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The A-to-Z Guide to Pastry, Baking, and Confectionary Arts
Although there are many individual books on the subject of pastry, there has never been a single comprehensive resource . . . until now. With The Pastry Chef's Companion, baking and pastry enthusiasts and professionals alike no longer have to lose time searching for definitions, pronunciations, information, and resources.
With more than 4,800 terms and definitions from around the world plus ten appendices filled with helpful resources, The Pastry Chef's Companion combines the best features of a dictionary and an encyclopedia. In addition to the current terminology of every component of pastry, baking, and confectionary arts, this book provides important information about the origin and historical background of many of the terms. Moreover, it offers:
Classic and contemporary flavor trends that reflect today's pastry palette and industry practices
Coverage of the key factors in the production of quality pastry products
Listings of specialty vendors, professional organizations, and baking and pastry Web site resources
Troubleshooting guide to fixing common baking and pastry problems
Illustrations of uncommon pastry products and equipment
Phonetic pronunciations
Whether you are a culinary student, professional, or simply a pastry enthusiast, The Pastry Chef's Companion is your one-stop resource for the world of pastry, baking, and confectionary arts.
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
pastry,
This review is from: The Pastry Chef's Companion: A Comprehensive Resource Guide for the Baking and Pastry Professional (Paperback)
was a gift...... arrived in great time! super fast shipping, It was a pleasure doing business with seller, gotta love Amazon!
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not what I expected,
By
This review is from: The Pastry Chef's Companion: A Comprehensive Resource Guide for the Baking and Pastry Professional (Paperback)
Sadly this book has been sitting on my shelf and not opened more than 3 or 4 times. The bulk of it (over half) is definitions of baking and pastry terms. Then there are a few confusing charts at the end about seasonal fruits and pairing fruits with nuts and other flavours. I really thought I would enjoy the charts the most, but unfortunately they're difficult to follow, trailing on page after page (I still haven't quite figured it out) and there are some pretty strange recommended combinations, and lack of combinations.... things that you think would go really well together (ie - chocolate and banana, cinnamon and peach), are not shown to pair up on the charts! This book would be good for someone about to take a pastry chef exam and needs to brush up on terminology and proper techniques for high-end pastries. However, even though I'm a professional baker, the techniques mapped out were far too robust and complicated, perhaps that's because I'm a baker and not a pastry chef. Nevertheless, the book was a bit of a disappointment for me. I would recommend, instead, The Dessert Bible. It's exactly as it sounds - big, heavy, lengthy, and chock-full of all the info you need to know about making different desserts, from cakes to souffles, from squares to panna cottas, with very detailed instructions and methods.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.8 out of 5 stars (17 customer reviews) 28 of 29 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Do You Need This Book?,
By M. Hill - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Pastry Chef's Companion: A Comprehensive Resource Guide for the Baking and Pastry Professional (Paperback)
I am a home baker, not a professional or a culinary arts student. 309 of the 375 pages of the book are a glossary of usual and unusual baking terms, types of pastry, almost anything and everything associated with the discipline. The problem is that this book is filled with information and terms that are readily available on the internet. When a term in a cookbook is unfamiliar, I type it into a search engine. It takes an instant to obtain an answer, in fact it takes less time than taking out this book and looking it up. My interest in baking is substantial, but even so, the book makes for dry reading (like reading from the dictionary) to simply sit and absorb the contents - which I assume wasn't the intended purpose. From my perspective, although the extensive amount of research that went into compiling this comprehensive volume is obvious and admirable, the reality is this reference book would have been absolutely invaluable to a wide audience 15 or 20 years ago.The remaining 64 pages of the book contain some universally useful information. Tables are included for Important Temperatures Every Pastry Chef Should Know, Weight and Volume Equivalents for Most Common Ingredients, Sugar Cooking Stages, Conversion Formulas and Equivalents, Seasonal Fruit Availability, The 12 Steps of Baking (Bread baking), Classic and Contemporary Flavor Combinations and What Went Wrong and Why - an area in the book where common baking mishaps are discussed. Some of the information, like Sugar Cooking Stages, is common information that appears in many cookbooks, but some of the tables are inspired and will be helpful to all. The book finishes up with a list of Specialty Vendors and the references utilized in the creation of the book. The book is a 6 x 9 inch paperback with no photographs and it it printed with dark brown ink. The font size appears to be 10 point. The information in this book will be particularly useful if the reader does not have regular access to the internet or a need exists to have this information in a single volume. 12 of 13 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Pastry Chef's Companion,
By Sandra Brent "Catering Goddess" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Pastry Chef's Companion: A Comprehensive Resource Guide for the Baking and Pastry Professional (Paperback)
I am in the hotel industry and don't know how I survived all these years without this book! It assists me when I talk to customers so that I can easily explain items and show pictures to them. The only problem is that I need to get another copy so that I have one at home and one in the office. I think that anyone who likes to bake or is a "foodie" needs to BUY THE BOOK!The Pastry Chef's Companion: A Comprehensive Resource Guide for the Baking and Pastry Professional
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Pastry Chef's Companion a Comprehensive resource guide,
By Judy Shinn - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Pastry Chef's Companion: A Comprehensive Resource Guide for the Baking and Pastry Professional (Paperback)
This is an excellent reference tool I highly recommend for any baker or pastry student. I am enrolled in the Le Cordon Bleu Diploma in Patisserie and Baking and have found this an invaluable resource in my studying and baking. Fellow students have also purchased this book along with our school library. The author's have done an amazing job in their research and organization, I refer to this book on a regular basis. Thank you!
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