Baking Illustrated

Product Details

Packed with 350 recipes and 500 illustrations, Baking Illustrated brings you inside America’s Test Kitchen, where the test cooks and editors have exhaustively examined every ingredient, technique, and piece of equipment that is critical to your baking success. Have you ever wondered how long you can keep that can of baking powder in your cabinet or what brand of chocolate will yield the best brownies or flourless chocolate cake? Or puzzled over the key to making pizza crust that is thin and crisp or cookies that bake evenly? The editors at Cook’s Illustrated have pulled back the curtain on the seemingly complex world of baking to give you the answers to these and thousands of other questions.

Recipes range from quick breads and yeast breads to pizza, cookies, cakes, pastry, crisps, and cobblers to all manner of pies and tarts. And they feature American home classics (including Southern Cornbread, Pecan Sandies, and Sour Cream Coffee-cake) as well as more contemporary favorites (such as Rosemary Focaccia, Orange-Almond Biscotti, and Chocolate Truffle Tart) and European baked goods (such as Brioche, Black Forest Cake, and Tarte Tatin). Every recipe has been exhaustively researched and tested to bring you the "best" recipe (we’ll let you be the judge), along with detailed and precise explanations from everything from why you should use unsalted butter to what is the best oven temperature and why it all matters. We’ve also tested every kind of baking equipment available, from mixers and food processors to the humblest spatulas and loaf pans, and the results of our experiments are described throughout so you can benefit from our trial and error.

And because we know that good baking depends on understanding basic techniques, Baking Illustrated features a 16-page, full-color insert that shows you how to avoid some of the most common pitfalls in baking, such as overmixed egg whites, cheesecakes that crack, and bread dough that has overproofed. (We know a lot about mistakes – we’ve made them all.) We don’t want you to take the time to bake a layer cake from scratch only to settle for the "homemade" look. The visuals in this insert show you how to do it right. Color photographs demonstrate good results as well as bad, and hand-drawn step-by-step illustrations help you to perfect your technique for fail-safe baking.

Baking Illustrated also gives you the handy tutorials on baking basics, including how to stock your pantry and how to store and measure ingredients, cream butter and roll out pie dough. A master baking class between two covers, Baking Illustrated takes the guesswork out of baking and will expand your repertoire without ever losing sight of your ultimate goal: making family favorites that taste better than ever.





The mysteries of cream of tartar revealed! How to make maximum use of blackening bananas! The hidden meaning of folding in dry ingredients until just blended! Perfect pie crusts for perfect fools! It's all here in Baking Illustrated, from banana bread to pecan bars, and everything imaginable in between--500-plus pages of densely packed, illustration rich, photo finished information all devoted to baking. Tools, techniques, ingredients, tips, and perfect, tested recipes.

There's cooking and there's baking, and the two should never be confused. Good cooks are ever commendable. Good bakers, on the other hand, have something about them bigger than skill or imagination, something that reaches back to the beginning of agriculture and the first inklings of civilization. Good bakers are their own mystic society. So hats off to Cook's Illustrated for throwing open the doors and sharing the mysteries with the rest of us. Baking Illustrated absolutely has it all. You'll find chapters devoted to "Quick Breads, Muffins, Biscuits, and Scones"; "Yeast Breads and Rolls"; "Pizza, Focaccia, and Flatbread"; "Pies and Tarts"; "Pastry"; "Crisps, Cobblers, and Other Fruit Desserts"; "Cakes"; and "Cookies, Brownies, and Bar Cookies". No mean undertaking, all that. Tools are tested and names are named. Techniques are stripped back then rebuilt. Cook's Illustrated carries all this off with a style and relish for inquiry and detail that sets a standard. Nothing is taken for granted because there's no fudge room with baking. It works or it doesn't. So trust is a big issue. And the end result of all the mighty labors of the Cook’s Illustrated staff is text you can trust. This is a baking book that works.

And those blackening bananas? Simply keep adding them to a Ziplock bag you store in the freezer, then use them when you wish and as you like. --Schuyler Ingle

Customer Reviews ::

Every home baker should have this book - E. Jenks - Elk Grove, CA USA
This book answers all of the questions you have about baking. It will be a an indispensable addition to all cookbook collections.

Easy Gluten-Free Baking

Product Details

Living gluten free doesn't have to mean giving up the foods you love most. In Easy Gluten-Free Baking, you'll find recipes for day-to-day use, special occasions, parties, gifts, and bake sales. Start the day off with gingerbread pancakes or enjoy a thin-crust pizza with the family, even indulge in Twinkies and Oreos--Barbone has a gluten-free answer to all of your food cravings.

Drawing on her professional baking background, Barbone has created recipes that not only work every time, but taste every bit as good as the gluten version. She has spent countless hours testing her recipes--from sandwich bread to gooey brownies--using real butter, sugar, eggs, milk, and cream. The only ingredient missing is gluten--and no one will know the difference!

Customer Reviews ::

Recipes that work!!! - C. Roeder - Michigan
I have been gluten-free for over a year now. Being an avid cook, I choose to make all my own baked goods, rather than buying them ready-made. I have 5 GF cookbooks, and this one never fails to please. Unlike other cookbooks, where there are many editing errors, exotic or overly expensive ingredients, or just bad result after bad result, this one is right on the money.

I make the Cinnamon Raisin Bread every week (adding an additional 1/2 c. of raisins), and it stays nice and moist, has a high rise, and wonderful texture. I've made the Rye Bread (which is good as is, and better w/a 1/2 tsp. GF Rye Flavor from Authentic Foods) and again, great rise, texture and taste.

I'm not a big baker of sweets, but the Pecan Tassies were fantastic.

If you want absolutely grit-free rice flour, I'm sure you can substitute the extra-fine variety from Authentic Foods (The book does NOT use this expensive ingredient), but the cheaper, more readily available rice flours are working just fine for me.

If you want to make crackers, great desserts, pizza, buns, breads and want a good cookbook, with as little fuss as possible, this one won't let you down. Thank you Elizabeth Barbone for all the testing you did to make this book a winner.

BakeWise: The Hows and Whys of Successful Baking with Over 200 Magnificent Recipes

Product Details

Great day in the morning, BakeWise is out! You are holding the book that everyone has been waiting for. Sure enough, Shirley did not hold back -- it's all here. Lively and fascinating, BakeWise reads like a mystery novel as we follow sleuth Shirley while she solves everything from why cakes and muffins can be dry to génoise deflation and why the cookie crumbles.

With her years of experience from big-pot cooking for 140 teenage boys and her classic French culinary training to her work as a research biochemist at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Shirley manages to put two and two together in unique and exciting ways. Some information is straight out of Shirley's wildly connecting brain cells. She describes useful techniques, such as brushing puff pastry with ice water -- not just brushing off the flour -- making the puff pastry easier to roll. The result? Higher, lighter, and flakier pastry. And you won't find these recipes anywhere else, not even on the Internet. She can help you make moist cakes; flaky pie crusts; shrink-proof perfect meringues that won't leak but still cut like a dream; big, crisp cream puffs; amazing French pastries; light génoise; and crusty, incredibly flavorful, open-textured French breads, such as baguettes and fougasses.

There is simply no one like Shirley Corriher. People everywhere recognize her from her TV appearances on the Food Network and ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live!, with Snoop Dogg as her fry chef.

Restaurant chefs and culinary students know her from their grease-splattered copies of CookWise, an encyclopedic work that has saved them from many a cooking disaster. With numerous "At-a-Glance" charts, BakeWise gives busy people information for quick problem solving. BakeWise also includes Shirley's "What This Recipe Shows" in every recipe. This section is science and culinary information that can apply to hundreds of recipes, not just the one in which it appears.

For years, food editors and writers have kept CookWise, Shirley's previous book, right by their computers. Now that spot they've been holding for BakeWise can be filled.

BakeWise does not have just a single source of knowledge; Shirley loves reading the works of chefs and other good cooks and shares their information with you, too. She applies not only her expertise but that of the many artisans she admires, such as famous French pastry chefs Gaston Lenôtre and Chef Roland Mesnier, the White House executive pastry chef for twenty-five years; Bruce Healy, author of Mastering the Art of French Pastry; and Bonnie Wagner, Shirley's daughter-inlaw's mother. Shirley also retrieves "lost arts" from experts of the past such as Monroe Boston Strause, the pie master of 1930s America. For one dish, she may give you techniques from three or four different chefs plus her own touch ofscience -- "better baking through chemistry." She adds facts about the right temperature, the right mixing speed, and the right mixing time for the absolutely most stable egg foam, so you can create a light-as-air génoise every time.

BakeWise is for everyone. Some will read it for the adventure of problem solving with Shirley. Beginners can cook from it and know exactly what they are doing and why. Experienced bakers find out why the techniques they use work and also uncover amazing French pastries out of the past, such as Pont Neuf (a creation of puff pastry, pâte à choux, and pastry cream in honor of the Paris bridge) and Religieuses, adorable "little nuns" made of puff pastry filled with a satiny chocolate pastry cream and drizzled with mocha icing to form a nun's habit.

Some will want it simply for the recipes -- incredibly moist whipped cream pound cake made with heavy cream whipped slightly beyond the soft-peak stage and folded into the batter; flourless fruit soufflés (puréed fruit and Italian meringue); Chocolate Crinkle Cookies, rolled first in granulated sugar and then in confectioners' sugar for a crunchy black-and-snow-white surface with a gooey, fudgy center. And Shirley's popovers are huge

• ISBN13: 9781416560784
• Condition: USED - GOOD
• Notes:

Customer Reviews ::

A plus - S. Ray -
I am convinced this one of the best books available for baking after I borrowed it from the library and tried a few of the recipes!

Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking

Product Details

There’s nothing like the smell of freshly baked bread to fill a kitchen with warmth, eager appetites, and endless praise for the baker who took on such a time-consuming task. Now, you can fill your kitchen with the irresistible aromas of a French bakery every day with just five minutes of active preparation time, and Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day will show you how.

Coauthors Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë François prove that bread baking can be easier than a trip to the bakery. Their method is quick and simple, bringing forth scrumptious perfection in each loaf. Delectable creations will emerge straight from your own oven as warm, indulgent masterpieces that you can finally make for yourself. In exchange for a mere five minutes of your time, your breads will rival those of the finest bakers in the world.

With nearly 100 recipes to put this ingenious technique to use, Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day will open the eyes of any potential baker who has sworn off homemade bread as simply too much work. Crusty baguettes, mouth-watering pizzas, hearty sandwich loaves, and even buttery pastries can easily become part of your own personal menu, and this innovative book will teach you everything you need to know.

• ISBN13: 9780312362911
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.

Customer Reviews ::

best tasting bread - L. Testin -
Great technique. The book could use more pictures. Great tasting, easy to make bread.

Baking Unplugged

Product Details

Tired of complicated baking recipes that call for expensive equipment, complicated techniques, and hard-to-find ingredients? Baking, Unplugged comes to the rescue with a collection of simple, back-to-basics recipes for everything from muffins and breakfast pastries to cookies, pies, cakes, and puddings. These are baked goods just like grandma used to make, made from scratch with basic ingredients and standard kitchen equipment. The book includes 114 recipes in all, as well as basic instruction on ingredients, how to read a recipe, and how to set up an "Unplugged Kitchen." Recipe chapters include Treats for the First Half of the Day; Cookies and Bars; Cakes; Fruit Pies, Fruit Tarts, and More; and Creamy Desserts. The recipes include favorites such as Blueberry Muffins, Uncommonly Good Pancakes, Sour Cream Crumb Cake, Peanut Butter Molasses Cookies, Caramel Turtle Bars, Moist Vanilla Pound Cake, Cherry-Berry Pie, Classic Tiramisu, and Anytime Bread Pudding, and many are illustrated in a 16-page full-color insert.

• ISBN13: 9780470149119
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.

Customer Reviews ::

my favorite baking book-- and i have about 50 - subrosa - Brooklyn NY USA
No, it doesn't have pictures, but make just one recipe from this book and you'll have blind faith in every other one, and rightly so. The Guinness stout chocolate cake became my boyfriend's favorite cake-- ever-- until I made the chocolate cake with caramel whipped cream. And that caramel! I make it for everything that I can possibly top with smoky caramel sauce. The brownie scones, the oatmeal crisp-chocolate sandwiches...absolutely everything i've made from this book has been a roaring success.