Reading about the ins and outs of baking the perfect, flaky pie crust is a little like reading about how to achieve the perfect golf swing: the proof is in the doing. And it often takes a remarkably intuitive reader to understand exactly what the author is getting at. Not so the work of Rose Levy Beranbaum, the author who gave us The Cake Bible. If ever there was a cookbook author who could place her hands on top of yours, putting you through the proper motions, helping you arrive at just the right touch, Beranbaum is the one.

The Pie and Pastry Bible begins with the crust. The author confesses right up front that 21 years ago, when she first began her quest for the perfect crust, "it was a complete mystery to me." She wasn't looking for a once-in-a-lifetime experience, but something she could consistently turn out at a moment's notice. The ideal pie crust, she writes, "has light, flaky layers, but also ... is tender, and nicely browned, with a flavor good enough to eat by itself." In a book that stretches to about 700 pages long, her favorite pie crust is the first recipe: Perfect Flaky and Tender Cream Cheese Pie Crust. Typically, Beranbaum lists the ingredients by measure and weight for three separate sizes of pies, then gives instructions for the food processor or by hand. After 70 pages of pie crusts, tart crusts, and crumb pie crusts of every imaginable make and combination, Beranbaum starts with fruit pies. Her first (of many) detailed charts shows exactly what her ratios are of fruit to sugar to cornstarch. Then each recipe (start with The Best All American Apple Pie) includes pointers for success as well as several variations on the theme. Under the headline "Understanding," Beranbaum goes that extra mile by taking the trouble to explain just why something works the way it does. If you are only going to own one cookbook for pie and pastry recipes of every imaginable stripe and combination, you can't go wrong with this one. It's the Bible, after all. --Schuyler Ingle

From Publishers Weekly
Precision is the trademark style of Los Angeles Times-syndicated food columnist Berenbaum, a baking and chocolate industry consultant and author (The Cake Bible) who demystifies the art (and science) of pie and pastry making. Exacting instructions in this compendium of sweet and savory "how-tos" (achieve the flakiest pie crust, shape and bake croissants, apply decorative techniques, etc.) may open new doors for daunted home bakers and dessert dabblers, while offering serious amateurs an additional resource for creative inspiration. Recipe ingredients are given in both volume and weight (ounces and grams). Pies and tarts include sweet (e.g., Fig Tart with Mascarpone Cream) and savory (e.g., Deep Dish Chicken Pot Pies; Roasted Red Pepper and Poblano Quiche). The pastry section includes classic French puff pastry, Danish pastry, phyllo and strudel doughs among others. End chapters cover fundamentals like techniques (decorating, measuring ingredients), ingredients (often with stated brand preferences) and appropriate equipment (mixers, tart pans, etc.). Accompanying sections to recipesA"Pointers for Success" and "Understanding" (notes on food chemistry)Aclearly detail the scientific underpinnings of the baking process. Indeed a "bible" for novices and serious amateurs alike, this time-tested encyclopedic tome distills Berenbaum's 21 years dedicated to the pastry arts in a clearly written, thoroughly documented manual. First serial to Family Circle; BOMC/Good Cook main selection; BOMC alternate. Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Over 20 years ago, Beranbaum, author of the award-winning The Cake Bible (LJ 8/88), began her search for the perfectly flaky and tender pie crust. Now, with the publication of her latest culinary tome, Beranbaum is ready to share her findings with eager pastry cooks everywhere. The Pie and Pastry Bible is an impressive collection of more than 200 recipes for sweet and savory treats, including pies, puff pastry, biscuits, and fillings. Both culinary novices and experienced bakers will appreciate the precise preparation instructions provided for every recipe. Nothing is left to chance. Each recipe's ingredients are given in both volume and weight (U.S. and metric). Many recipes have additional pointers, and a chapter on ingredients and equipment is also included. From Classic Blueberry Pie to Danish Pastry Twists, there is something tempting for everyone. Highly recommended for all public libraries.AJohn Charles, Scottsdale P.L., AZCopyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Book Description
The Pie and Pastry Bible is your magic wand for baking the pies, tarts, and pastries of your dreams -- the definitive work by the country's top baker. More than 300 recipes, 200 drawings of techniques and equipment, and 70 color pictures of finished pies, tarts, and pastries Easy-to-follow recipes for fruit pies, chiffon pies, custard pies, ice-cream pies, meringue pies, chocolate pies, tarts and tartlets, turnovers, dumplings, biscuits, scones, crostadas, galettes, strudel, fillo, puff pastry, croissants (chocolate, too), Danish, brioche, sticky buns, cream puffs, and profiteroles All kinds of fillings, glazes, toppings, and sauces, including pastry cream, frangipane, Chiboust, fruit curds, ice creams, fondant, fruit preserves, streusel, meringues, ganache, caramel, and hot fudge A separate chapter featuring foolproof flaky, tender, and original crusts of every kind imaginable. Here are a few: Flaky Cream Cheese Pie Crust, Flaky Cheddar Cheese Pie Crust, Miracle Flaky Lard Pie Crust, and Flaky Goose Fat Pie Crust; Bittersweet Chocolate, Coconut, Ginger, and Sweet Nut Cookie Crusts; and Vanilla, Gingersnap, Chocolate, and Graham Cracker Crumb Crusts Countless tips that solve any problem, including the secrets to making a juicy fruit pie with a crisp bottom crust and a lemon meringue pie that doesn't weep How to make a tender and flaky pie crust in under three minutes How to make the best brownie ever into a crustless tart with puddles of ganache Exciting savory recipes, including meat loaf wrapped in a flaky Cheddar cheese crust and a roasted poblano quiche Extensive decorating techniques for the beginning baker and professional alike that show you how to make chocolate curls, pipe rosettes, crystallize flowers and leaves, and more Detailed information on ingredients and equipment, previously available only to professionals The wedding cake reconceived as a Seven-Tier Chocolate Peanut Butter Mousse Tart Pointers for Success follow the recipes, guaranteeing perfect results every time

About the Author
Rose Levy Bernabaum, a frequent contributor to all the major food magazines and The New York Times, is a consultant to the baking and chocolate industries. Her definitive work on cakes, The Cake Bible, won the Cookbook of the Year Award from the International Association of Culinary Professionals. Rose's research for The Pie and Pastry Bible included a strudel pilgrimage to Austria, a fact-finding Danish mission to Denmark, and travel and study throughout France, Switzerland, Hungary, and Germany. She lives in New York City.

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
When Rose Levy Beranbaum wrote her definitive book on cakes,The Cake Bible, it not only won that year's IACP cookbook of the year award, it found a place on the essential bookshelf of home bakers everywhere. Now Beranbaum has turned her exacting eye on the other mainstays of the baker's art, pies and pastry. In The Pie and Pastry Bible, she includes not only foolproof step-by-step recipes for pies and tarts of all kinds, plus turnovers, biscuits, galettes, puff pastry, croissants, cream puffs, sticky buns, and much more, but also hundreds of illustrations of equipment and techniques, professional tips (like how to make a crust that's tender and flaky and stays crisp on the bottom even when filled with the juiciest fruit or how to keep a meringue from weeping), and detailed information on ingredients, equipment, techniques, and even decoration instructions that make it possible for even inexperienced bakers to get perfect results. The first chapter of THE PIE AND PASTRY BIBLE is dedicated entirely to crusts; others cover fruit pies, chiffon pies, ice cream pies, tarts, savory tarts and pies and quiches, biscuits and scones, fillo, strudel, puff pastry and croissants, danish pastry, brioche, cream puff pastry, fillings and toppings, and sauces and glazes. Nearly 700 pages long, this is as definitive a guide to baking pies and pastry as has ever been written. Whether you bake all summer and fall as wonderful fruit is in season or just want to make one great pumpkin pie every year for Thanksgiving, THE PIE AND PASTRY BIBLE will be the book you'll turn to everytime.
—KateMurphy Zeman

FROM THE PUBLISHER

The Pie and Pastry Bible is your magic wand for baking the pies, tarts, and pastries of your dreams -- the definitive work by the country's top baker.

More than 300 recipes, 200 drawings of techniques and equipment, and 70 color pictures of finished pies, tarts, and pastriesEasy-to-follow recipes for fruit pies, chiffon pies, custard pies, ice-cream pies, meringue pies, chocolate pies, tarts and tartlets, turnovers, dumplings, biscuits, scones, crostadas, galettes, strudel, fillo, puff pastry, croissants (chocolate, too), Danish, brioche, sticky buns, cream puffs, and profiterolesAll kinds of fillings, glazes, toppings, and sauces, including pastry cream, frangipane, Chiboust, fruit curds, ice creams, fondant, fruit preserves, streusel, meringues, ganache, caramel, and hot fudgeA separate chapter featuring foolproof flaky, tender, and original crusts of every kind imaginable. Here are a few: Flaky Cream Cheese Pie Crust, Flaky Cheddar Cheese Pie Crust, Miracle Flaky Lard Pie Crust, and Flaky Goose Fat Pie Crust; Bittersweet Chocolate, Coconut, Ginger, and Sweet Nut Cookie Crusts; and Vanilla, Gingersnap, Chocolate, and Graham Cracker Crumb CrustsCountless tips that solve any problem, including the secrets to making a juicy fruit pie with a crisp bottom crust and a lemon meringue pie that doesn't weepHow to make a tender and flaky pie crust in under three minutesHow to make the best brownie ever into a crustless tart with puddles of ganacheExciting savory recipes, including meat loaf wrapped in a flaky Cheddar cheese crust and a roasted poblano quicheExtensive decorating techniques for the beginning baker and professional alike that show you how to make chocolate curls, pipe rosettes, crystallize flowers and leaves, and moreDetailed information on ingredients and equipment, previously available only to professionalsThe wedding cake reconceived as a Seven-Tier Chocolate Peanut Butter Mousse TartPointers for Success follow the recipes, guaranteeing perfect results every time

FROM THE CRITICS

Library Journal