| | |  | Culinary Books | Home » » Baking at Home with The Culinary Institute of America | | | | | | | Description: | | A complete, illustrated volume of lessons and recipes for the home baker.The Culinary Institute of America is the place where many of today's leading chefs and pastry chefs have learned the fundamental skills that launched their careers. Now, in this companion to Cooking at Home with The Culinary Institute of America, the CIA draws on its extensive expertise and experience to give home bakers an outstanding course in the essentials of baking, along with a wealth of irresistible recipes. It outlines all the basic information on equipment, ingredients, and methods necessary to create top-quality cakes, pastries, breads, frozen desserts, and more. Readers learn the techniques step by step, with detailed instructions and photographs that clearly explain what to do and how to do it. Ideal for developing skills and building a repertoire, the book's 200 recipes - all specially created by the CIA - are delicious, attractive, and easy to make, from Cream Scones and Streusel-Topped Blueberry Muffins to Flourless Chocolate Souffle Cake and Warm Lemon Pudding Cakes. Complete with 250 beautiful full-color photographs of procedures and finished dishes, Baking at Home with The Culinary Institute of America is a comprehensive resource that will enable home cooks to master the art of baking in their own kitchens. | | | Product Details: | | | Author:
| The Culinary Institute of America | | Hardcover:
| 304 pages | | Publisher:
| Wiley | | Publication Date:
| September 27, 2004 | | Language:
| English | | ISBN:
| 0471450952 | | Product Length:
| 10.36 inches | | Product Width:
| 9.46 inches | | Product Height:
| 1.22 inches | | Product Weight:
| 3.55 pounds | | Package Length:
| 10.0 inches | | Package Width:
| 9.3 inches | | Package Height:
| 1.2 inches | | Package Weight:
| 3.6 pounds | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 23 reviews |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
 ( 23 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
87 of 105 found the following review helpful:
 A total disappointmentAug 09, 2005
By Jason Rabin
This was one of those books that actually angered me. In the introduction, they go out of their way to explain to you why mass measurements are superior to volume measurements, but then go ahead and supply volume only measurements for all of their recipes. This is unacceptable. It's one thing to find "American" style measurements in a casual chocolate chip cookie book, but for a large expensive baking book supposedly written by professionals, it behooves them to include mass measurements for serious home bakers.
But the real reason I disliked this book was that the recipes I tried simply did not work as advertised. The challah recipe was not a standard recipe; it seemed extremely large for a single loaf, the mixing technique was not like what I had encountered in amateur and professional books before, but I perservered and followed the directions fastidiously. The loaf was edible, but otherwise a failure. The fact that there is no explanation for this, and no anticipation of the problems I encountered is unacceptable. I have made dozens of challah recipes and I never had a problem before. Usually, when something goes wrong, I blame myself. I can tell when I have made a mistake and I take responsibility for my failures. This was one of those times where I blamed the recipe. This was just an odd ball recipe.
Similarly, the mudslide cookies did not work as the recipe stated they would. How hard is it to make a simple cookie recipe function properly? In the end, I managed to salvage these cookies through ingenuity and improvisation, but that's no excuse; careful faithfulness to the recipe should yield perfect results. Again, no explanation or attempt to anticipate such problems.
That was the last time I wasted my time with this book. Do yourself a favor and instead of buying this expensive paper weight, get yourself one of Pierre Herme's books, or Bo Friberg's Professional Pastry chef.
10 of 11 found the following review helpful:
 Book for beginners with no prior baking experience.Aug 04, 2009
By Philo
The how-to information provided is really basic and assumes the reader is new to baking. Nothing here for the intermediate or advanced baker wanting to learn something or to be challenged, just a collection of recipes. Unfortunate for the beginner, there are errors in the recipes that the beginner wouldn't recognize. For example, the Banana Nut Bread on p. 82 should say 1-1/2 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp baking soda. (Instead it lists 1/2 tsp baking powder.) Silly me, I second guessed my instinct and followed the recipe as written. I really should have searched the 'net for errata BEFORE I made the banana bread. Another criticism of the book is, as others have noted, the use of volume measurements rather than weights. ("Three medium bananas" isn't quite specific enough for my liking.) There really are other, better books to teach baking skills. I'd recommend instead Labensky's On Baking: A Textbook of Baking and Pastry Fundamentals, or for a more in depth approach, Figoni's How Baking Works.
9 of 10 found the following review helpful:
Great tipsJan 03, 2006
By pp
I have been baking for few years now and even though my cakes turn really well, I was not aware of all those small tips that make baking more convenient and efficient. Tempering eggs, making custard( finally with pictures!!) or even kneading yeast dough to make it strong and elastic - all you can find it here.
3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
 My Favorite Baking TextFeb 12, 2009
By N. Pickle
I too have had a little difficulty with some of the recipes, but nothing major. My bread was done about 10 minutes before the baking time given, but was able to rescue it since I was watching. I love how thorough the introductions and what not are. I had no idea about the development of gluten and how essential it is to a good bread. I'm still working my way through this book but would recommend it to anyone who enjoys baking.
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
 Ok book...recipe was off!Sep 05, 2011
By TykishaP2010
After reading some of the reviews about errors in some recipes, I decided against buying this book. Since I recently returned to college for Baking and Pastry Arts, I found this book in the school library and immediately checked it out. I was on the lookout for a new butter cake recipe and found a high-ratio butter cake recipe in this book and I could not wait to try it out. The batter look excellent and I was anticipating a moist, rich, buttery cake but this cake was extremely dry. Even with a lemon curd filling between the layers, I still could not save this cake. The overall book is great and filled with tons of information but if the recipes aren't great, then I can't see myself purchasing this book.
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