The Pie and Pastry Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum (1998)

NA

This is a wonderfully detailed cookbook that really teaches how to bake pies and other pastries. It is not simply a collection of recipes but a true education of pies and pastry. The Pie and Pastry Bible is not a book to skim through as you try to make a pie or other pastry. It is better to simply sit and read, absorbing the knowledge before starting in the kitchen. ( )

I rely on this book for standard recipes for pie crust and the like. However, I think many of the recipes are needlessly complicated or require obscure ingredients that aren't easy for the average home cook to come by. Fore example, the pecan pie recipe calls for Lyle's Golden Syrup for the filling. It's no problem to procure this in NYC or San Francisco, but it's decidedly harder in other locations. Also, you would never find this on the ingredients list for a traditional pecan pie. ( )

One of the best books out there on this topic I love it almost as much as "The Cake Bible" ( )