Reviews for Professional Pastry Chef: Fundamentals of Baking and Pastry, 4th Edition

The average rating for Professional Pastry Chef: Fundamentals of Baking and Pastry, 4th Edition based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2014-11-28 00:00:00 Jennifer Robertsen Extensive Yet Lacking Science 1. Lacking the Fundamental Science I bought this book for the purpose of understanding the world of pastry and baking, but instead I got basically lists of recipes. This book basically contains recipes upon recipes, so many recipes (which is good). But I was hoping for a deeper understanding approach to baking. I wanted comprehension not just recipes. Reviews in Amazon says science is abundant in this book, that's just not true. The appendix has lots of info on ingredients and terminology and equipments, but what is truly important is the science and understanding behind the dish. And what you will find is mostly just a background story, history, and not so deep intro and explanation. Of course it doesn't mean science is absent, oh no! It is far from absent! But for a book that thick, I expect way deeper science! So instead, this book is more like a gigantic collection of recipes! EXAMPLE: Making cakes, I expect to read a comprehensive understanding on cake. But unfortunately, instead you will find that on Bo's next book: The Advanced Professional Pastry Chef. I look inside the preview in Amazon and I find the explanation that I need about cake in the Advanced book. Wow! I wonder if that knowledge is "advanced". There is nothing advanced in knowing that flour must be incorporated completely before adding the melted butter! It's a very basic and essential knowledge that should be placed inside the Fundamentals book, NOT the Advanced one! In this sense, the book is disappointing. I hate following recipes blindly without stepping forward in understanding. 2. The recipes are mehhh. You can read in other reviews too. Even my old Julia Child's book has much more delicious mousse! The recipes are not very scrumptious. Another disappointment. But I am still in the process of reading. So far, many recipes I've tried are just average (in terms of deliciousness). But Bo's Chocolate Decadence is yuuummm! When I've made more, I will update this review. 3. Lacking in photographs. Photos are not placed next to the recipes but compiled in between certain pages. ''' The POSITIVE sides that makes this book wonderful: • Lots of recipes! 1000 pages and you get much more than you can think of (for a fundamental book!) • The appendix itself is a book within a book! I looove the information on chocolate, sugar, the table about edible flowers! So you still got an amazing amount of infos! • Lots of illustrations. Most are VERY helpful and essential to the fundamentals of baking!

Review # 2 was written on 2012-11-24 00:00:00 Jon Patti The Professional Pastry Chef by Bo Friberg is a must-have reference for all serious bakers / pastry chefs. It appears frequently as part of baking / pastry arts curriculums for good reason: Chef Bo clearly explains techniques and plating suggestions with a healthy (and entertaining) dash of food science along the way. The first of two volumes (the second being The Advanced Professional Pastry Chef), this gorgeous (and hefty) tome walks the novice pastry chef through glazes, meringues, basic doughs (short dough, puff pastry, pate a choux, pasta), yeast breads, breakfast breads and pastries, quick breads / pound cakes, sponge cakes, decorated cakes, individual pastries, ice cream, and custard-type desserts. The section on plated desserts is worth the price of the book alone, as you'll find templates for pastry cutouts, piping instructions, etc. First and foremost, this is NOT a book for the average home baker. In most cases, the yields (and quantities, which are given in weights, not volume) are geared towards restaurants / foodservice, although certain bread recipes are scaled down for smaller yields, such as the small-batch Black Forest bread with cocoa and dried cherries, challah, and Southwestern corn and cheese bread. The included line drawings are enormously helpful to illustrate techniques. The Chef's Tips and sidebars further explain techniques or recipe-specific advice. Several in-depth charts like cookie recipes categorized by texture, production method, and storage capability provide an at-a-glance guide to what would be an otherwise overwhelming number of recipes to juggle. The book particularly excels in its treatment of European (French/Italian/Viennese) pastries. Even the ice cream chapter yields unique flavor surprises, like the macadamia nut ice cream, banana-poppy seed ice cream, and avocado-mango ice cream. You'll find unusual frozen yogurts as well, like black-pepper honey, gingered pineapple, and strawberry-rhubarb frozen yogurt with ginger, that provide a welcome change. The comprehensive appendices cover nearly 150 pages alone, including an extremely thorough glossary of ingredients and tools, precise metric conversions and metric equivalents, metric/US length, weight, and volume equivalents, and a particularly helpful section on yields, baker's percentages, and Baumé / Brix scale readings. Despite owning several dozen baking books, I find myself coming back time and again to "The Professional Pastry Chef" for its clear instructions, charts, and fascinating food science tidbits. Chef Bo makes for a most pleasant and patient instructor, and his thorough explanations of techniques and ingredients will serve you well whether you're an advanced home baker or an experienced pastry chef.