The Pastry Chef's Companion

June 15, 2008
Wiley's two latest baking titles, both written by professional chefs, deserve spots on the reference shelves of bakers everywhere. "Professional Baking" is a textbook designed to "provide students with a theoretical and practical foundation in baking" and is valuable for both professional and amateur bakers alike. It covers measurements and bake shop math, sanitation, equipment, ingredients, history, large-quantity baking, and mixing and assembling techniques. Since bakers primarily use formulas (lists and quantities of ingredients) rather than recipes, all of the material in this book is presented in the form of procedures and formulas. Procedures are outlined first; formulas that follow refer to the discussion of the procedure rather than step-by-step instructions. A glossary and index are included.

"The Pastry Chef's Companion" includes 4800 pastry and baking definitions, including their origins and history, along with pronunciation guides for most of the terms. Ten appendixes are included; of particular interest are "Important Temperatures Every Baker Should Know," "Weight and Volume Equivalents for Common Ingredients," and "What Went Wrong and Why." This is recommended for all larger libraries; "Professional Baking" is recommended for academic libraries and collections that serve culinary students.Pauline Baughman, Multnomah Cty. Lib., Portland, OR

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