PrintSuggestions for good (sort of difficult) baking cookbooks?
I am a pretty advanced baker - meringue buttercreams don't scare me and tempering chocolate is easy.
I have Elizabeth Falkner's Demolition Desserts, which I'm dying to get into (although I don't have an ice cream maker so I can't make a lot of the things in there).
I just got Gale Gand's Butter Flour Sugar Eggs - it was on my Amazon.com wishlist and a friend got it for me - but, after looking through it, it's really easy (I've made lots of things that she has in there entirely on my own - ex, blueberry hazelnut frangipane tarts) and am going to exchange it for something a little more difficult and inspiring.
SO. What should I get that is sort of hard (not as hard as Demolition Desserts) and will push me a little bit? Also, I need some good standards - what should I get? (I have a ton of other books to exchange so I don't even need to spend money on new books!)
Also, should I get Elisa Strauss' Confetti Cakes?
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10 Comments:
This often happens to me. I get a cookbook and back it goes. The recipes are easy or humdrum or pedestrian. I need challenge there must be flavor.
I have a a large amount of baking books. Rose Levy Bernbaum (Pastry Bible, Cake Bible, Bread Bible), Nick Malgieri (all of his books), Collette Peters (these ones are civil engineering with frosting), Dorie Greenspan. I have a few Jacques Torres recipes that are just amazingly overwhelming in detail. I recommend picking an MOF and trying to do something they do.
Also David Lebovitz (a personal fav of mine) with his american-french variety. I also find that Dorie, Nick and David all know each other, share recipes, blog about one another; "The Cadre of Cake" I call it. (someone quote me again LOL) There are challenges there. I also recommend that you jump into Daring Bakers Blogroll http://daringbakersblogroll.blogspot.com/
This is just the most fun I have ever had vicariously with other bakers. When they make something I make it my way too. Just the nicest bunch of people you ever will bake/blog with.
Keep us posted on your challenges, I for one am right there cheering you on. Cake is love!!!
JerzeeTomato at 5:48PM on 12/19/07
Try Pierre Hermes.
kjgibson at 6:00PM on 12/19/07
I bake alot, but I have only been baking for 4 years. I took a 3 week pro course, and a week cake decorating course. At this point I feel that if the recipe is accurate, I will be able to have success. I have Confetti cakes, and would tell you to get it only if you are super interested in cake decorating. I like the new Heirloom baking cookbook,and I have fun with the Arthur Schwartz New York cookbook( nesselrode pie, Ebingers chocolate cake, Juniors cheesecake, etc) I own about 75 baking cookbooks, but lately, I find I go to allrecipes.com. I look for recipes that have four and a half, or five stars. I read the reviews by bakers like us, and I've had great results. If you want a real challenge, get the Pichet Ong book, or Nancy Silverton, or Tartine, or Jeans Georges. Let me know what you get, and how they work out.
Mich23 at 6:25PM on 12/19/07
The Pierre Herme books are quite challenging (though he does have some simpler cakes and tarts) and can be very rewarding. They don't require an ice cream maker, and I've been able to adapt several of his more specific equipment recommendations to standard items (ie., I haven't bought any tart rings). Unless you're seriously biased towards chocolate, I would recommend starting with Desserts.
I wouldn't recommend Confetti Cakes unless you're very interested in decorating with fondant. It's more of a decorating book than a baking book, and I've heard that some of her recipes are not very reliable.
One of my favorite books to work with these days is Tartine. I've tried quite a few things (brioche, croissants, tres leches cake, lemon cream tart, devil's food) and everything's been fantastic. Many of the cakes are built of different components (chiffon cakes, bavarian cream, caramel, etc.) so you will learn some techniques, but it might be just a tad on the simple side for you. If you have change to look through it, I recommend doing so.
Rose Levy Berenbaum's Cake Bible is fantastic and lives up to its name. However, it is all cakes, so if you want a variety of desserts, you'll need to look farther. Still, I recommend it.
What's on my wish list these days is Indulge by Claire Clark. She's the pastry chef at French Laundry. Need I say more?
renzata at 9:42PM on 12/19/07
When you bake Rose Levy Bernbaum you need the Cake Bible and Pie & Pastry Bible. Indispensible tools both books. It is a primer on an early topic here which is to sift or not to sift and weight versus measure. I have been a Rose devotee for about 16 years.
JerzeeTomato at 11:19PM on 12/19/07
If you want insanely jaw dropping sugar work, read just about anything by Nicholas Lodge. I have a few of his books and unless I can dedicate a year to strictly learning it, his stuff is way out of my league.
One of the reasons I love The Cake Bible is because RLB is almost anal retentive in her instruction. It's really good for beginners because nothing is left to chance. After preparing some of the recipes a few times, you're pretty much down to "skimming" the recipe to refresh your memory because at that point, the verbose instructions kind of get in your way. Nonetheless, as stated above, it definitely lives up to its name.
Of course, Collette Peters is a genius and Nick Malgeri has a place close to my heart because he teaches at the culinary school I attended. I love his Decorated Gingerbread recipe.
Do you already have Baking with Julia? If not, it's great.
therealchiffonade at 4:58AM on 12/20/07
This may not be advanced enough for you, but I've had great fun with Home Baking: The Artful Mix of Flour and Traditions. http://www.amazon.com/Home-Baking-Artful-Traditions-Around/dp/B000C1ZX8G
There's all kinds of bread and baked good recipes from around the world, many of which are quite obscure and rely upon old techniques.
Tellicherry at 9:24AM on 12/20/07
I wish I had more baking cookbooks--I mostly depend on the excellent public library systems in my area. Here's my list of the books I covet the most, based on both experience with a few, recommendations from friends and reputation:
1) Peter Reinhart: The Bread Baker's Apprentice
Top choice. Formerly Brother Juniper, now married revered professor (?) at Wales & Johnson. Incredibly detailed instructions from someone who is obviously as gifted a teacher as he is a baker. A friend swears by his baguette recipe; I tasted her results and could not believe you could come up with something that good in an ordinary oven. He's recently come out with a new book devoted to whole-grain baking that I wish SE would feature. Oh, plus, lots and lots of didactic photos.
2) Regan Daley: In the Sweet Kitchen
Unique, I think, as a reference book as well as a source for recipes. The pastry chef is well known in the Pacific Northwest which is becoming a Mecca for men and women in her profession. She has charts that help you develop desserts based on complementary flavors, e.g. what goes with pears. I made her honey-glazed figs w mascarpone and raspberries that top a wedge of sweet polenta pastry. Yumm!
3) Anything by Alice Medrich--Bittersweet made her reputation as an author. Cf. earlier give-away here at SE for most recent book.
4) Ditto re Emily Luchetti
This list respects your desire for challenging books. The books I personally would put before Medrich and Luchetti, however, include Dorie Greenspan's latest since the emphasis is on homey vs. dazzling, though there are a few knock-em-deaders. I swear by her cake made w Italian prune plums and am about to try her chocolate gingerbread this weekend.
Also, believe it or not, Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook is fantastic, in part because of the wisdom behind the choices made in ranging from savory to sweet and simple to demanding. Photographs are stunning--as one might expect from a woman known for artful style.
Were I able to choose one more, it might be the King Arthur that won an award.
Eliz. at 12:16PM on 12/20/07
One of my favorites: Maida Heatter's Book of Great Desserts
SavtaShayna at 1:29PM on 12/20/07
I second Tellicherry's recommendation (oh how I love that book!), *if* you are interested in working with unusual (for the US) ingredients and techniques and by baking you mean more than just desserts. Don't get me wrong, there are some pastries and such, but the focus is primarily on daily breads. If you're pretty much just interested in upscale dessert bakery, then it's not really the book for you.
pieninja at 5:39PM on 12/20/07