The Professional Pastry Chef: Fundamentals of Baking and Pastry, 4th Edition Hardcover – March 5, 2002

I have just begun to plan on spending many years baking gourmet pastries with this cookbook. A pastry chef friend swears by this book, and she recommended it to me. I'm so glad that I now have it. The recipes are priceless.

I purchased this book during my senior year of college as a culinary arts students at Johnson & Wales University in 2002. Even now, 14 years later, I still cherish it dearly. It is well written, the formulas are fantastic and the baked breads, pastries and desserts turn out great and tasty. What I loved most when I originally purchased it back then, is that it was written in the style of a veteran chef, speaking to and teaching younger apprentices the fundamentals and foundations of baking. It is filled with little anecdotal stories, best practices tips and scientific breakdown of the baking process. What I love most about it now, after having worked in the industry, is that I see and know first-hand, the artistry and wisdom in the formulas. I have made countless creations using Bo's formulas and although I have tweaked some over the years, I still keep the essence of what the original formulas were trying to convey. Whether a professional chef or culinary student at home, this book is highly recommended. Due to the yield sizes and techniques, it may be a bit intimidating for home bakers.

The tips from Chef Friberg make this hefty book worth the hefty price tag. The recipes are presented in both large bulk and smaller batch forms. Along with the recipes are nuggets of wisdom to help the home baker be a success.One of the lessons I've gleaned from the book is that, when making a cheesecake, one should let the cream cheese come completely to room temperature before incorporating it into the recipe. Also, when the cheesecake is ready to go in the oven it should be in a water bath. The recipe I've used for years never gave these simple instructions. When I made my cheesecake for Thanksgiving dinner this year, I followed Chef Friberg's advice and was pleasantly surprised at the creamy texture of the cake and the beautifully even top. In the past my cheesecake had fallen quite deeply in the middle and was grainy.Included with the professional baker's tips are anecdotes about the author's personal history. With the recipe for dog biscuits he tells of his love for his two Akita "puppies," Shiro and Kuma. These stories, instead of detracting from the book, make it much more personal. Chef Friberg tells why these recipes are important to him and why he wants to share them with his reader.Some of the recipes are probably beyond the skills of most home bakers, but it's still fun to read them and dream.

This book is DETAILED, not for the average home cook. I understand the methods from culinary school, but it is definitely not for someone who thinks they can throw together a pastry without the science behind a great pastry. I hated pastry school, but appreciate the art and science if it. So it sits in my office, my staff won't use it, it's just a reminder of what it takes to be an actual pastry chef.

Everyone says baking is a science and yet many baking recipes online and in some books are vague in their directions especially for beginners. This book is different it describes in detail what you are trying to do (chemically speaking) and tells you when it's done versus over done (mixing and cooking wise). For me it's taken the fear and mystery out of baking.As a bonus it also tells you how to plate some of the desserts. How FUN!Also the recipes are given in weight which (according to the book) 1) will give you more consistent results and 2) frankly it's easier to deal with. I just zero the scale after each dry ingredient added into the mixing bowl and spoon in the ingredients (saves me washing several smaller bowls).The recipes do seem to be bigger batches than normal online recipes, but in some cases that's a good thing. For example I made crepes (which were better than ANY crepes I've had even without any filling), the bigger batch is not actually that big because it may take several tries to get the hang of putting in the right amount of batter and swirling your pan fast enough.

This book in a word is AMAZING, it's got every thing you would need to teach a class. Or help you start up and run a Bakery. At least on the cooking side of the business. The recipes are easy to follow, and they cross reference each other. The author has over 30 years as a baker and a teacher. Each recipe has been tested over a 1000 times by his students. So you know that it'll work, if you just follow the steps that he has clearly laid out for you to follow. This book is easy to read and follow. With the correct equipment and ingredents. Any one can create the wonderful things to eat in this book. I'm so glad I bought this book.

I've primarily been studying The Art of French Pastry. Which I like quite a lot, and was excited to have access to a more complete reference. Unfortunately, every recipe in the CIA book has had it's sugar content maximized. Either by just adding more sugar, or by removing flour. So the recipes are all very sweet.Additionally, the author decided it was appropriate to mix volume and mass measurements, instead of just sticking with mass, and destroys his precision by only listing a count of egg yolks. For those of you who have never measured egg yolks, they are extremely variable in size and weight. 3 egg yolks may weigh 28g from cheap eggs and 70 grams from large eggs fresh from the farm.Finally, the authors over-reliance on Imperian, rather than Metric, is massively irritating. There is absolutely no reason to use Imperial, since it's not like anyone eyballs an ounce of water.