Panetteria: Gennaro's Italian Bakery (Gennaro's Italian Cooking) Hardcover – Illustrated, October 15, 2016

What a great book. It is defining the region of origin of recipes. Will give as present too.

Authentic recipes and personalized with Gennaro's history as well as background on foods! I now own 8 of his books and love them all

I love this book. Many beautiful bread recipes. If you want to explore new bread from Italy this books for you. Great pictures, including shaping techniques. I really love this. I've baked for years but didn't get shaping loaves until a very kind baker from King Arthur's flour gave me the tips I needed. This book addresses this issue. I've always. Elieved bread baking is more innate than learned, prove me wrong. This book 📚 gives all the techniques you need. Highly recommennd this book for bread bakers from beginner to advanced. I love playing w/ different flours. I will experiment w/ these recipes, take it up a notch. Have fun w/ baking, this book can provide that pleasurev& accomplishment.

I used this book to introduce my neighbors to focaccia to great success! Accessible and straightforward recipes. So far, I am wearing out the many choices.

Another book I bought on a whim, have already make two things from it, one of those "Hey, I know I'm not in Italy but it feels like I am" books. Great recipes, easy techniques for this experienced cook/baker. Pictures and everything!

Love!

Lovely recipes, needed this book!

Some of my earliest food memories revolve around the smell and taste of the fresh yeast bread my Polish grandmother would bake in her small apartment kitchen in Michigan…for me, there is no more comforting aroma than that of freshly-baked bread. In a sort of alchemy, humble ingredients are transformed into an expression of baking talent and love. I’ve lived in five countries and visited several others, and sampling local breads and baked goods is one of the first things I set out to do.My large baking collection features numerous books on breads and baking, including several editions of the seminal “The Italian Baker” by Carol Field, my staple “Artisan Bread in 5,” Crumb: A Baking Book, Honey & Co The Baking Book, and the new Breaking Breads: A New World of Israeli Baking--Flatbreads, Stuffed Breads, Challahs, Cookies, and the Legendary Chocolate Babka, and I’m pleased to report that “Panetteria: Gennaro’s Italian Bakery” now holds a spot of honor as well.Gennaro Contaldo, Italian chef and restauranteur who mentored Jamie Oliver, grew up surrounded by a family of bakers, from spending hours in his uncle’s bakery to waking up to his mother’s home baking. As a baker at The Neal Street Restaurant, he was responsible for making the bread, focaccia, torte salate, pastry and seasonal bakes. As he mentioned in the foreword, bread and baked goods mean tradition, and you’ll find various bakes from across Italy and in honor of various seasons and holidays.Beginning with basic bread dough and grissini, you’ll find recipes for panini, stuffed breads, focaccia (garlic and rosemary, cheese, peppers, potato, red onion and pancetta), pizze (Bianca, marinara, 4-cheese, greens, individual pizzas), stuffed pies (spinach, guanciale, courgette and ricotta), sweet breads (plaited sweetbread, aniseed and currant ring cake, pandoro, brioche, colomba), crostate (tarts: ricotta and Nutella, dried apricot, strawberry and peach, creamy limoncello tart with grated chocolate, pumpkin), biscotti, cantucci, and torte (pear and chocolate, polenta and almond cake, yogurt and orange ring cake, marbled espresso loaf cake). Many of the recipes are influenced by Tuscany (including autumnal favorite castagnaccio), and you’ll note that some recipes do not include salt as is traditional – so you may choose to add at your own discretion. Ingredients are listed in metric as well as US volume and weight measurements, a thoughtful touch that makes it much easier for US bakers. And many recipes feature gorgeous matte photographs of the final bakes.For this review, I made three recipes, including the grape and rosemary buns, tricolor braided loaf, and the aniseed and currant cake.The grape and rosemary buns did not include salt in the recipe, and I would definitely add about ½ tsp next time as the sweetness of the grapes could use the balance from a pinch of salt. Also, the shaping instructions were rather vague (“form the dough into little basket shapes”) and I must have rolled mine too tightly as I could not get my dough spirals to resemble the photo, but they were delicious nonetheless and froze beautifully.The second recipe I tried was the treccia colorata, with three different flavors (saffron walnut, rum raisin, chocolate and orange). This was extremely time-consuming (start to finish, it was a four-hour project) and messy, and I felt like I may have overworked the dough trying to knead in the cocoa powder after the first rise – next time, I would add in the flavoring during the initial mixing / kneading by dividing the dough before the first rise. The final loaf was a touch dry, but made fantastic toast and looked gorgeous on the table.The final recipe (and my personal favorite of the three) was the aniseed and currant ring cake. I was happily surprised to find both currants and Sambuca widely available here in Japan, and set out to make the cake (I used a 10-cup NordicWare Bundt pan). This was the easiest recipe of the three, and very easy to assemble (it only requires a brief knead). The final texture was delightfully soft, fragrant, and makes fantastic toast.My next challenge will be the chestnut squares as chestnuts are in season here in Japan; in fact, one of my former students gifted me with some gorgeous chestnuts from his tree, so I look forward to baking with them.Overall, “Panetteria: Gennaro’s Italian Bakery” is a delightful addition to your baking library that fans of Italian breads and pastries will definitely want to own!