The Pie and Pastry Bible

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View books by Rose Beranbaum.

Overly Pretentious - Rated
I have both the Pie and Pastry Bible and the Cake Bible, and have made several recipes from each. While consistent, I would not say this is the best book ever. I find her recipes way too fussy, including too many unnecessary steps, and making way too big a deal over the simplest procedures. She tries to make her recipes very 'scientific' which I find very annoying - 3/4oz and 1/4 oz of flour hardly makes a difference. She recommends pressing your icing through a nylon stocking, well you certainly do not need to make this amount of mess and trouble for fine piping.

I am a very experienced baker and have had just as good results from simpler books such as the Joy of Cooking. Her cake method mixes the fat into the flour which I find makes an overly fine crumb and a rather dense cake which I don't like. Worth buying for ideas but don't take her pretentious details, self praise and instructions too seriously

Exactly as the title states - A Bible for Pie and Pastry - Rated
Although not for the faint of heart this book is excellent at giving you all the information one needs to make a pie or pastry successfully. I have Rose's first book which also was GREAT! I've for the first time been able to make a decent crust from start to finish with her helpful hints and tricks. I have tried a few of her other recipes and although they didn't look exactly like her pictures they were delicious and up to standard. Although she is very particular on her flours I have found the UK's equivalent and have had much success. She might write a bit demanding of ingredients but she knows her stuff when trying to get the lay person to copy her results. A book worth it's money and I'm sure you'll love making any pie or pastry as I do now!

Delicious recipes - Rated
I just finished my first pie out of this book, and although it was quite time-consuming, it was truly delicious. The book holds so many wonderful recipes, that I can't decide on which one to try next, and with Rose's detailed instructions you just can't fail, even if you have never made a pie before. More pictures would have made this a five-star book..

Not for the novice - Rated
After reading just a couple of her receipies, I discovered this book is not for the faint at heart when it comes to baking. Although when I watched her on an early morning program, I gathered there was a more balanced experience of receipies. Her citation of types of flour is simply more information that I was interesting in having and boardered on what one might call flour snobbery. So far, the only method I have regularly incorporated in my pastry baking is her reference to chilling. So as all is not down the pastry funnel, I will pick and choose a few more receipies now and then to try.

another fabulous book - Rated
I asked for this book for Christmas and ended up staying up all night reading it straight through like a novel (porno actually) And I had made 4 peanut butter tarts before New Years. This book will join The Cake Bible as the only book I need to maintain my reputation as a serious baker. Very detailed and sometimes time consuming recipes, but they always work, and they always meet with rave reviews! Plus its just SO PRETTY!!!