The Baking Bible: A Comprhensive Baking Book for making Cakes, Pies, and More! Hardcover – Illustrated, October 28, 2014

My "verified purchase" states I have the Kindle edition of this book when, in fact, I actually have the hardback edition.I might have died and gone to Heaven. Dorie Greenspan and Rose Levy Beranbaum both released baking books this fall. Forget Christmas. I have everything I need to be happy for the rest of the year.The Baking Bible is a massive anthology of recipes to satisfy your baking needs. It runs the gamut from cakes to yeast breads and hits almost everything in between. This is an impressive collection of recipes that you will use for a long time. One of Rose's birthday cakes as well as her prosciutto loaf from her bread cookbook have been favorites in my home for over ten years now. The book will stay open to cook from, without the aid of a cookbook stand, from the first page to the last. The only downside to this (and it is my ONLY criticism of the book) is that this type of sewn binding is likely to cause you to have pages fall out later if you use the book often (and you will).The chapters are divided as follows: cakes; pies, tarts and other pastries; cookies and candy; and breads and yeast pastries. Each chapter is further subdivided into specific categories. For example, the cakes chapter is subdivided into butter and oil cakes, cupcakes, sponge cakes, and cheesecakes. The book opens with Rose's Golden Rules of Baking. Then each individual chapter has a lengthy introduction that helps the cook troubleshoot common baking problems and includes more "golden rules" for being a successful cake baker, pie baker, etc. If you know Rose's recipes, you know she is a stickler for weights, measurements, and following directions. Each recipe begins with a chart that clearly delineates measurements for volume and weight. In many instances there will not be a listing for volume as weight (which is included in ounces as well as grams) is more accurate.I am pleased to say that the book is as lovely as it is useful. There isn't a photograph for each recipe, but the photographs that are included are absolutely gorgeous. Most of the recipe is printed in black, but the headings are done in shades of burgundy that I didn't have any trouble reading. There are asides called "Highlights for Success" through many of the recipes that give you additional information to make your recipe a smash hit. I also add that the index is also problem free. It was done with a lot of thought in order to maximize usefulness.I would like to recommend this book to everyone, and for the most part, I do. I recommend to beginners with caution. I was a young bride with no cooking experience when I purchased The Cake Bible and The Bread Bible. I had no trouble because the author is so specific in her directions. However, novices should be able to follow multiple, detailed steps and use their five senses plus be able to make judgment calls regarding a recipe. If you are a moderate level or advanced baker, you will be pleased with this newest addition to the Beranbaum library and probably won't be able to put the book down for more than five minutes at the time.The ingredients and basic recipes section at the end of the book will demystify basics such as making chocolate curls, clarifying butter, and making ganache and whipped cream as well as lending Rose's personal insights on what ingredients to buy. I feel that this book is the home equivalent of a culinary school course in baking. You will love the appendix that lists quick and easy recipes as well as recipes that are flourless, mostly flourless, as well as lactose free. If you have egg issues, the author lists which recipes include only yolks or whites. She bends over backwards to make this book easy to use!But enough of my detailed book tour, you want to hear about recipes! I took a change of pace from the usual cakes and loaves for my initial foray into this impressive book and went with the French toast. It was magnificent, so good that I felt it didn't even need the additional suggested décor of powdered sugar or maple syrup.Don't hesitate to add this book to your library. If you are new to Rose Levy Beranbaum, know that if you follow her directions to the letter you will have baked goods that taste as though they couldn't possibly be made by human hands. The precise directions are absolutely worth it!

First of all, I am a seasoned amateur baker, not a professional pastry chef. And as much as I cook a lot -- and all kinds of things from low carb to vegan to Paleo and whatever traditional American cooking looks like -- my real love is to bake. And I especially love to bake completely from scratch where I need to buy some special, good quality ingredients and carve out a few hours or maybe over a couple days to savor the process.For those of you, who like me, love to bake and aren't afraid to jump into detailed recipes that require some technique, then Rose Beranbaum's baking books are for you. "The Baking Bible" is the follow up to her last baking gem "Rose's Heavenly Cakes" (and her other timeless classics like "The Cake Bible" and "The Bread Bible "). The writing and the layout I loved with Heavenly Cakes is still intact and improved with the addition of specific helps called "GOLDEN RULES," "SPECIAL TIPS," and "TROUBLESHOOTING."Some Heavenly Cakes recipes reappear in a new form such as the "White Chocolate Caramel Buttercream" -- a "White Chocolate Lemon Buttercream" redux that I guarantee you will love (the original version is my #1 all-time favorite cake frosting EVER). The Red Rose Cake is a new version of the previous Rose Red Velvet Cake in a new shape of a 3-D rose instead of the heart.While I admit I am focused on cake so far, "The Baking Bible" includes Beranbaum's best to date pies, pastries, tarts, cookies, candy, bread and preserves. Although the title says "bible," this isn't intended to be an exhaustive collection of baking recipes, but rather updated winners and the best recipes and techniques one could expect from the writer of some of the best-loved and award-winning baking books we'll cook from for years to come. Do plan to spend some time reading through the book and planning some happy hours baking before you jump in. It is quite enjoyable to read through all the tips, instruction and see the possibilities before ever hitting the kitchen.

So far so good! I have learned a lot with this book and the recipes are great. Here is my 4th of July cheesecake from the book. It was light, and refreshing. Made the perfect summer treat.

I'm a very reluctant fan of this book, which I bought several years ago and never used. As several other commenters state, there is little that is "basic" about this cookbook in terms of an introduction to baking. Instead, it outlines relatively advanced techniques and recipes that involve some skill. This year, however, I decided to make a panettone for Christmas instead of paying $30 for one that was cooked weeks or months ago. I tried one of the King Arthur recipes (confusingly, there are several) that yielded a boring, cakey texture with little flavor. I then used RLB's very involved recipe from this book that took 6 days to prepare. It was fantastic and worked at each stage precisely as she said it would. I also made the gingersnaps. Although they were not to my taste, they were exactly what she described them to be. I discovered that no matter how complicated the recipe, she does guide you through the steps with great clarity and precision. And there are many helpful hints throughout the book to guide beginners along the right paths of baking. There is also a comprehensive section on ingredients that qualifies the book as a "Bible." This includes more than you ever thought you could know about flours, chocolates, and sugars and is truly helpful in refining your baking skills. I bought her Cake Bible when it came out in the late 80's but never used it because I thought it was the most fussy, and slightly crazy, baking book I'd ever read. But I will now go back to that and try to explore the unique world of RLB.