Professional Baking

Rating:
Summary: Some very informative text, ruined by useless formulas.
Review: Biggest waste of $35 I've ever seen ! This was a required text in school , and approximatly 25% of the formulas were completely unusable. It was if this character wrote these recipes off the top of his head without the slightest concern for whether they worked or not.I shudder to think how many copies of this waste of paper have been sold to culinary students and the general public alike.

Rating:
Summary: Not necessarily for the novice...
Review: I also had to purchase this book for culinary school. While this book can be difficult to understand, the quality of the instructor has a great deal to do with the user's comprehension of the subject matter. I find this an excellent book and continue to use it today (because I know how to make it work for me).

NOTE: The formulas in this book work, provided you have had proper instruction in how to use them, and in how to use Baker's Math to increase and reduce the yields.

Rating:
Summary: For the future professional baker
Review: This is another of the books I use as reference for my cooking school. It contains recipes from Le Cordon Bleu schools and recipes from America. Most of the recipes are for large quantities and it is definately not a book for the home baker, this is a great reference book to be used in a professional pastry kitchen.
I particularly like this book because it gives you a basic recipe for let's say a bavarois cream, and then it gives you ten other variations (chocolate, coffee, strawberry, etc) that you can make by changing or adding one or two ingredients.
The instructions are clear and easy to follow.
I highly reccomend this book to anyone who is thinking of baking seriously.



Rating:
Summary: No baker should be without this
Review: This is not a cookbook for the home baker, but no professional should be without this all encompassing book.