Chocolate & confectionary Books

[Spring]

It was my birthday last week and am treating myself to a chocolate book (wild or what?! lol)

I have Greweling and cant decide between Wybauw 1 or 2. I was going to get them both but the third looks interesting and useful so want to get that when it comes out (amazon says october) Im leaning towards 2 because from what Ive read here he uses sorbitol which interests me.

Any advice would be most welcome

[Honkman]

This seems to be the best thread for my question. My wife and I have experience in cooking and baking (and a large cookbook library) but we never tried to work with chocolate. A lot of books were mentioned in this thread but which one would be the best for beginners to learn the techniques and get the first sets of basic and advanced recipes ?

[emmalish]

If you're just learning, I would say Greweling's Chocolates and Confections At Home. I really wish I'd had this book when I was first starting. All my questions answered in one convenient place, plus lots of fabulous recipes to play with.

Here's another link to a discussion here @ egullet.

(edited to add links)

Edited December 5, 2010 by emmalish (log)

[dhardy123]

Although it isn't available yet, I am looking forward to Ewald Notter's book "The Art of the Chocolatier"

[lapin d'or]

oops edited post as I just posted same info as dhardy123. I'm looking forward to the Notter book too.

Edited December 5, 2010 by lapin d'or (log)

[Darienne]

Dhardy dropped me a post yesterday about a new confectionery cookbook just out: Sugar Baby: Confections, Candies, Cakes, & Other Delicious Recipes for Cooking with Sugar. Gesine Bullock-Prado.

Found it this morning in Chapters while looking for May's Saveur (thanks Pierogi) on Mexican food. It looks like a pretty useful book EXCEPT (and I did read this in the Amazon review) it has ALMOST NO PHOTOS. ARRRGGGHHHHHH!

I didn't have much time to look at it and I wasn't going to buy it at full price. Has anyone looked at it? David, have you looked at it extensively? What do you think of it?

Thanks.

[dhardy123]

I liked it and I thought there was a good amount of pictures in it. She also has a companion website http://www.sugarbabycookbook.com that has detailed pictures of most of her procedures.

There are very few (if any) that talk specifically about sugar so I found it interesting.

[Panaderia Canadiense]

I'd add The Ultimate Encyclopaedia of Chocolate by Christine McFadden and Christine France. I haven't made a bad recipe out of it yet, and it gets quite inventive. Along with the yummies and the absolutely stunning photography, there's a wealth of information about the history of chocolate in Mesoamerica, its first steps into Europe, and all of the techniques involved in proper handling and processing.

[mkayahara]

I'm looking for some advice for a chocolate book for my partner. He's already got Greweling's pro and home books, and is looking to add something else to his collection, ideally something that will provide him with lots of recipes for centres, with less of a focus on the science or recipe-formulation side of things. Recommendations?

[minas6907]

Why not "The Art of the Chocolatier"?

[Kerry Beal]

Geerts - Belgian Chocolates has tons of centre ideas - I find most of them need boosting for the flavour - but the proportions work. There is Wybauw #2 and Morato too.

[mkayahara]

Thanks for the recommendations. I'll check those ones out!

[gap]

I enjoy Geerts, but really it's because I like marzipan - steer clear if marzipan isn't a favourite. Shotts is a relatively inexpensive book with plenty of ideas

[Kerry Beal]

I enjoy Geerts, but really it's because I like marzipan - steer clear if marzipan isn't a favourite. Shotts is a relatively inexpensive book with plenty of ideas

It is indeed rather marzipan heavy!

Shott's has lots of good flavour combination ideas - but I find the recipe testing has left a little to be desired.

[curls]

Kerry, if you have the room to bring them, could you bring the Geerts and Morato books to the chocolate conference in March. I would like to take a look at them before purchasing.

[Kerry Beal]

Kerry, if you have the room to bring them, could you bring the Geerts and Morato books to the chocolate conference in March. I would like to take a look at them before purchasing.

Yup - just remind me closer to the time and I'll do that.

[curls]

Kerry, if you have the room to bring them, could you bring the Geerts and Morato books to the chocolate conference in March. I would like to take a look at them before purchasing.

Yup - just remind me closer to the time and I'll do that.

Will do. Thanks!

[lebowits]

I also recommend at least 2 of the 3 Wybauw books. The third is a much more scholarly discussion on ganache formulation and shelf life but the first two have plenty of formulas which are just ripe for experimentation.

[mkayahara]

Can someone give me a quick primer on the differences between Wybauw 1 and 2? Thanks!

[gap]

Very quickly (someone else might have the books to hand to give more details), Wybauw 1 covers all sorts of stuff around chocolate making (from memory, ganache, caramels, fruit pastes, nut pastes etc & basics like tempering etc) whereas 2 is focussed on ganache formulations.

[Kerry Beal]

Sounds about right to me (without actually looking). Another interesting set of books I have are the two Lenotre volumes. They cover all sorts of stuff.

[Chris Hennes]

gap and Kerry are right:

TOC for Fine chocolates: Great Experience

1. Characteristics of the most frequently used ingredients
   
2. Chocolate processing
   
3. Rheology
   
4. Shelf life and factors that extend shelf life
   
5. Sugar processing
   
6. Starting out
   
7. Praline recipes based on nuts
   
8. Fat-based recipes
   
9. Ganaches
   
10. Caramels
    
11. Nougat
    
12. Fruit-in-liqueur chocolates
    
13. Marzipan and persipan
    
14. Truffles and chocolate truffle balls
    
15. Fruit dough
    
16. Miscellaneous
    

Fine Chocolates 2: Great ganache experience's chapter breakdown is a little hazier, but the first 50 pages cover the technical aspects of ganache in reasonable detail, and the remainder is ganache recipes.

[gap]

Another interesting set of books I have are the two Lenotre volumes. They cover all sorts of stuff.

Kerry - I have been wondering about these books for 6 years now Do you find they are still useful/interesting given the plethora of chocolate and confectionary books released over the past 5 or so years or do they cover generally the same stuff?

[Kerry Beal]

Another interesting set of books I have are the two Lenotre volumes. They cover all sorts of stuff.

Kerry - I have been wondering about these books for 6 years now Do you find they are still useful/interesting given the plethora of chocolate and confectionary books released over the past 5 or so years or do they cover generally the same stuff?

Took them out for the first time the other day when looking for champagne truffle recipes. Love them - but don't run to them first for sure. Greweling is my go to.