Gisslen Professional Baking Pdf

[Rene Seiler]

Inthe newly revised Eighth Edition to Professional Baking, best-selling author, Wayne Gisslen, delivers a comprehensive and accessible introduction to baking practices, including the selection of ingredients and proper mixing and baking techniques. The book discusses makeup and assembly, as well as skilled and imaginative decoration and presentation, in a straightforward and learner-friendly style.

This latest edition of Professional Baking is an indispensable resource for both students of baking and professional chefs seeking a sound theoretical and practical foundation in baking practices.

WAYNE GISSLEN is the author of the best-selling series of culinary books that includes Professional Cooking, Advanced Professional Cooking, Essentials of Professional Cooking, and Professional Baking. He is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America.

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I'm a pretty good home baker (both sweets and breads) and I'm seriously considering going to culinary school. I'd like to go through an entire pastry book on my own before I apply though because it's a big decision (big job change for me!).

My question is this - if I could choose between the following 3 books (I'm in the limiting goodcook.com club), which one would be best for learning classic French techniques? Lots of pictures would be a huge plus.

Dessert Circus by Jacques Torres is actually a good book for you to start with. He gives measurements in Grams/ounces, and cups so you don't need to rush out for a scale. The techniques are french. And Technique is important to Jacques - he has said that recipes are nothing without technique. Alot of the recipes in his book (and he includes some guidance for sugar showpieces, chocolate showpieces, and wedding cakes) are the same that are used at the French Culinary Institute and were desserts he served at Le Cirque.

Flo's sweet miniatures has alot of nice recipes but I don't think that will give you a real idea about professional baking. I recently tried several of her recipes for an even and many were quite tasty although some did not behave well.

I would shy away from the big buck Famous French pastry chef books. Great pictures, really exciting for ideas and such, but I think they are tough for non-french speakers, or novices. The Herme Greenspan books might be somewhat useful, but keep in mind recipes are simplified for the home cook.

My first books were Michel Roux Finest Desserts and I Nicolello Complete Pastrywork Techniques. I cannot say that I recommend either, but they are fairly comprehensive. If you are really serious you might track down the Professional Pastry Series (Bilheux) for classic techniques. While you are out looking for books make sure to pick up a good scale and a stand mixer (preferably the 5qt kitchenaid)

Having "had greatness thrust upon me" -- that is, being a cook who was touched by the wand and turned into a "pastry chef" -- I have to say that you should learn the technical stuff first. As Chefette said, you MUST know conversions. Learn the chemistry of leaveners, and sugar, and gluten, and gelatin, and all those things that we lay people know nothing about. If you know the science behind baking and other aspects of desserts, then you have what you need to be a good pastry chef.

Gisslen does not give you enough of that information; I don't know about the other books. Look at CookWise by Shirley Corriher; Harold McGee's books; Understanding Baking by Amendola and Rees. If you are already proficient at home with the "touch" then you need to learn how to deal with vast quantities of ingredients, and how to do perfect work when a zillion people are yelling at you. This cannot be learned from a book.

If you read up on the chemistry, you will probably be way ahead of most school programs. But the advantage to going to school is the practice you get, and the contacts you make with the instructors. I firmly believe that the creative part is totally up to the practitioner, but without a good technical grounding and physical practice, you just can't do good work in pastry. I hope this doesn't discourage you. Doing pastry professionally is completely different from baking brownies at home; if you really want to do it, you can learn what you need to.

Another question to ask yourself when looking for books (or a school), is what kind of pastry you want to do? Do you like baking bread, croissants and danish? Fancy cakes, individual pastries, and cookies like from a pastry shop? Restaurant-style plated desserts? Ice cream and sorbet? Chocolate and/or sugar candies?

i know that a lot of people don't like the nick malgieri books, but he has one called perfect pastry, which i can't find nowadays. anyway it was approachable for the home chef with techniques and basic ingredients which you could easily work through to learn all the general doughs, fillings, etc.

I like this book a lot and refer to it actually. It has an exhaustive description on all things pastry. It doesn't really go into plated dessert or the fine items, but nails down technique. It does have pictures in pertinent areas (i.e. pastry cream steps and creme anglaise etc).

Also, I'm mainly interested in restaurant-style plated desserts, as well as breads/croissants/pastries. And I'm definitely interested in moving towards weighing ingredients - but it's so hard to find books have weight measurements (except for my European books).

I am kind of in a similar situation and have been going through a number of books. You should consider Paula Figoni's How Baking Works: Exploring the Fundamentals of Baking Science. No recipes, but very informative and more focused than Cookwise. I also am going through Sherry Yard's The Secret's of Baking, and I think you might like it as well (though for some reason it only has volume measurements -- still worthwhile though). I would second (or third Dessert Circus). I also really like Cindy Mushet's Dessert's: Meditarranean Flavors, California Style, which I think Steve Klc mentioned in another thread.

if you're interested in plated presentations, the series of books published by the Pastry Art and Design team "Grand Finales" are interesting to look at. mostly, I find that they are not really "do-able" or practicle, but at the very least they can give inspiration for what you can aspire toward. lots of pretty pictures. it is a series of three books. by now they are a little outdated, but like i said, they are something to give you a starting point and an idea of what's out there.

I am wondering if any of you could advise which one of the professional range of baking books (Bo Friberg, CIA, Wayne Gisslen) you would recommend a home baker trying to move on to the next level. Which are the ones more self explanatory, clear and easy to follow from a home baker's point of view. Please tell me of any other I should be considering too..

Others may have other opinions, but I have the three books that you list and just finished school. IMO, the Gisslen book has more detail in terms of "how to". I go to that book first. The other two I go to when I want more ideas of how to combine the parts.

i think it would help the others on eGullet if you were to state your specific desired area of learning. though those books cover a great deal of information, you might be better served to purchase a different book specifically for bread baking or a different book specifically aimed at cake/dessert baking.

i'm a professional pastry chef and barely cracked open the gisslen book which was used in my cooking school (older edition). i have an older edition of friberg and barely used it either (bought before i attended culinary school). do not even have the CIA book.

I do not live in the US and buying western cookbooks over here is very expensive. Our bookstores are not well stocked and we do not have libraries that have good cookbooks. I usually order books on line, sight unseen. Although reviews on Amazon have been helpful, I think I should get second opinion from passionate bakers on EG. Any opinion you can give would be greatly appreciated.

Have been using Nick Malgirie's How to Bake and his Chocolate book, Baking Illustrated by CI and Maida Heatter's Great Desserts. They are all good in a certain way but I want to brush up on techniques too. I guess like SweetSide said I want to learn the science about baking on top of having good recipes.

I have just ordered the Desserts and Chocolate book from Pierre Hermes and Dorie Greenspan and also the Cake Bible. I see these being referred to all the time in the forum. Please tell me of others meanwhile I will be checking on the one SweetSide mentioned which I have not heard before. Again, thanks for sharing.

I think the "King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion" would be worth the investment. It deals a lot with bread but also cookies, cakes, batters, etc. I like it because as a general reference, it defines a lot of things and talks about technique working from simple to more complicated recipes. It probably echos a lot of what is talked about in Gisslen and Friberg, though.

Since books can become addictive (see the cookbook thread in General Food Topics!), buy one or two and practice first...I say this since for you they aren't as accesible or inexpensive. I do like Malgieri's books. He had one called: "Perfect Pastry". I don't think it is in print anymore but the chapter headings are:

I really learned a lot from this book on the basic doughs. There are a lot of photos of the processes. I just looked it up and it is available in paperback on Amazon through a third party merchant. Just a good basic reference.

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