Everyone hates Rose Levy Beranbaum

[Hey, first post of the year!] [and a really late one since I started it and left it as a draft for ages!]

So, those of you who know who Rose Levy Beranbaum is know that this post is going to be about baking. For those who don't know who that is, this post is going to be about baking. Whether you know it or not, Rose Levy Beranbaum is the author of a slew of books about baking The Cake Bible, Rose's Heavenly Cakes, The Pie and Pastry Bible, The Bread Bible and more. These are excellent books, full of useful information and delicious recipes. I credit The Bread Bible with finally allowing me to consistently make pretty good bread. The Cake Bible has been invaluable in the bit of cake baking I've done.

At this point you are wondering perhaps, "why the hate then?" Though if you bake and have used her books, you may know already. The feeling is not really hate, and it's almost love, but me and all the bakers that I know (ok, the 'everyone' from the title turns out to be a handful of people) feel a sort of good natured exasperation with Ms. Beranbaum. Yes, the recipes are delicious, well explained, nearly foolproof, with plenty of information so that you know what is going on when you do stuff. We just can't get over the feeling that she's, well, a precision freak. A mere cup of an ingredient is not good enough.

Let me give an example.
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The lemon curd I made according to Rose's recipe was delicious. It got eaten up right quick on crumpets, brioche, added to apple charlotte and so on.

It calls for 1 cup plus 2 Tablespoons of sugar...

it calls also for 1/2 cup plus 1 Tablespoon of lemon juice...
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She also is very keen on weighing ingredients rather than using volume measures, which is understandable. That's how pros do it and for many things it's more accurate and consistent. And looking at the wight measures that 1/2C + 1T of lemon juice becomes a nice even 5oz. The sugar looks reasonable at 8oz. The egg yolks weigh 4.6 oz though, so that's not the whole solution to making her recipes not slightly exasperating (the yolks are 4 fluid ounces, so volume is the way to go there apparently).

One further example; moving out of the cake and frosting/filling realm, which does, admittedly require a fair degree of precision for proper results, to bread, which is a much more forgiving and relaxed skill (unless you're working at professional bakery that seeks identical product with each batch baked). Even here Rose's habits of exactitude apply.
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From the Basic Soft White Sandwich Loaf:

Just the starter:

2 1/4 C (plus 2 1/2 T) unbleached AP flour (use only Gold Medal, King Arthur, or Pilsbury[!])

scant 1 3/4 C room temperature water

2 T plus 1 t honey .....

3/4 t instant yeast (see page 561 for acceptable brands)
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You can see a certain... inflexibility to the author's character. I simply chuckly and use a generous 2 T of honey when I make my variation of the Soft White Sandwich loaf, which uses half whole wheat flour and eliminates the butter. I like to imagine Rose gnashing her teeth as I do so as she struggles to press a Foley teaspoon measure into my hands (the most accurate brand (in the round bowl style, not the oval) that she knew of until she discovered the POURfect brand of measuring utensils). I imagine her grimace at my use of so much whole wheat flour (she claims it is too bitter and few of her bread recipes call for any, though some admit a small amount). I can only speculate at the horror she must feel as we use brands of unbleached AP flour other than those she allows, and when we make cakes using the unbleached cake flour King Arthur offers instead of pure bleached cake flour for the very lightest of textures... (I'm just not a big fan of baking with bleach).

I can still make a nice looking (and delicious) brioche.