December 12, 2009 - 9:47pm
Thoughts on two books, Anyone
I am revising my wish list and looking at two books, Advanced Bread and Pastry by Saus and Professional Baking by Gisslen.
Any thoughts or suggestions? Greatly appreciated.
Happy Holidays!
Eli
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Hi Eli,
First, what are you looking for in your next baking book? Are you in it for the breads, the pastry or both?
I think Suas is the best all-round bible. Many of the other bread&pastry books out there are rather dated in their approach to bread baking and artisan style loaves. Suas is very good on the bread bit, and offers more theory than you'll find in even Hamelman's "Bread". The bread recipes in Suas are alright, but only very few of them are true sourdough formulas. I've baked many of the breads from ABAP, and all those formulas have been spot on. It's a book that's more attractive than many other baking books out there too, with great illustrations and photos.
Gisslen has a brief chapter devoted to artisan baking, but you won't learn much from it that you don't know already.
If you're more in it for pastry, then I'm not so sure anymore. Suas has nice sections that covers lots of theory (custards, sauces, pastry doughs, decorated cakes, mousse etc.), but again, the book isn't that great when it comes to the amount and diversity of formulas presented. Here Gisslen is a better choice, if you ask me. If you're looking for a pastry-oriented book, I'd also like to recommend Friberg's book (which I find even better than Gisslen's).
I may need them all. I am interested in the pastry side as well but I want to learn more of scientific side of the bread as well. I haven't flipped through Friberg's book as of yet but will take a look this week.
Thanks for the insight and recommendations!
Eli
No problem, Eli!
Well, if you want a rigorous bread section, then it's Suas all the way. Friberg is hardly scraping the surface of bread baking, and Gisslen is (in my opinion) a half-hearted attempt at providing some simple artisan bread recipes. Suas is great when it comes to many aspects of bread baking, although I still wish he would provide more information about non-wheat flours and their requirements. The bread formula section is extensive and diverse, but again, I prefer Hamelman's collection of recipes over Suas' collection. A while back, SteveB said that he thought of Suas' book more as a "how-to" than a "what-to" kind of book.
hi,
Not sure where you are located, but my local library has an amazing collection of bread and pastry books.
I would highly recommend checking out a few of your potential choices from the library, then making a decision from there. Better than browsing in the bookstore, as you can actually take it home and try out the formulae.
MommaT
Even if your local library doesn't have a particular book in their collection; they can usually borrow from other libraries. I've had a few that they had to go all the way to the Library of Congress to get. It's probably advantageous that my wife is one of the librarians here. : )
Anyone can add recommendations, please! I reviewed Gisslen and Friberg. I think I just like the layout of Friberg. Seems that the grams, ounces and baker's percents I like. I think Friberg's my be more in-depth. I have to say I want to learn more pastry as well.
Thoughts as for testing recipes outhere?
E