Rating: Summary: Rose Levy Beranbaum has created another classic. Review: Rose Levy Beranbaum uses her knowledge as a food scientist to perfect the art of baking. It helps you understand the methods behind baking and how to manipulate them to create amazing pastries. This book is as essential as The Cake Bible only better because she covers more ground with this book- everything from pate a choux to basic pie dough.
Rating: Summary: Wait for the 2nd edition of this book Review: I hate to be a party pooper, but as much as one hopes to love this book, it was just too poorly written and edited. It has many terrific ideas for someone who has baked pies before, but for a newcomer like myself, the defects are pretty glaring. I bought the book because I love "The Cake Bible". But this time, the editor went to press before finishing her work, and I bet she's responsible for wasting many thousands of hours of her readers' time, considering how popular this book is.
In order to make crust using this book, you have to flip back and forth between many sections: the dough recipe, the rolling instructions, the laying out of the dough, and the baking are all in different places, in the wrong order, and not clearly labeled. I can see why this happened, because the rolling and baking are similar for different dough recipes, and she didn't want to repeat the same instructions over and over. But at least the sections should have been in order! Additional stories and comments are intermixed with the instructions, which makes it hard to follow the instructions once you find them. Different dimensions are given in different places for the size of the rolled dough you need. Sections headings are not consistently formatted--sometimes a new subsection is in the same style as the heading that started the section.
I'm a professional scientist and university professor, and I love to cook. I don't think I have any special impairment following instructions. The other reviewers who liked this book surely had the same experience, unless they knew ahead of time what they were doing, so I say to them: stop recommending this book so highly, except to experienced pie and tart bakers!
For making pastry the first time, I would use "The Way to Cook" by Julia Child instead, which manages to give all of the necessary instructions very clearly, in the correct order, in about two pages. Then buy Beranbaum's book and read it at leisure if you want inspiration and expert knowledge, and you don't mind an error here or there.
I hope there will be an easier-to-use second edition of this book. The tart I made was truly delicious, but the process made me angry. I'm guessing that the author or editor or publisher decided their deadline was more important than a final week of editing. What a shame.
Rating: Summary: Oh yes, you too can make a pie crust Review: The cream cheese pie crust recipie alone is worth the price of admission to this book. I had never made an edible pie crust before I tried this one. Directions are explicit and step by step.
The recipies for pies and tarts are wonderful. I've never had a failure using this cookbook.
Rating: Summary: Best pie dough ever! Review: If you bake pies or tarts you have to get this book. I have never been able to make a pie crust worth eating. Following the step by step directions for her basic pie cust, I made my first (successful) apple pie and received raved reviews!
I have tried at least a dozen pie dough recipes and this is by far the easiest and best-tasting. I would have given this book 5 stars if it had more color pictures of the finished product.
I'm at the airport posting this review and looking forward to my long flight now that I have this book. Halfway through I simply cannot put it down. Just like my delicious cup of s o y f e e. It's a coffee substitute that's been helping me ween off caffeine since my doctor mentioned it. Made from soy it even lowered my cholesterol. Look for it online at www.s o y c o f f ee.com. Oh, gotta run or I'll miss my flight!. Highly recommend this book.
Rating: Summary: Tired of Pie Problems? Just buy it! Review: I was a pie-making wannabe. I bake 6 or so a year, and couldn't ever understand why they were so inconsistent. Sometimes the crust was great. Other times, the dough would break in half as I was moving it to the pie plate. It would taste great, but I was forever patching the stuff on the bottom to eliminate the obvious problems. Decorate the edges? You must be kidding, as I rarely had edges. Too thin, too thick, whatever.
When I read the first few pages of the book, RLB guarantees consistent results. Just what I wanted. And it works perfectly, even if you do take an occassional detour from the detailed instructions. 4 pies now in the last month -- every one had perfect crusts that rolled out beautifully, could be easily placed in the plate, could be manipulated easily for decoration and were yummy as all get out. Delicious beautiful and utterly professional. The best cookbook purchase I have ever made.
Yes, the phrase "easy as pie" no longer exists, but my the time I made my third pie, the prep time had declined remarkably. (It's still longer than any other pie or tart recipe you've ever made, though).
Rating: Summary: Make pies and pastry to die for! Review: I should start off by saying that this cookbook is not for someone who wants to throw together a pie quickly. This cookbook has recipes that take a little work, but are definitely worth the effort! This book is entitled "The Pie and Pastry Bible" for a reason - it is a bible for spectacular desserts that taste like they came from a pastry chef. I've had plenty of pies from bakeries that haven't tasted nearly as good as the ones in this book.
Most of us have probably eaten pies where the crust was just functional - meant to hold the filling in, but really tasteless. How about pie crusts that could stand on their own without the filling? The crusts in this cookbook are that delicious! They may take a little effort, but the results are spectacular.
This cookbook is a wonderful source of recipes if you really want to impress someone. You will be amazed to discover that you, too, can make terrific pastries. Rose's directions will walk you through it step-by-step.
Bottom line - I absolutely love this cookbook, but I admit it may not be for everyone. However, if you are a serious baker, this one should definitely be on your shelf!
Rating: Summary: Won a pie baking contest! Review: I am a good cook, but I don't often make pies. I bought this book (because I have The Cake Bible by the same author and I love it) and made 2 pies from it. The second pie I made, I submitted to my company's pie-baking contest. I won first prize! If this cookbook can do that for me, it can do that for anyone willing to follow its instructions.
Truly, the author gives you everything you need for success: great recipes, great instructions, and helpful explanations of WHY you are doing what you are doing.
Rating: Summary: Real Treasure Review: The book is a real treasure to any baker: all the details, all the step-by-step, it gives confidence and explains the secrets of pastry. I just love it!
Rating: Summary: best pastry book Review: I never make a pie or pastry crust using anyone else's recipe. I know it won't be as good, so I just don't do it. I always use one from this book. That way, there's no anxiety. I know with certainty the crust will be perfect.
Rating: Summary: My kind of cookbook Review: This is a cookbook for the perfectionist. If you like to understand exactly why things work the way they do so that you can be in control of your baking projects, then this is the book for you. If you get excited at the thought of being empowered to create pastries more delectable than the very best you have ever tasted at the finest gourmet pastry shoppes, then you owe it to yourself to get this book.If you'd rather not be bothered with too many niggling details and just want something quick that reliably comes out OK, even if you use the wrong type of flour, then stick with the Fannie Farmer Cookbook. Be warned. These recipes generally don't have much margin for sloppiness built into them, the way ones from other cookbooks do. That's why they taste so good when they are done correctly. You should read all of the background information on a topic before you start baking. Rose's backgrounders are interesting, helpful, well-written and will make you a better baker. At the absolute minimum, you must follow the recipes to the letter. No substitutions or shortcuts whatsoever can be allowed unless you've read all the background information so that you know *exactly* what you are doing. I can see only two legitimate grievances. The structure of the book is sometimes a bit scattered, which often makes it necessary to flip through to a half-dozen different places to get through a single project, and, (although this is not a concern for me) Rose makes no mention that I can see of what sort of adjustments one might make to achieve perfection at 9000 feet above sea level, and I could see how someone up in the Rockies might run into some difficulties. I can only think of one other "downside": Your own baking will spoil you for anything else.
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