Whiskeyed's Reviews
Cookbook Reviews
2 books reviewed. Showing 1 to 2Sort by: Rating | Title 
The Bread Bible
By Rose Levy Beranbaum
W.W. Norton & Co. - 2003
This book started my bread baking and Rose Levy Beranbaum journey. I found it at the local bookstore and was immediately capitvated by her welcoming, guiding writing style and purchased the book immediately.
As with all of Rose's books, she provides incredible detail for every recipe. Some may find this overwhelming, but for a baker who asks "How do I know the bread is done?" She not only gives visual cues, but a temperature -- which is extremely helpful. Every recipe is well tested. This book provides indepth background information for understanding bread baking and the role of each ingredient and technique.
The book's scope includes quick breads, flat breads, enriched/soft breads, hearth breads, brioche, and sourdough.
My only complaint is that the book lacks recipes using a high amount of whole grain flour, but it is an excellent book none-the-less.
I should add, that it is rare that I have to add extra water or additional flour with her recipes to achieve the dough consistency described (unlike other recipes from well known authors) -- I appreciate this and have had good success with her breads.
The Pie and Pastry Bible
By Rose Levy Beranbaum
Scribner - 1998
This is the book that taught me how to make a pie crust. Most of my previous attempts ended in failure. I was looking to learn how to make a crust that held together long enough to get it into the pie plate ... anything else was a bonus.
I have learned much more than that. This book is graced with Rose's exellent details that help ensure good results. Everything I've ever made from this book is good to excellent. In all fairness, I think pastries are more difficult to learn/teach than other baked goods; making this book remarkable. The pastries are perfectly balanced in terms of flavour, texture, and sweetness.
The only issue I have had stemmed from baking pies from frozen and found they were a bit over done when following the directions from the book....but have since resolved this on the authors' website.
Aside from the above issue, I cannot stress enough how well tested the recipes are in this book. Many pastry recipes from other sources suggest a variation in the amount of water/liquid to be added -- I rarely need to adjust the liquid with Rose's pastry recipes -- I use a scale and it is almost always perfect as written. When possible, objective details are provided (heat to 170F -- for example) -- a huge asset.
This is a great book for the novice (you can make a great crust by following these directs) or the experienced baker who wishes to make more involved pastries. One caveat: there are often many steps to the recipes, but you are rewarded with excellent pastries.