A Jewish Baker’s Pastry Secrets by George Greenstein

 

George Greenstein had a gift for teaching home bakers to think, work, and bake like the pros with his evocative and tactile descriptions of baking. In A Jewish Baker’s Pastry Secrets, he crafts master dough recipes for Jewish holiday baking and European classics, creating a comprehensive set of building blocks for both beginners and baking enthusiasts. Greenstein’s expert guidance for making doughs like bundt, babka, strudel, gugelhopf, stollen, pressburger, puff pastry, and Danish create a jumping-off point for more than 200 variations of classic pastries, including napoleons, coffee cakes, and sweet buns. The book also offers an in-depth guide to ingredients and equipment, including both professional and home ovens, as well as basic recipes for fillings, icings, and glazes. With Greenstein’s steady guidance and familiar voice, home bakers and professionals alike will be encouraged to turn out flawless pastry creations for any occasion.

My Thoughts:

I enjoy baking and enjoy trying new recipes. I was extremely interested in this cookbook. This is old fashion Jewish baking at its best.

This is a hardback book with 202 pages. There are 10 chapters along with an introduction, afterword, biography, and an index.

Introduction

Chapter 1-Equipment, Tools, and Ingredients

Chapter 2- Basic Techniques and Recipes

Chapter 3- Bundt

Chapter 4- Babka

Chapter 5- Strudel

Chapter 6- Gugelhopf and Portuguese Sweet Bread

Chapter 7- Stollen and Polish Kolacz

Chapter 8- Puff Pastry

Chapter 9- Charlotte Dough

Chapter 10 Danish Pastries

Afterword

Biography

Index

Chapter 1 is filled with informative information on everything you need to be a successful baker. Some are basic and others were completely new to me.

I wouldn’t consider this a cookbook for the beginner baker. I suspect that some of the recipes for me will be trial and error until you get the hang of the doughs. I have never made some of the doughs. The topping and add-ins for the doughs are the easy part and what make the recipes unique. Some of the ingredients I had to look up.  

The next chapter begins with basic tips and techniques.  including a nice section on how to work with the different doughs. What ingredients work best with certain doughs is explained clearly. It was intriguing.

I look forward to trying my hand at babka, and as a beekeeper the Honey Beehive Topping sounds delightful. That’s just a few on my list.

This cookbook reminds me of my mom’s and grandmother’s cookbooks. A no nonsense cookbook that doesn’t have any pictures. I do love seeing pictures in a cookbook. I think this cookbook still gets my approval as it’s a wealth of information and some amazing recipes.

Disclosure of Material Connection: BookLook Bloggers- provided me this Book free as part of their book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have or my own.