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| The Pie and Pastry Bible | 
 enlarge | Author: Rose Levy Beranbaum
Brand: scribner
Category: Book
List Price: $50.00
Buy Used: $15.49
You Save: $34.51 (69%)
New (39) Used (43) Collectible (2) from $15.49
Avg. Customer Rating:  76 reviews
Sales Rank: 10923
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 704
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.8
Dimensions (in): 10.1 x 7.1 x 1.4
MPN: 54500
ISBN: 0684813483
Dewey Decimal Number: 641.865
EAN: 9780684813486
ASIN: 0684813483
Publication Date: November 11, 1998
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Visible shelf wear -- may have some notes/markings on pages
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| Customer Reviews:
 excellent October 24, 2005
2 out of 14 found this review helpful
I am happy that I purchased this book. It is an excellent reference book!
Good book September 1, 2005
6 out of 17 found this review helpful
The book is good. The crust instructions are great. The author recommends 2 tbsp of starch for berries pies. I made four blackberry pies with two and more tbsp of starch, and it was still runny, fool of juices on the botton, doesn't matter how long you bake. There is no way it would work. I was dissapointed until found blackberry pie recipe on allrecipes.com with only 4 reviews, and it was the best berry pie I ever had. Add 3 to 4 Tbsps of tapioca instead to all her recipes. Also she recommends to add 2 tsp of lemon zest. I add a pich, and it was very much enough. The author says that she tried most of her recipes fo up to 50 times. In other words: it is not a bible at all, take it as a bse and experiment yourself. Otherwise it has many interesting recipes, will try.
 Wait for the 2nd edition of this book February 26, 2005
66 out of 71 found this review helpful
I hate to be a party pooper, but as much as one hopes to love this book, it was just too poorly written and edited. It has many terrific ideas for someone who has baked pies before, but for a newcomer like myself, the defects are pretty glaring. I bought the book because I love "The Cake Bible". But this time, the editor went to press before finishing her work, and I bet she's responsible for wasting many thousands of hours of her readers' time, considering how popular this book is.
In order to make crust using this book, you have to flip back and forth between many sections: the dough recipe, the rolling instructions, the laying out of the dough, and the baking are all in different places, in the wrong order, and not clearly labeled. I can see why this happened, because the rolling and baking are similar for different dough recipes, and she didn't want to repeat the same instructions over and over. But at least the sections should have been in order! Additional stories and comments are intermixed with the instructions, which makes it hard to follow the instructions once you find them. Different dimensions are given in different places for the size of the rolled dough you need. Sections headings are not consistently formatted--sometimes a new subsection is in the same style as the heading that started the section.
I'm a professional scientist and university professor, and I love to cook. I don't think I have any special impairment following instructions. The other reviewers who liked this book surely had the same experience, unless they knew ahead of time what they were doing, so I say to them: stop recommending this book so highly, except to experienced pie and tart bakers!
For making pastry the first time, I would use "The Way to Cook" by Julia Child instead, which manages to give all of the necessary instructions very clearly, in the correct order, in about two pages. Then buy Beranbaum's book and read it at leisure if you want inspiration and expert knowledge, and you don't mind an error here or there.
I hope there will be an easier-to-use second edition of this book. The tart I made was truly delicious, but the process made me angry. I'm guessing that the author or editor or publisher decided their deadline was more important than a final week of editing. What a shame.
 Oh yes, you too can make a pie crust January 28, 2005
9 out of 12 found this review helpful
The cream cheese pie crust recipie alone is worth the price of admission to this book. I had never made an edible pie crust before I tried this one. Directions are explicit and step by step.
The recipies for pies and tarts are wonderful. I've never had a failure using this cookbook.
Best pie dough ever! January 18, 2005
4 out of 8 found this review helpful
If you bake pies or tarts you have to get this book. I have never been able to make a pie crust worth eating. Following the step by step directions for her basic pie cust, I made my first (successful) apple pie and received raved reviews!
I have tried at least a dozen pie dough recipes and this is by far the easiest and best-tasting. I would have given this book 5 stars if it had more color pictures of the finished product.
I'm at the airport posting this review and looking forward to my long flight now that I have this book. Halfway through I simply cannot put it down. [...] Oh, gotta run or I'll miss my flight!. Highly recommend this book.
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