The Il Fornaio Baking Book

I've made bread for about 15 years, mostly sourdoughs or mixed-starter breads. Il Fornaio is one of the two best books on baking bread I've come across... it is a book which makes really amazing results possible even for someone with more limited experience with bread-baking. I have lived in Germany, where the bread is REALLY good, and still made white bread and rolls and pizza from this book... it's that good. I was puzzled to read one of the reviews that said the book wasn't as good as the bakery... I put that down to not following the directions properly... the quantities are not as important as the factors mentioned in the book - dough texture (which should be sticky) and the moisture in the oven (easily attained by putting a frying pan in the bottom of the oven and pouring water into it). I can't recommend this book enough.

For anyone that has had the opportunity to visit one of their restaurants, now you can enjoy their baked goods at home. All of their receipes are fairly easy to follow and follow you must! These dishes are a lot like a science project. mix the wrong item or quantity and it is all over. Follow closely and you will be rewarded with some of the finest breads and desserts around. The Tiramisu receipe is one of the best around. I have served it several times and it is a party favorite. I have tried countless other receipes and found this one the best their is. The soups can make a complete meal in themselves. Buy this book and you won't regret it.

The recipes in this book are described so well that even a novice baker will turn out world class loaves of bread. All through my college years I worked in a Pizza restaurant. I made pizza dough by following the directions on the 25lb bag of pizza flour. That had been my only baking experinece, but after deciding to attempt baking bread at home, I bought this book. My first loaf turned out better than anything I could buy at a supermarket.

I use this book on a weekly basis. The formulas are relatively easy to use, and you end up with flavorful crusty loaves of bread. The pizza dough recipe is the best I have found. I have tried other books, with varying degrees of success, but this book is always helpful. The hardest thing to remember to make the starter ahead of time. I have found that most of the recipes can be adjusted successfully if you want a higher whole grain content or you wish to add other flavoring ingredients (ie roasted garlic or sundried tomatoes).

I have long felt that Il Fornaio's restaurants are the closest thing to eating in Italy in this country (USA). In my many trips to the San Francisco Bay area, I have always made it standard procedure to go to Il Fornaio for at least an evening, and usually breakfast as well, to be reminded of my all-too-short time in Italy. I have never been disappointed. Quite the contrary, I'm frequently stunned and delighted at the quality of food and service they provide. Naturally, when I ran across this book, I was so excited, I could hardly wait to get home and begin baking some of the wondrous items they so capably turn out every day. I would add to the previous review that Italian cooking in general (and particularly recipes from the Emilia-Romagna region a la The Splendid Table) is at once sublimely simple and intimidatingly complex, requiring many subtle layers of preparation and execution. For all the spectacular effort some of these recipes require in all but the best-stocked of kitchens, however, the results will astound you with their beauty, their unfailing goodness, and the pure spirit of the Italians' passion for life, family, and truly great food.This is not to say beginners should avoid this book. Rather, beginners should seek out this book to learn that with which Franco Galli has successfully imbued this gorgeous (and extremely tactile) book... the tried and true methods of Old World baking. It is filled to the brim with useful information on ingredients, techniques, stories, history, and peppered with the occasional bit of good humor that makes me long for a childhood spent in Italy, learning traditions passed on through untold generations.My hat is off to Franco Galli in grateful acknowledgement for his tremendous restaurants, this excellent book (thank you thank you thank you), and the chance to live a tiny piece of Italy through his life experience as a baker. As a footnote, I have so far not experienced any of the measurement inaccuracies mentioned in the previous review.