The Pie and Pastry Bible

November 9, 1998
Precision is the trademark style of Los Angeles Times-syndicated food columnist Berenbaum, a baking and chocolate industry consultant and author (The Cake Bible) who demystifies the art (and science) of pie and pastry making. Exacting instructions in this compendium of sweet and savory "how-tos" (achieve the flakiest pie crust, shape and bake croissants, apply decorative techniques, etc.) may open new doors for daunted home bakers and dessert dabblers, while offering serious amateurs an additional resource for creative inspiration. Recipe ingredients are given in both volume and weight (ounces and grams). Pies and tarts include sweet (e.g., Fig Tart with Mascarpone Cream) and savory (e.g., Deep Dish Chicken Pot Pies; Roasted Red Pepper and Poblano Quiche). The pastry section includes classic French puff pastry, Danish pastry, phyllo and strudel doughs among others. End chapters cover fundamentals like techniques (decorating, measuring ingredients), ingredients (often with stated brand preferences) and appropriate equipment (mixers, tart pans, etc.). Accompanying sections to recipes--"Pointers for Success" and "Understanding" (notes on food chemistry)--clearly detail the scientific underpinnings of the baking process. Indeed a "bible" for novices and serious amateurs alike, this time-tested encyclopedic tome distills Berenbaum's 21 years dedicated to the pastry arts in a clearly written, thoroughly documented manual. First serial to Family Circle; BOMC/Good Cook main selection; BOMC alternate.

July 1, 1998
Having given us The Cake Bible, best-selling author Beranbaum goes for pies--with over 200 recipes.

November 15, 1998
Rose Levy Beranbaum follows the success of "The Cake Bible" with this new work focusing on pies and pastries. Beranbaum defines pastry broadly to include biscuits, brioche, and phyllo doughs as well as classic French puff pastry, cream puffs, strudel, and popular Danish pastry. As with "The Cake Bible," the author's approach is rigorous and empirical, discussing the physics and chemistry of each pie and pastry ingredient and its effect on a recipe's outcome. Even experienced pie bakers will find her tables of sweetening and thickening amounts for all sorts of fruit pie fillings to be, alone, worth the book's price. Bakers who have long debated the best pie crust may be surprised to find that Beranbaum fails to side exclusively with either side in the butter versus lard debate but has developed her own approach for flavorful, flaky, tender crusts. She also includes savory pies, such as shepherds pie, and gives directions for beef Wellington and complex salmon coulibiac as well. This is an essential purchase for any library cookery collection, especially for reference use. ((Reviewed November 15, 1998))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 1998, American Library Association.)