1 + 1: The Two Sides of the Trade
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This ambitious book by one of Spain's leading bakers can be distractingly complex in its format but offers strong technical expertise in bread and pastry craft.
José Roldán, winner of numerous international baking competitions and the director of baking and pastry school in Cordoba, is acclaimed for his skills in areas which are often treated as distinct realms. His first book treats bread and pastry separately, with two different covers and pagination sequences which require flipping the book over to move from one type of baking to the other.
As compensation there are more than 300 pages of formulas, technical instruction, and step-by-step photographs for products which display considerable expertise and imagination, such as a loaf of olive-stuffed bread which is coated in black sesame seeds and then wrapped in a delicate lattice to striking effect. His sourdough Bordeaux crown, made with 25% rye flour and stenciled with turmeric and cocoa powder before baking, is arrestingly celebratory.
Many of Roldan's pastries have similar visual power, including a califa, his own creation, a ring of laminated croissant dough with a spiced almond filling, its red and cream stripes recalling the arches of the 8th century mosque at Cordoba's center (now a cathedral). His individual chocolate and blueberry domes encase a white chocolate brownie filled with berries in a tricolor brioche.
Overall, not a book for playing it safe. This one's about taking playful risks.
Hardcover. Color photographs throughout. In Spanish and English.
Published on October 12, 2026
