Comprehensive book. This is the book to buy if you really want to understand the science behind making bread, sourdough starters, and pastries. It is not a recipe book but a text that explains everything you ever wanted to know. My only complaint is that it weighs about 15 pounds.
Not Your Mother s Cookbook.... Michael Suas has created the comprehensive text for bakers - Advanced Bread and Pastry. This work is a beautifully crafted textbook which can be used in both schools and, if you are a serious baker, in the home. Further, it is lovely enough to be used as a coffee table book, if that is the type of thing you do when decorating your home. It is not a work for the casual baker or for an individual who does not have the time to sit down and read through the chapters.

Suas has used an extremely logical format, he starts with the history of bread and works through to sample formulas. Each chapter ends with a chapter summary, list of key terms, and review questions. Important words and phrases are bolded throughout the text. Excellent photographs are used to highlight important techniques, as well as to show the results of improper application of these same techniques. I thought this work was done much more thoroughly than Calvel s The Taste of Bread.

I did choose to purchase my book from the San Francisco Baking Institute so that Michel Suas would autograph it. To my great surprise, he also inscribed it to me personally. If you are looking for a priceless gift for the serious baker in your life, you should consider this option. The book is a bit more expensive than here and you do pay postage, but as a gift to someone else or to yourself, it is well worth it.

Sheer Excellence!. This is an awesome book on pastry. Recipes are written in a non-traditional way that I actaully enjoy working with. It provides a test batch, and a heavy production version of each recipes, based on bakers percentages. Simply multiplying a recipe by 5 may or may convey equal proportions, baker s percentages is a fool proof system that Suas uses. Because the recipes are so well written i depended on it for advanced sugarwork. I was highly pleased with the results. Tip my toque to Chef Suas.
Just Plain Great!. The formulas (recipes), the photos, the flow and the explanations are so helpful that you will have a hard time not creating good bread. The formulas are useful to both commercial bakers and home bakers and all the formulas have test versions to give you a small and manageable amount to work with. So far I have made the Croissant with a poolish and it gave me a great result... Not perfect as with all bread, it takes practice. Thats the beauty of bread... It s an art and art takes practice. If I only had one book to use as my baking foundation it would easily be this. Seriously... If you are obsessed with bread you will LOVE this book and you got to love AOL as it s always cheaper and most the time free shipping. By the way this book has way more than just bread.
proffessional book for bakers. This is a great book.
It takes 185 pages before you get to the first recipe (formula), and the quantities are usually for 4-5 loafs at a time, but this is a great book for bakers, and baking enthusiasts.
It is set up as a university text book, and teaches you how to be a baker..