ABC of baking

[pastryelf]

Baking books that I would reccommend for learning include

Baking with Julia (Child)

Baking Illustrated from the Cook's Illustrated people

Baking from my home to yours by Dorrie Greenspan

The Simple Art of Perfect Baking by Flo Braker

The Pie and Pastry Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum

Any of these will give you clear instructions on basic recipes and with some practice a good handle on baking classics. Julia has good pictures for some techniques, Braker describes things with some precision so you know what steps should look like and what to expect next. Greenspan gives great variations for almost every recipe. And for all her hubris, Beranbaum does give you a good idea of how to make good pie dough. Baking Illustrated dissects every recipe, which drives some people crazy, but can be very handy when you are learning.

Good luck and happy baking!

[Anna Skigin]

pastryelf, thank you! I already have Rose Levy Beranbaum "Cake Bible" and I like her style so I'll definely buy that Pie and Pastry Bible. By the way, I was recommended to buy The Professional Pastry Chef (by Bo Friberg) and I asked my husband to give it to me as a bday present.

[heyjude]

Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook should at least be given a look. Terrific pictures.

[Anna Skigin]

heyjude, I'm sorry, I thought she has a talkshow on TV . Is she a real baker with educaktion?

[ChefJayPeek]

By the way, I was recommended to buy The Professional Pastry Chef (by Bo Friberg) and I asked my husband to give it to me as a bday present.

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I have both volumes of this book. I would not really recommend it for a beginner though, for one thing the recipes are all sized for a production environment, and it's focus is on production. Not to say you will not learn from it, just something to consider. It is also quite expensive. That said, I do really like them and refer to them often .

You might try Alton Brown's baking book, it is good at explaining the process behind the recipes, and will give you the base knowledge that you can then explore more advanced books.

Hope this helps

Chef Jay

[Anna Skigin]

Thank you, that will help.

I'm not an absolute begginer, I really read much and bake a lot.

I've found that Alton Brown's book you're talking about. He looks funny I hope his book is also not boring

[K8memphis]

Not bread , certainly. I think "classic euro-style pastries" - that's what I like to learn. Though, as I said, I like to learn new stuff so a book or two on American-stile baking would always be interesting. As about the style of books- this time I want somthing that's written not by a housewife who's good at baking, but smth by a real pro,so I guess that would be text-like instructions.

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For "classic eruo-style pastries" I could not more highly recommend

The Complete Book of Pastry Sweet and Savory by Bernard Clayton Jr.

I got mine out of the library eons ago then purchesed one on halfdot or amazon or somewhere like that.

I did a little pictorial of making strudel dough solely from his book.

He's got lots of great nitty gritty stuff, puff pastry, danish pastry, pizza, pies, dumplings, tarts, quiches, strudel, pate a chou, turnovers, kipfel, cannoli including many many variations of each. He makes the difficult doable. Great book.

[ChefJayPeek]

Thank you, that will help.

I'm not an absolute begginer, I really read much and bake a lot.

I've found that Alton Brown's book you're talking about. He looks funny I hope his book is also not boring

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He is funny. His books are much in the same style of his show, Good Eats. His first cookbook is the first cookbook that I actually read cover to cover. He makes reading a cookbook entertaining, and he really does help you understand everything that is going on in a recipe.

Chef Jay

http://chefjaypeek.net

[Anna Skigin]

Thanks everybody for help! now I know what to buy and read