Summary
Never settle for store-bought pastries and breads again! With Baking Artisan Pastries and Breads as your guide, your day can begin with hearty, delicious treats -- baked fresh from your own oven. Begin with a few everyday ingredients and a hankering for home baking, and you end up with a kitchen full of artisan-quality muffins, scones, quick breads, donuts, and more.
The home-baking movement is ever-expanding, a subculture full of people hungry for knowledge culled from the professional community. Simultaneously, the professionals are seeking out masters from previous generations, as well as new frontiers of information, to expand their skills.
Baking Artisan Pastries and Breads meets all your pastry and bread baking needs, from Mixed-Berry Muffins that are ready within the hour to Chocolate Croissants and decadent Lemon Brioche Donuts. Along the way you'll learn how to select kitchen equipment, choose high-quality ingredients, and master mixing and shaping techniques.
Ciril Hitz is the Department Chair for the International Baking and Pastry Institute at Johnson & Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island. He graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design, after which he returned to his native Switzerland and completed a three-year apprenticeship as a Pastry Chef/Chocolatier. He was first introduced to bread baking while in Europe, which laid the foundation for the skills that led him to where he is today. Hitz has been recognized nationally and internationally with numerous awards and accomplishments. He was selected as a Top Ten Pastry Chef in America in both 2007 and 2008 by Pastry Art & Design magazine. In 2004 he competed in the National Bread and Pastry Team Championship, winning the overall team Gold Medal as well as all individual bread awards. He was a member of the Bread Bakers Guild Team USA that competed at the 2002 Coupe du Monde de la Boulangerie in Paris, France, where the team captured the silver medal. He has been a guest instructor and expert at many national and international culinary events and schools and serves on the Advisory Board of the Bread Bakers Guild of America. Ciril Hitz is frequently seen on The Food Network and has been featured on the NBC's The Today Show. His work has graced the pages of numerous magazines and the interiors of exhibition halls and museums, including COPIA in Napa, California. He is the producer of his own line of educational DVDs. For more information on his work, visit www.breadhitz.com.
