Understanding Baking: The Art and Science of Baking Paperback – September 23, 2002

It is a really interesting read for me but then I am a nerd who likes to bake and know why things do what they do. It doesn’t provide practical applications like if you want texture x use this ratio of eggs and flour. What it does do is give you an understanding of the role and various contributions of individual ingredients to the overall magic that is baking. If you want something more specific that will help with you baking, I highly recommend any books created by America’s Test Kitchen. They literally perform empirical experiments to find out the best way to make a particular item and then write out the results as a recipe and explain why it works. This book is a great appetizer.

I started making pastries and plated desserts as a hobby about a year and a half ago. I like to combine ideas and techniques. It’s very much an experimental kitchen situation. Not everything has worked out on try number one...or two... This book is the perfect read for someone with general baking knowledge who wants to venture into developing their own pastry creations and straying from prepared available recipes. It’s not for a first time baker, but if you’re ready to expand your baking knowledge and get all of the “whys” and “hows” then this is a great book!

Very informative; this dramatically improved my baking of yeast breads. Two big lessons were that gluten forms in the absence of agitation (but is also slowed down by a variety of different things); and that fermentation temperature affects flavor as well as speed (because of the yeast/bacteria balance). I was mostly interested in the chapters on wheat and bread, as opposed to salt, chocolate, etc, but they were somewhat interesting too. I would have liked a couple example recipes, but there was enough information in the book that I could look for recipes with certain characteristics to try out what I'd learned (for example, I've been adapting from theperfectloaf's "my best sourdough" recipe successfully).

This book is exactly what I was looking for. I set out to find a book that would give me an understanding of the science involved in baking, and this book did just that. I devoured the book (which is now riddled with highlighted sentences, underlined concepts and handwritten margin notes)and am now able to modify and manipulate existing recipes to achieve my desired results, as well as write my own recipes! An indispensable addition to the library of any serious baker. If you've ever found yourself wondering why egg whites whip better in a copper bowl, or why the meringue on your lemon pie gets runny (and other such questions), this book has the answers for you.

This book is full of great information! I bought it for my husband who loves to bake and he has been sharing all kinds of tid bits of information with me.

I'd borrowed this book from the library years ago, and had always had it on my wish list to grab. Got a gift card and decided to make the purchase.Why do your cookies spread rather than act puffy, what the difference is between all-purpose flour and bread flour and cake flour, and which fat / oil is best to use is certain cooking applications is all covered.If you're a baker who really wants to know WHY your bread, cookies, and cakes do what they do, then I wholeheartedly recommend this book.

This is one of my favor too !! along with "How Baking Works: Exploring the Fundamentals of Baking Science"This book gave you more details of how things work and why it works and what happen if its not working out the way you wanted it to be.Lots and lots of information here, i just love this book so much !!Everyone who in loves with baking should get one too !!

On time and good quality.