The Il Fornaio Baking Book: Sweet and Savory Recipes from the Italian Kitchen
I have had this book a long time (mine is the 1993 edition), and since then Il Fornaio has grown from being a single restaurant to an industry leader, with multiple restaurants, books, courses, and other products extolling their expertise in Authentic Italian.
This is a very good book, with a nice range of recipes. There are a few illustrations and pictures, but they are only there as part of the stylistic layout of the book, and don’t really offer much help to the baker.
I have tried a lot of these breads, and I am not really fond of them, mainly because of texture, a very important factor for me. They only uses one biga (starter dough), which works well – the bread is very light, airy, translucent with good bubble formation; but it is really soft to my palate, and not enough of a chew – like I said, texture is important to me. As all the crumb is the same, I don’t really return to these bread recipes (although I must say it makes an excellent focaccia). (Again, for bread I must refer you to ‘Flatbreads – a Baker’s Atlas’, my definitive book for all breads).
What stands out in the Il Fornaio Backing Book is pizza, and all the tasty treats in the sweet section – the biscotti, tiramisu, cakes and tarts are delicious, and so I return to this book, over and over, happily using those recipes.
Those alone make this book worth your time, and worth my recommendation.