PHAIDON The Italian Bakery: Step-by-Step Recipes with the Silver Spoon

It is not well known but French cuisine is based on Italian cuisine. got its start when Catherine di Medici married the French king and the food was so bad that she imported her Italian chefs to have something palatable to eat. Or at least so the French Encyclopedia explains.The fabled Croissant, for example is based on the Italian Cornetto which is nearly the same only slightly sweeter, has eggs, and while being flaky it does not shed flakes everywhere the way a Croissant does. It is also easier to make. The Cornetto was invented at some point in the 1600's, while the Croissant came 2 centuries later in the 1800's. The French say it was developed from a Viennese pastry but it would be hard to ignore the influence of a very similar pastry that was being made next door.In this lifetime I will never be able to sample all the recipes, but those that I have sampled are clear, easy to follow and there are clear instructions on the methods needed to successfully make the recipes. There are instructions on traditional methods as well as modern short cuts if you want to do them.The length and depth of Italian cuisine goes back to the Romans. It is broader and richer than French Cuisine, and it is not well known in the US. You will find some very interesting recipes here, that are well beyond the "red sauce recopies" that many people think of as being the extent of Italian Cuisine.

I am personally not a big fan of the recipes themselves in this book, however, the illustrated and detailed explanations of each technique you could possibly ever need make any type of dessert, makes this book a must have! Very happy with my purchase

After looking for a good book on traditional, Italian baking, I found this. Great reviews, and sold a lot. After flipping through it, I was very disappointed. Just because you include ricotta in every other recipe, doesn't make it traditional, Italian. The recipies in the book are mostly general pastry making. I understand that there are only that many ways to make a cake, and pastries like shortbread are the same all over the world, but if I buy a cookbook on traditional, Italian baking, I expect a book containing traditional, Italian baking. Many of the recipies are traditional French, like croissaints, baba au rhum and petit chioux. Of course they're found in Italy today, and are very tasty, but they are not Italian. As a Swede, I'm not an expert on Italian cooking, but I have Italian friends of different generations, and parts of the country, and not even they could point out recipies as particular Italian.I'm giving the book two stars, since it's a nice looking book, with loads of tasty recipies to an okay price, but if you look for genuine, Italian pastries, you'll have to keep looking.

nunca pensé que tendría un libro tan valioso en mis manos recopilando la tradición repostera de Italia, región por región, a lo largo del tiemoi. Un libro de lujo para tener de sobremesa y para disfrutarlo.

I’m new to baking but this book makes it super easy. A great guide for how to do everything with pictures to help you along the way. I’ve already made brioche twice.