this whole new area? Thanks in advance.

Marzipan is esentially almond paste with additional fondant and powdered sugar added to make it more moldable. I substitute one for the other but cut back the sugar as required. In this recipe if you really wanted the extra flavour the pistachio or almond adds you could just add almond butter made in the food processor just like peanut butter. You can do the same with pistachios. 100 grams nuts, 50 grams sugar, couple of drops bitter almond oil (to both pistachio and almond). I use my sumeet spice grinder to make nut butters because it is so fast and powerful. ← Thanks Kerry. I have never seen almond paste in the stores here only marzipan. Now do I dare attempt nougat

Probably this is not the right place to ask this basic question but what is almond paste? What can be substituted? How is it different from marzipan? I live in Malaysia and some things are hard to get or would cost a bomb. Hey Pamela, thanks for the recommendation. Will look out for that too.

Good recomendations so far but just to add Classic Home Dessert by Richard Sax (big thick book).

If you can find one of the old 'Candy', which is one of the Time Life Good Cook series it is a great starter book and has lots of pictures. Abebooks have it for about $6. ← Thanks Kerry. Will look it up. I am new here so I did not earlier realize you guys are professionals doing this at a totally pro level . Liked your website.

Wow!! I love nougat, never ever thought you could make them at home. But you guys are making a whole loads of other confectionaries as well. Any books on confectionary 101 which you guys would recommend? Kerry and Vanessa, very nice stuff. I will be following this thread. Now got to go to get my sugar fix

I have 98. Thinking of adding the new "The Cake Book" by Tish Boyle but I have not heard much about her work. Will probably succumb by the next visit to the bookstore. I am also looking forward to Dorie Greenspan's new book coming out later this year. Is there a place where baking/dessert books are being discussed? I am trying to build a respectable collection of cookbooks focusing on baking/desserts.

I really like Cook's Illustrated Best Recipe. Got that before the 1000 pages one came out. So needless to say the new one would be the thing to go for now. Been reading this thread but still cannot make up my mind, for basic American stuff, which would be better? Fannie Farmer or JoC if you have to pick one. Saw one other book called "John Ash Cooking One on One". Any opinions?

Just ordered my copy today plus Payard's Simply Sensational Desserts as I read somewhere in EG that it is worth having too Wondering about Nancy Baggett's All American Desserts and Wayne Bachman's American Desserts book too. Anyone has any opinion on these. Thanks

I am thinking of investing in a Le Creuset (my first) so all your inputs have been really helpful. I was going to get the 5 qt round one but I think I will get a bigger one now. Can anyone help with the following questions? Thanks. Are all the pans white on the inside? Do the colors have any diference to cooking time at all or can I make my choice purely on what pleases my eye and purse? Are soup pots OK for braising? (there is one on sale now) What are the difference between it and the round French Oven? Is it shallower?

← I can highly reccomend Sensational Desserts by Payard. I also really like The Bakers Dozen and Great Cookies. ← Is Bakers Dozen more comparable to Baking with Julia in that different people contributed a different recipe or is it something like Cooks Illustrated? I have both the Baking Illustrated and also Baking with Julia, love both but still would be great to know what to expect of Bakers Dozen. P.S. Wendy, I have been reading your post with keen interest. They are very practical and honest.

Ah, if you've found Jessica's Biscuit, you've already found ecookbooks.com... One and the same. Don't know about a forum on books, but there are threads on eGullet where people are baking from a single book and comparing results / recipes, etc. Just do a search on a particular book. Welcome to Cookbooks Anonymous... ← I made the most wonderful Challah by following the thread on Baking with Julia. Very inspiring. Had the book for quite a while but didn't really appreciate the value of the book untill reading the thread. Love Jessica's Biscuit, they really have very good deals. Since I do not live in US, I have it sent to my sister who lives in US. She will then bring the books back when she visits which is once a year. Between her visits I will have to drive 200 miles to our capital where Borders or another Japanese book store called Kinokuniya is for a quick fix. Books are really expensive here. One King Arthur book is equivalent to over 60 bowls of Wonton noodles for me, this is like breakfast money for two months but I am determined to build a good cookbook collection on top of learning to bake. Also thinking of getting these, any opinions would be helpful American Desserts by Nancy Bagget, Great Cookies by Carole Walter, Passion for Desserts by Emily Luchetti, Sweet Kitchen by Regan, Sensational Desserts by Payard, Classic Home Desserts by Richard Sax, Kaffeehaus by Rick Rodgers, Bakers Dozen.

Nick's books seem to work for me. I do not think his books give a lot of details on the "whys" but most of his recipes that I have tried worked. I have 4 of his books but I am missing Perfect Pastry. It sort of went out of print right after I developed my cookbook addiction. Anyone has opinions on Nick's latest book - Baker's Tour?

Hi Andiesenji, Great information, these will be very useful! The four books I ordered are here so I'm sure I will need Pastry Chef.com for clarifications on utensils and tools etc. I also love making breads although I have found them to be more time consuming. I have Reinhart's Apprentice book which I have found to be useful but there is always room for more so will be checking out on Gail Sher's book. I think I am developing an addiction to buying cookbooks, I don't seem to have enough, its a good thing I do cook from some of them !

Thanks, Sweetside for clearing that up for me. I am very new at baking and EG so I am very excited to get specific replies to my questions. I have been ordering from Amazon and Jessica's Biscuit so I am curious to check out Ecookbooks. By the way is there a forum about baking books that you know of? I was actually looking for such a foum when I stumbled upon EG. What a find!

Thanks all for the heads up. The King Arthur and Martha’s new book are definitely on my list now. Alanamoana, Does the recipes in King Arthur require their products? I will not be able to get my hands on any of their products here. I have a cookbook that calls for certain cake mixed or even specific brands of cake mixes. Aidensnd At the moment my local bookstore has both volumes of Bo Friberg’s books and CIA but not Wayne Gisslen’s . But I think I will wait for Wayne Gisslen’s. I believe a few others in EG share the same opinion on his work too. Does the book have good amount of illustrations in it? (Drawings, color pictures?) Also is it scaled for home consumption? I am almost running out of people to share my stuff with plus I sometimes wonder if people are really delighted with my stuff All the more reason to improve

Thanks, SweetSide and Alanamoana. Well I am just a weekend baker with not much experience. I have been doing regular, one layer cakes like banana, carrot, pound cake, cheesecakes, chocolate cake, some cookies and breads etc. Results I have been getting are ok but now I want to try the more “complicated”, multi layered cakes and also pastries. I have not got my hands on puff pastry yet but the choux puffs that I have tried needs improvement. There is definitely a whole lot I have and want to learn. Perhaps professional baking books would be too ambitious for now? I do not live in the US and buying western cookbooks over here is very expensive. Our bookstores are not well stocked and we do not have libraries that have good cookbooks. I usually order books on line, sight unseen. Although reviews on Amazon have been helpful, I think I should get second opinion from passionate bakers on EG. Any opinion you can give would be greatly appreciated. Have been using Nick Malgirie's How to Bake and his Chocolate book, Baking Illustrated by CI and Maida Heatter's Great Desserts. They are all good in a certain way but I want to brush up on techniques too. I guess like SweetSide said I want to learn the science about baking on top of having good recipes. I have just ordered the Desserts and Chocolate book from Pierre Hermes and Dorie Greenspan and also the Cake Bible. I see these being referred to all the time in the forum. Please tell me of others meanwhile I will be checking on the one SweetSide mentioned which I have not heard before. Again, thanks for sharing.

Hi everyone, Been reading your posts and learning a great deal from it. The demos, discussions and pictures are really great. I have learnt a great deal over the past months just by reading from this forum. I am wondering if any of you could advise which one of the professional range of baking books (Bo Friberg, CIA, Wayne Gisslen) you would recommend a home baker trying to move on to the next level. Which are the ones more self explanatory, clear and easy to follow from a home baker's point of view. Please tell me of any other I should be considering too.. Many thanks.