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Baking Illustrated: A Best Recipe Classic (The Best Recipe Series) :: 0936184752
Description
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| 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 Editorial Descriptions are usually submitted by the manufacturers, publishers and authors. Contact us if you are one of them, and wish to change the above description. |
Reviews
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Author: Guest
When I have questions about the technical details of cooking and baking, Cooks Illustrated is one of my resources. I was very excited to get this book, but I have to admit that I wanted more.
I wanted this cookbook to be the only baking reference I needed. While it's comprehensive, it's not complete. For example, I knew that AP flour and cake flour were not 1-to-1 substitutes, but I had to turn to the Internet to get the whole answer. However, I must say that the techniques and info the book presents live up to what we expect from Cooks Illustrated.
I enjoyed the recipes given, but I wanted more (I admit I'm greedy.) I think there are only two recipes for rolls.
The common baking problems section is excellent.
I'm a Southern girl at heart, so I do take some offense to the way traditional Southern recipes are altered to change the very flavor and texture that make them Southern. I do realize that this is all subjective, so I make my own adjustments and write them in the book.
This is an excellent book for novice and perhaps intermediate bakers. I am looking for a second and hopefully final book to complete my library.
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Author: Guest
Another family has this cookbook. Read pieces of it and found it very interesting. Had to get one for myself.
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Author: Guest
I've been baking for a few years and there's nothing worse than working hard to assemble a recipe and have it turn out with too much of this and not enough of that. Unlike cooking, where you can adjust the water, salt or spices during the process, in baking you throw it together, put it in the oven and hope for the best. If a recipe falls apart, never comes together, proves too dry, too wet, too salty or too bland, it can seem like a real waste of time and ingredients.
That's where the America's Test Kitchen comes in: they make a bunch of recipes for the same dish, and they test and tweak until they have the product they want. The same kind of trial and error would take the weekend home baker months or longer.
I've found some pretty good brownie recipes in the past, but the "Triple Chocolate" brownies from this book leave the others in the dust! I've made them 3 or 4 times now, and they're just the right balance between fudgy and cakey. For the reviewer that complained about the recipes not being healthy, this recipe called for much less butter and eggs than Nigella Lawson's brownies.
One reviewer mentioned that the book might be too wordy for somebody just looking for a recipe. If that's you, then skip the introductory remarks and just go straight for the recipe (they're pretty clearly marked). No need to read their sidebars, background info or equipment recommendations if you don't want to. Personally, I loved reading the team's comments and rationale behind their choices.
So, if you're interested in finding some well-tested recipes (and would rather somebody else have to throw out their rejects), check this book out.
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Author: Guest
Another great one by Editors of Cook's Illustrated! I appreciate the fine graphics,easy to read text, and patient explainations of the procedures. A "must have" book for beginner and veteran cooks, alike!
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Author: Guest
I, personally, love this book. This is the book to get out when you want to bake and need a "sure fire" recipe. You can find a recipe for almost any occasion - from homey brownies to special occasion layer cakes.
Coming from the publishers of "Cooks" magazine and the television show "America's Test Kitchen," it should come as no surprise that all the recipes have been thoroughly tested. They have taken into consideration that home cooks have access to different ingredients, equipment and are at different levels in terms of skill. This assures you that your results will be good every time, if not great. Additionally, the writer points out common pitfalls and problems encountered with certain baked goods and explains which ingredients are more critical and why.
I have personally tested many recipes and have found them to be clear, relatively simple, and, most importantly, yummy!
I agree with other reviewers that the recipes are based on the tastes of the test kitchens and therefore may please groups of individuals but not individual tastes. However, after most recipes, variations are offered (how to dress up plain scones for example).
This may not be the book for expert cooks but for everyone else it will certainly demystify baking and make it accessible to anyone who has the time to put into it.
It's often said that cooking is an art and baking is a science and if that were true, I think this book would be the manual.
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