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The Art of Lamination: Advanced Technical Laminated Pastry Production 2020
Do you want to make excellent croissants and laminated pastry?
Are your croissants not as good as you would like them to be?
Having problems with laminated pastry products?
Confused about folding techniques and the thickness of your pastry?
Do you want to not only understand but fix all of your pastry making issues and ensure you make consistent, beautiful pastry time and time again?
If you want to master laminated pastry, this is the book for you!
Already dubbed the lamination bible by happy customers, this book takes you from simple pastry to advanced competition level products, explaining each step in great detail.
To build a good house, it must first have a solid foundation! The same principles apply when making laminated pastry products. My book The Art of Lamination is built on a solid knowledge of understanding the recipes, methods, processes and ingredients required to make the finest laminated viennoiserie possible. This book is the culmination of seven years of research, in particular, it was my chosen subject during my masters degree studies. As an international competitor, lecturer, businessman and international jury member, I have witnessed the work of exceptional craftsmen and carefully documented procedures and practices. In my business, I was able to try the latest cutting edge techniques and sell beautiful products to my customers. In my role as a lecturer at TU Dublin, I generated much new class content and took note of the most common problems encountered by students in pastry making and also the questions asked by my students. I identified and documented all the stages of production of laminated pastry and engaged in problem solving for students and bakers during my masterclasses in foreign countries. The result is a clearly explained roadmap, how to plan and execute perfect pastry. I explain some of the basic lamination systems used in industry with a modern twist, and take the reader through a step by step approach on how to become proficient at making laminated viennoiserie. In my capacity as a jury member at the world championships I have witnessed as close to perfection as is possible to make beautiful products. Many of the more advanced products in the book have been inspired directly by my observations over the past 25 years of competitive baking at the cutting edge of creativity. This book will serve as an essential guide for students, bakers, pastry chefs, home bakers and hobbyists. I include detailed process notes for both commercial bakers using mechanical sheeters and home bakers and students, who want to make laminated pastry at home. I have stripped down the procedures of laminated pastry production to the very basics, building on that knowledge and adding more advanced levels throughout the book. I hope my book will both educate and inspire you, the readers now, and in your future baking.
Are your croissants not as good as you would like them to be?
Having problems with laminated pastry products?
Confused about folding techniques and the thickness of your pastry?
Do you want to not only understand but fix all of your pastry making issues and ensure you make consistent, beautiful pastry time and time again?
If you want to master laminated pastry, this is the book for you!
Already dubbed the lamination bible by happy customers, this book takes you from simple pastry to advanced competition level products, explaining each step in great detail.
To build a good house, it must first have a solid foundation! The same principles apply when making laminated pastry products. My book The Art of Lamination is built on a solid knowledge of understanding the recipes, methods, processes and ingredients required to make the finest laminated viennoiserie possible. This book is the culmination of seven years of research, in particular, it was my chosen subject during my masters degree studies. As an international competitor, lecturer, businessman and international jury member, I have witnessed the work of exceptional craftsmen and carefully documented procedures and practices. In my business, I was able to try the latest cutting edge techniques and sell beautiful products to my customers. In my role as a lecturer at TU Dublin, I generated much new class content and took note of the most common problems encountered by students in pastry making and also the questions asked by my students. I identified and documented all the stages of production of laminated pastry and engaged in problem solving for students and bakers during my masterclasses in foreign countries. The result is a clearly explained roadmap, how to plan and execute perfect pastry. I explain some of the basic lamination systems used in industry with a modern twist, and take the reader through a step by step approach on how to become proficient at making laminated viennoiserie. In my capacity as a jury member at the world championships I have witnessed as close to perfection as is possible to make beautiful products. Many of the more advanced products in the book have been inspired directly by my observations over the past 25 years of competitive baking at the cutting edge of creativity. This book will serve as an essential guide for students, bakers, pastry chefs, home bakers and hobbyists. I include detailed process notes for both commercial bakers using mechanical sheeters and home bakers and students, who want to make laminated pastry at home. I have stripped down the procedures of laminated pastry production to the very basics, building on that knowledge and adding more advanced levels throughout the book. I hope my book will both educate and inspire you, the readers now, and in your future baking.
187 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 26, 2020
16 people are currently reading
243 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
sampled-not-interested
September 28, 2020I downloaded the Kindle sample to see if I wanted to make the splurge on this book. The content looked promising, and it certainly would have offered a challenge. The reason I decided buying it is the formatting of the Kindle sample.
The Table of Contents is not actively linked to the chapters, which is a deal-breaker for me in a cookbook. No one wants to have to scroll or tap through 50-100 pages to get to a recipe, and using the notoriously picky and undependable search function in ebooks isn't much better. If the index is linked, which I doubt based on the rest of the book, I couldn't tell from the sample. The only link in the sample at all is to the author's YouTube page and website.
The sample did not include any recipe examples, so I can't comment on how those are formatted. IMO, every cookbook sample download should include one example of a recipe, even if it's a recipe for how to make friggin' ice cubes, simply so the potential buyer can see if the formatting works for him/her. Not all of us are trying to rip you off, authors, and not everyone is trying to get something for nothing. Some of us actually pay for our books and would simply like to not be disappointed.
(OK, given how many reviews on this site include "I received this free from..." I should probably say a FEW of us actually still pay for books. There's probably two dozen of us left who still think writers should be able to do crazy things like pay their rent and eat.)
The font in this book is very small and tight, not reader-friendly. Unlike just about every Kindle book formatted in the last five years, you cannot enlarge the font. You can magnify the entire page, but magnifying more than 20% means losing content from the screen and having to scroll around to read all of it. Each page has to be magnified/zoomed as you get to it. That's going to get old fast. I tried this on both on my tablet and Kindle for PC. Kindle for PC worked a little differently and marginally better as the pages stayed magnified once set (still had to scroll side-to-side to read the entire page). But I don't take my PC into the kitchen. On Kindle for iPad, I had to magnify each page. Just reading in a chair, it's doable, if utterly annoying. In a kitchen, it not functional. I'm assuming it was done this way because there are charts, which are not dynamic-type friendly, but maybe then considering using a larger font so someone stands a chance of reading the recipe without having to pick up the book (or table) with floury, goopy hands.
So, for a book published in 2020, the file functions like a .pdf file from the 1990s. Even if the content were outstanding, I know I'd never have patience for the formatting to use the book.
The Table of Contents is not actively linked to the chapters, which is a deal-breaker for me in a cookbook. No one wants to have to scroll or tap through 50-100 pages to get to a recipe, and using the notoriously picky and undependable search function in ebooks isn't much better. If the index is linked, which I doubt based on the rest of the book, I couldn't tell from the sample. The only link in the sample at all is to the author's YouTube page and website.
The sample did not include any recipe examples, so I can't comment on how those are formatted. IMO, every cookbook sample download should include one example of a recipe, even if it's a recipe for how to make friggin' ice cubes, simply so the potential buyer can see if the formatting works for him/her. Not all of us are trying to rip you off, authors, and not everyone is trying to get something for nothing. Some of us actually pay for our books and would simply like to not be disappointed.
(OK, given how many reviews on this site include "I received this free from..." I should probably say a FEW of us actually still pay for books. There's probably two dozen of us left who still think writers should be able to do crazy things like pay their rent and eat.)
The font in this book is very small and tight, not reader-friendly. Unlike just about every Kindle book formatted in the last five years, you cannot enlarge the font. You can magnify the entire page, but magnifying more than 20% means losing content from the screen and having to scroll around to read all of it. Each page has to be magnified/zoomed as you get to it. That's going to get old fast. I tried this on both on my tablet and Kindle for PC. Kindle for PC worked a little differently and marginally better as the pages stayed magnified once set (still had to scroll side-to-side to read the entire page). But I don't take my PC into the kitchen. On Kindle for iPad, I had to magnify each page. Just reading in a chair, it's doable, if utterly annoying. In a kitchen, it not functional. I'm assuming it was done this way because there are charts, which are not dynamic-type friendly, but maybe then considering using a larger font so someone stands a chance of reading the recipe without having to pick up the book (or table) with floury, goopy hands.
So, for a book published in 2020, the file functions like a .pdf file from the 1990s. Even if the content were outstanding, I know I'd never have patience for the formatting to use the book.
November 25, 2024
Very technical and a great guide for your croissant/lamination journey
September 19, 2022
It's a really great guide for anyone interested in mastering croissants, the pinnacle of pastry technique, with many details I haven't found anywhere else. The biggest flaw of it is that it's heavy on the "how" but not on the "why" — e.g. it doesn't discuss the science and logic behind many of the decisions that go into these recipes, like why specific dough thickness and temperatures are chosen, why some stages are split across days, what can go wrong at different stages etc. I've learned more in the author's short videos than in the book in this regard.
However, at the end of day, I made my best ever batch of sourdough croissants after reading this book, so I'm really happy I found it.
However, at the end of day, I made my best ever batch of sourdough croissants after reading this book, so I'm really happy I found it.
March 26, 2022
I’ve started to make pastry dough, laminated because is one of my favorite pastry! The flavors, the crispy. This book teaches me about all the tiny details as sizes of the croissant etc, this book is very useful and have many details that can help you to work better and know so much about this laminate topic.
September 13, 2023
A Bit Of A Disappointment
I was disappointed with this book. It was like looking at a surprise science test the teacher was giving. Where was the joy? It was very cut and dry. And the pictures that I usually love had his name scribbled all over them. Like I said a disappointment.
I was disappointed with this book. It was like looking at a surprise science test the teacher was giving. Where was the joy? It was very cut and dry. And the pictures that I usually love had his name scribbled all over them. Like I said a disappointment.
July 4, 2020
Very detailed
very detailed and will guarantee success. As a baker this a must guide in achieving great results for a very meticulous craft of viennoisserie
very detailed and will guarantee success. As a baker this a must guide in achieving great results for a very meticulous craft of viennoisserie
October 13, 2025
Jimmy delves deep into the science behind lamination. Not always clear to the lay person, but an excellent analysis of the factors affecting lamination.
February 15, 2022
An excellent text to help create incredible croissants. The book provides enough information that whether you are a home baker or a professional pastry chef, you can apply the techniques and recommendation. As a home baker, this book helped me improve my product considerably. I appreciate the detail that Jimmy takes in describing his process, going over the science of the materials we are using. The book is less cookbook and more textbook, so don't go into this expecting a recipe heavy, blog-esque book. I recommend reading through the book at least once before beginning to apply the information, as there is so much to take in. A big thank you to the author, for putting out such a helpful text on laminated pastry.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews