The New French Baker: Perfect Pastries and Beautiful Breads from Your Kitchen

Rating:
Summary: Authentic and Delicious
Review: I have a large collection of cookbooks. I ordered this book to complete a set of references that I have on baking and it makes a great addition. While not well illustrated or visually pleasing, it does contain all the basics of French baking and would make a good reference work for the home baker. All the base recipes are there plus some good variations on new items. There are lots of recipes to try and you won't be dissappointed by the variety.

Rating:
Summary: A Terrific Resource for Bakers
Review: I've been searching for a great croissant recipe and found it and more in this wonderful book. Sheila Linderman writes clear and detailed instructions in her recipes, but she also provides valuable tips and techniques that give you a foundation for greating your own recipes. So if you're an improvisational cook like me, you can use this book as a guide and reference as you experiment with new ideas. (The croissants, btw, took two days of mixing, rising, rolling, and layering--but they were definitely worth all the effort. When I took them out of the oven and sampled that first, freshly baked, golden brown crescent, I felt like I'd been transported to Paris!)

Rating:
Summary: I agree, good but not great ....
Review: My sister, Summer and I are French so we adore pastries and other baked goods. The talent for baking, however, has been bestowed upon me, as Summer busies herself with piloting our plane and decorating our homes. Since we are both French, we know, without a doubt, that the recipes in this book are truly authentic as well as delicious! I bake the fancier ones for Summer and I to serve at our parties in Provence, but we adore the buttery croissants every morning ourselves. Not everyone is lucky enough to be French, as we are, but with this book, everyone can at least enjoy the delicious taste of authentic French baked goods in their own home!

Presented by.........................Winter!

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely the Best!
Review: My sister, Summer and I are French so we adore pastries and other baked goods. The talent for baking, however, has been bestowed upon me, as Summer busies herself with piloting our plane and decorating our homes. Since we are both French, we know, without a doubt, that the recipes in this book are truly authentic as well as delicious! I bake the fancier ones for Summer and I to serve at our parties in Provence, but we adore the buttery croissants every morning ourselves. Not everyone is lucky enough to be French, as we are, but with this book, everyone can at least enjoy the delicious taste of authentic French baked goods in their own home!

Presented by.........................Winter!

Rating:
Summary: TIPS AND TECHNIQUES FOR FRENCH PASTRY MAKING
Review: The tips and techniques in this book alone are worth the purchase. It is a book for the beginner-intermediate student of pastry making. The writing style is on par with Dorie Greenspan, who wrote "Baking with Julia" - both authors are highly engaging and give excellent step-by-step instructions.

The author shows us how to roll croissants, line dozens of tartlette tins quickly and easily, make a quick brioche loaf. This is accomplished with balls of dough placed into a loaf pan and proofed. This inspired me to create a braided look by staggering the balls of dough in the pan. I have used this technique several times producing such gorgeous loaves I didn't think was possible. I hope the author will forgive me for revealing my own modification to the recipe, but I want to show the many useful techniques and inspiring possibilities of this book.

As for the lack of photographs - note that the publisher makes up for it by giving it the most professional binding of all - the book's pages are sewn, not glued. This means the book opens flat, without cracking at the spine. Professional textbook quality.

Rating:
Summary: Almost the entire patisserie and a boulangerie, too
Review: This is a very ambitious book, blending the art of the French pastry baker with a bit of regular bread baking as well. The book is weighted towards the pastry, with everything from the traditional apple tarts, fruit tarts, napoleons, pithiviers, palmiers to regional sweets like clafouti (fruit baked in a sort of custardy pancake) to ices, sorbets, chocolates, petit fours. The breads include walnut bread, which is nice, as that is a distinctive European bread not often seen in the US, and crusty French breads made with the poolish or starter method.

There are some stupid mistakes; for example, insisting that pineapple inhibits gelatin from jelling because it is high in citric acid. Nope. It's bromelain, an enzyme that cuts the gelatin and prevents it from solidifying. Even more stupid, the next paragraph has the fact that papaya DOES contain an enzyme that inhibits the jelling of gelatin (right! so why get pineapple wrong?) And then the book omits the fact that kiwi and fresh figs also contain enzymes that wreak havoc with anything thickened with gelatin.

This book assumes you know something about baking pastry and breads; with so many different subjects, the book cannot be fully instructive on the difficulties arising in bread baking or the dangers you face when making millefeuille or croissants. But if you want a very comprehensive tome, with many many recipes of exotic cakes, tortes, tartes and sweets, you might find this a highly useful volume.

Rating:
Summary: Perfect French indulgences for beginner and advanced chefs
Review: This is one of the best books on French baking that I have ever seen. The recipes are clearly written and easy to understand, ensuring success each time. The author gives us a wide variety of recipes, from heavenly eclairs to flaky croissants. The bread recipes are also excellent.

For anyone with an interest in French cuisine, this book is an absolute must.

Rating:
Summary: Authentic and Delicious
Review: While all French women seem to be born with a natural affinity for cooking, only a few know how to bake. If you're ever in France, try looking for a book detailing classic French baking and you'll see what I mean. They just don't exist.

Of course, the French do love baked goods, but tradition has dictated that we leave their creation to the masters. Even the tiniest village in the French countryside will have an assortment of boulangeries (bakeries) and patisseries (pastry shops). And, if you walk through the village early enough in the morning, most of the people you encounter will be coming home with their daily baguette.

When our bakeries and pastry shops close for their own month long summer holiday, we usually just do without.

The New French Baker has literally, for me, at least, brought the joy of authentic French baking to France. In one big, wonderful book, Sheila Linderman has gathered together authentic and delectable recipes for classic French breads, pastries and desserts.

Linderman first details the basics and she also explains exactly how to make the various French pastry doughs, something most French cooks aren't well acquainted with.

All of the favorite classics are included: Tarte Tatin, Tarte au Citron, éclairs, millefeuilles, palmiers, choux à la crème, crepes, crème brulée and more.

Linderman's step-by-step instructions make sure you always create the perfect brioche and the most impeccable raspberry tarte. There is even a special section on the proper handling of fresh ingredients such as butter, flour, eggs and chocolate.

The chocoholics in your life will love Linderman's truffles as well as her Four-Tiered Chocolate Mousse.

Although the recipes in this book are certainly delicious, they are all quite difficult to make. This is not a book for the beginning baker; it is more suited to one with some experience who wants to expand his or her horizons in the areas of breads and pastries.

The only problem I have with the book is a small one: the inclusion of more photos of these wonderful (and gorgeous!) pastries would have been a definite plus and would have added to the value of the book.

But thanks to Sheila Linderman and The New French Baker, my family and I are now enjoying delicious classic French pastries right from our own kitchen for the very first time! C'est magnifique!