James Beard Awards Announced

The winners of the annual James Beard Foundation Awards were announced this week. The winner in the Baking and Desserts book category was Richard Bertinet for his book Dough: Simple Contemporary Bread. I must confess that beyond not having the book, I’m not familiar with Richard Bertinet either. What I do know is that he’s a Frenchman who lives and works in England and is best known as a teacher of baking. He’s got a bakery school in Bath, England which is supposed to be fabulous, and fabulously expensive. Maybe one day, after I make my pastry blogging fortune, I’ll go.

Other books that were entered in the category were A Baker’s Tour by Nick Maglieri (a very fine book that I received as a Christmas present this past year), and Chocolate Obsession by Michael Recchiuti and Fran Gage Stewart.

The outstanding pastry chef award went to Johnny Luzzini of Jean Georges restaurant in New York. Congratulations to all the James Beard Foundation Awards winners!