On 5/4/06, pltrgyst > wrote:
>
> On Thu, 4 May 2006 20:10:35 -0600, "Mike Avery" >
> wrote:
>
> >Many of her recipes are far too complex for the results. I've owned a
> >bakery and had professional pastry chefs work for me. They look at
>
>her books with incredulity. You don't have to make it that hard to get
> >good results.




How about an example of one of her recipes and one of your bakery's? Say,
> for something simple, like pound cake or something similar?


While I'd love to oblige, I'm a bread guy. My pastry chefs left when we
closed the bakery and took their recipes with them. In any case, since
we're at 7,703 feet above sea level, what works here probably wouldn't work
where you are.

I'll repeat my earlier recommendation that ANY book by Maida Heatter is an
excellent resource. She gets good results, and she explains how you can get
them without losing your hair and your mind in the process.

Craig Claiborne, the long-time food critic for the New York Times and editor
of their famous "New York Times Cookbook" related a story. One of her books
had been written, and had gone through all the pre-press work and was ready
to print. It was scheduled to print in a matter of days when her oven
repairman came in and gave her oven it's annual checkover. (Do you have
your oven checked annually? Neither do I. We should.) After checking it,
he told her, "No real problems, but the thermostat was off 25 degrees. I
re-calibrated it, and you're good to go!"

She immediately called her publisher and had the publisher stop printing
until she could re-bake every recipe in the cookbook. She wanted to be SURE
that the average reader could get the results that she got. Most of us
would have said, "25 degrees? No big deal!" So, she IS careful, just not
totally (as someone else said) anal.

I've tried many of her recipes and I've never been disappointed. Check
libraries, isbn.nu or thrift stores near you. I'm not sure if they are
still in print.

Mike