The Professional Pastry Chef By Bo Friberg

[Olowookere Devost]

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I ordered this book and its companion: The Advanced Professional Pastry Chef, both by Bo Friberg, and was wondering if anyone has experience with the books? I've bought them because I wanted to gain a better understanding and more comprehensive knowledge about pastry (especially the dessert side) and thought that this would be a good starting point.

They are good books, The Professional Pastry Chef was the very first book I bought. I look to then for inspiration and when I'm interested in making something I haven't done before or want to look up, normally I do find it somewhere in the two books. In general, though, I've had recipes come out better when I use a book like On Baking, which is a little more straight forward. Bo's books are fine, but I've experienced multiple occasions where the recipe itself needed tweaking. A few examples off the top of my head are for the scones, 425f seemed a bit hot to bake them, so I do 400f, and thats in addition to just using the formula to make my own variations, the directions for shaping them sounds like it would yield sharp long skinny scones, it sounded sort of odd. The formula for pastillage was off, it was unusually soft, very very difficult to work with, and I never had very much success with the pulled sugar formulas, I use Notters formulas from his book. I was also never much of a fan of his breads, some are good, other I would pass.

On the other hand, I love the cookies, both in the standard book and the advanced, he makes very nice cookies, ice creams are good also, and he explains well why you should have a syrup density meter when making sorbets.

I have The Professional Pastry Chef. I've only made a few recipes. The Vanilla Pound Cake was exceptional. I bake my dogs bones every month from Chef Bo's recipe. I have also learned a lot. Especially useful to me is his method of lining pans with parchment.

IMHO, both are great books and provide a general overview of many techniques. That said, I would steer you to Greuling for chocolates, Migoya for frozen and plated desserts, Hammelman for bread, etc... if there is a topic you want to take a deep dive into.

One disadvantage to both books is that the formulas are for production volume. If you are learning at home, you will end up with tons of cakes, cookes, muffins, etc... halving or quartering some recipes may be necessary.

The recipes can easily be halved. The thing I noticed, at least in the recipes I was interested in, is that the baking pan called for in the recipe is only a 1 quart capacity. If you halve the recipe, you have 2 cakes that are 1 quart each. Not much at all.

Thank you for your information! I'm really looking forward to tomorrow (I return "home" and the books are waiting for me). I will post the first experimentations in this thread, just to keep you updated!

I bought the edition of the book that was available in the late 1990s. I found it to be full of info and plenty of beautiful pictures. Unfortunately, I don't think I attempted any recipe. It was too complex for a college student who didn't have many of the pastry chef tools. By the way, I was an exercise science student who loved to collect pastry chef and dessert books.....wishing I had the money to buy all the cool tools. I was a poor college student back then with just enough money to buy the book....about $65.00ish. I donated the book about 6 years ago since I never really cooked out of it.......and the book was quite heavy and huge.

I have both books and love them. I have learned a lot from the books and have made many recipes from them with wonderful results. I do not have any formal kitchen training but with his instruction I have been able to make my own puff pastry, strudel dough that stretches to the size of my table (!) and many other things I didn't think I would ever be able to do. I have made several of his cookie and cake recipes, and the west coast cheesecake is my go-to for cheesecake. The pumpkin pie is lighter than most pumpkin pies and I always get rave reviews on it. I've made some of the fiddly pastries and really enjoyed it.

I think some of the cakes in that first volume (I think it's the first volume anyway) are showstoppers at potlucks and the like. Not only do they taste great, but his decoration ideas are gorgeous. The Chestnut Puzzle Cake is a fun one, too, for the neat design of the cake layers when you slice it.

Chris, if you have opportunity, I can really recommend finding a good pastry chef and taking few classes. It brings you light years ahead. I have done a short pastry course (4 days) in past, amazing how many neat tricks of trade you can pick, that make going through any pastry book a breeze. Some moves (such as folding a mousse or a batter), mixing dough, even mixing cream to the right consistency, are difficult to explain/convey in written form. Youtube works as second best but if you can, go for the real deal.

Professional chefs are instructed on basic baking and pastry skills during two courses in culinary school, and many culinary schools now offer baking and pastry degree programs. In the professional kitchen, pastry chefs are responsible for the pro-duction of all baked goods, including desserts and breads. Pastry chefs create the dessert menu, which complements the chefs' style and gives the diner a grand finale after the main meal. Also of interest is the ever-increasing popularity for breads, home-style desserts and elegant designed desserts, all of which are covered in Friberg's basic book.

I first became acquainted with baking through watching my grandmother and mother bake the most amazing desserts. But that's not when I decided I wanted to make baking and pastry my career. Growing up I wanted nothing to do with food and eating. I could use a little more of that nowadays.

So, I started on the journey to teach myself. I wanted to learn not only good recipes and different types of baking and pastry but I wanted to be able to create my own and therein lies the problem. Baking and pastry are more science dependant than is food. If you don't know where to use baking powder instead of baking soda or ratios to flour, it is a lot of trial and error. The books listed below became my teachers in one way or another.

When I opened my bakery, the learning intensified as I needed not just good recipes that yielded consistent results but there was so much of the business end I needed. I wrote "Baking as a Business" to give others the help they need as they went down this path also.

To say I love these books is an understatement. They were, and still are, the underpinning of my business and love of baking and pastry. You may find a few in here that are in your collection also. If so, you will know what I mean.

In our society today, a degree in any field is almost a requirement to get a job. However, I think in the world of food it is still possible to rise to great heights without a formal education - just the drive to learn, the passion to succeed and the knowledge found in books and/or with mentors.

The books I have listed below gave me the science of baking and/or the techniques I needed to learn in order to go from an avid home baker to a professional. That I found easier or faster ways of accomplishing some of the tasks in baking does not take away from the classic methods. Had I not learned those, I could not have found newer, updated methods, many of which I share in this blog.

I learned to debone a chicken (well actually it took about 4), make crepes and find in myself a love of cooking, baking and food I never knew I had. And she did it in a way that was amusing and self-deprecating. There was no stuffiness to Julia and she encouraged you s to never apologize for your food. She must find it hysterical that we pooh-pooed butter for so long, only to discover the alternative was worse. I wonder if she would have said "I told you so". I subscribe to her belief that moderation is the answer to most things in the world of food. Everything was more fun with Julia and to this day there is no match for her infectious enthusiasm, knowledge and sheer love of food.

Helen, what a thoughtful post! Bo Friberg's book is on my wish list and I really like The Cake Bible. To the above list of your books I would love to add indispensable- European Tarts. A book which became my foundation to learn the basics like pastry creams, curds, caramel and truffles.

Hi Manisha: I didn't know if people would like this, but I would have loved to have had a list of books when I was learning. I think Bo Friberg's book is so full of charts and graphs - all of which are a huge help.

I am sure serious bakers would really appreciate this post. I do! It has taken me a lot of research to get some of the professional patisserie books names. Your post has helped me to know that the books I intend to buy are a good choice for professional recipes and methods.

Hi, I'm Helen! Being a self-taught baker and owning a bakery for over 25 years, I found many ways to make baking more successful and less intimidating. Even busy people can bake as in many cases, recipes can be done over days. The goal is to make your baking life easier, more enjoyable, with great outcomes on a consistent basis.

This new advanced volume, which expands Bo Friberg's classic The Professional Pastry Chef, brings up-to-date coverage of advanced baking and pastry techniques to a new generation of pastry chefs and serious home bakers. Like its "sister" volume on the basics (0-471-35925-4), this book, which covers such subjects as modernistic desserts, chocolate work, and sugar and marzipan creations, is designed to meet the needs of today's pastry kitchen. This definitive reference features clear explanations, step-by-step how-to photos, and meticulous recipes-all presented in a lively, reader-friendly style.

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