OP: A Treatise on Baking

Standard Brands Incorporated, New York, 1935. Hardcover. Very Good Minus. Third edition.

First published by the Fleischmann Company (producer of commercial yeast) in 1927 and later issued by Standard Brands, who absorbed the former in a 1929 merger, A Treatise on Baking is a fullscale manual for professional bread bakers and bakery owners. 

The introduction first acknowledges market anxieties like a diminishing demand for breadstuffs in the preceding hundred years, especially since becoming more of a commercial product. However, the authors see the silver lining. That Americans consume less bread than Europeans, for example, “indicates that a tremendous potential market is available to every baker and represents a wonderful opportunity for the expansion of his business.”

With that optimistic boost, the book guides its user through all the ins and outs of running a bakery: from merchandising and accounting to the science of bread making, bakery efficiency, and sanitation. Recipes for large scale production of yeasted breads, both sweet and savory, follow with in depth technical instruction and troubleshooting. An indispensable resource for professional bakers.

Our copy is a Very Good Minus example of the 1935 third edition. The book block is clean and unmarked, though a few pages show creasing/dog ears. The case is lightly soiled and frayed but sturdy, and the binding is strong.