Baking by Flavor

Baking by Flavor
Average customer rating:

Layers of Delicious Flavor

So much flavor it should come with a disclaimer!

Great flavor ideas, but miss the photos

Clever premise - Very ordinary recipes

On top of the baker's bookshelf

Baking by Flavor
Lisa Yockelson
Manufacturer: Wiley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0471361704

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Chocolate, caramel, vanilla, and lemon--ingredients like these define baking flavor. Placing such flavor-makers at the forefront of her approach, Lisa Yockelson's Baking by Flavor presents a luscious array of desserts while revealing techniques for highlighting and intensifying their taste. How does it work? Double Chocolate Madeleines, for example, get their punch not only from cocoa, melted chocolate, and chocolate chips but from a final cocoa-sugar dusting. Yockelson's flavor-centric approach also leads her to discoveries that can liberate recipe-bound bakers. Add ground spices to the dry ingredients when preparing a sweet yeast dough, for example, and you get a subtly delicious flavor boost. Bakers at all levels of proficiency should enjoy Yockelson's insights and put them to good use.

Beginning with a section on flavor-baking strategies--a chart shows readers that cinnamon's flavor is, for example, intensified when combined with butter, rum, or caramel--the book then provides useful "component" recipes for the likes of lemon-scented granulated sugar. The 250 recipes, arranged by flavor, offer a wide range of sweets, from Cinnamon Apple Rolls and Butter Spritz Cookies to Spiced Banana Breakfast Loaf and Sour Cream Ginger Keeping Cake. The recipes also include useful sidebars (lightly press rather than compress the dough for some cookies, is one), plus tips, variations and still more flavor-intensifying suggestions. Illustrated with photos, and containing detailed storage information, the book should become a true, better-baking resource. --Arthur Boehm

Book Description

A complete guide to flavor-building ideas that bring out the best in baking
Flavor is the very essence of fine baking, the source of wonderful tastes and aromas that tempt the palate and delight the senses. In Baking by Flavor, Lisa Yockelson shares flavor-boosting secrets that can make virtually any recipe burst with new vigor and freshness. This book reveals concepts and techniques for using eighteen basic ingredients-including chocolate, vanilla, apricot, and lemon-to "pyramid" flavor, layer by delicious layer. Two hundred and sixty carefully selected recipes inspire readers with ideas for animating many "old favorite" recipes that may have become more "old" than "favorite." For example, a dormant pound cake springs to life as the author scents sugar with vanilla, creams butter with vanilla bean scrapings, and beats egg yolks with a double-strength vanilla extract . . . dark chocolate brownies become richly sensuous as chopped nuts, lightly coated with cocoa powder and confectioner's sugar, are added to a creamy batter.
Clearly written, easy-to-follow instructions make the book a joy to read and use in the kitchen, while 118 photographs give visual expression to techniques and eighteen color-plated presentations.

Customer Reviews:

Layers of Delicious Flavor.......2007-04-03

This is a comprehensive baking book. There are about 260 recipes for cakes, cookies, tarts, scones, muffins, bars, yeast doughs, waffles and pancakes as well as some baked goods from Europe and even a few from the Middle East. There are also some very useful flavor charts.

Two things set it apart from the hundreds of other baking books on the market:

1. The author uses the layering technique, which I am a big fan of. For example, if you are making something ginger flavoured, you use fresh root ginger, ground ginger and crystallised ginger to intensify the flavor (eg Sour Cream Ginger Keeping Cake). As another example, in her Ultra Lemon Cake, she uses lemon sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice and a lemon glaze. That way you get not only a more complex flavor, but you also get added "length" to the tasting process, as each component kicks in.

2. The other unusual feature is that the chapters are organized by flavor rather than by item. There are 4 chapters on technique and one on freezing baked goods. The flavors in the book are:
Almond
Apricot
Banana
Blueberry
Butter
Buttercrunch
Caramel & Butterscotch
Chocolate
Cinnamon
Coconut
Coffee & Mocha
Ginger
Lemon
Peanut & Peanut Butter
Rum
Spice
Sweet Cheese
Vanilla

So far I've made quite a few recipes, eg the heirloom chocolate cake, double chocolate madeleines and Texas banana walnut muffins, all of which have been very good. The madeleines were incredibly rich and chocolatey.

Sadly, there are very few photos. Otherwise, it is a big, excellent baking book with good recipes, clear instructions and lots of useful information.

So much flavor it should come with a disclaimer!.......2007-04-01

I am so in love with this book that it falls into the category "I would run into a burning house to save it." L. Yockelson is one of the few chefs that still cares about flavor. Every item is chocked full of flavor! Each recipe has a ton of ingredients, as well. Therefore, it lends itself easily to the home cook. It takes a little effort to prep the recipes for a commercial kitchen.

With an imagination, one can take components from a recipe and create another creature. This book is as much inspiring as it is informative. Each recipe I've tried (over half) has taught me something or inspired me to create a "spin-off". Yockelson's recipes are so passionate that it oozes from the book. In fact, it should come with a disclaimer. Once you have made some of these receipes for people, you will NEVER hear the end of it. I can't tell you how many addicts I've created with Chocolate Coconut Cream Batter Pie and the Glazed Apricot, Almond, and Chocolate Torte.

Great flavor ideas, but miss the photos.......2006-08-11

The recipes for flavor infusion are exactly what I was looking for, but I was disappointed there were so few photos of the actual recipes. There are lots of grayscale photos of baking utensils and such in the book that give it a very trendy look, but personally I like to be inspired to make a recipe by seeing a lucious photo showing the finished product.

Clever premise - Very ordinary recipes.......2006-08-10

An entire chapter on heath bar desserts?? I guess I expected more of a "from scratch" esthetic from such a highly reviewed book. It has some great general baking information and a lot of pretty pictures, but not many useful recipes for an advanced baker.

On top of the baker's bookshelf.......2005-08-01

Plain wonderful. Of the many baking books I own this would end up in the TOP 3. The premise is clever, but more than that, the recipes work! Be it the chocolate madeleines, the rum pound cake or the butter cake, everything is a winner. A joy to read, and a delight to follow.

Can't wait for her next book!

Book of Tarts: Form, Function, and Flavor at the City

Average customer rating:

Great pastry recipe and unusual filliings
Dessert Tarts Masterpiece
absolute best tarts
great fun with great recipes!
Inspiration to make pure and simple tarts!

Book of Tarts: Form, Function, and Flavor at the City
Maury Rubin
Manufacturer: Cookbooks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Customer Reviews:

Great pastry recipe and unusual filliings .......2006-07-26

I recently purchased this classic and have been totally impressed with the quality of the pastry, the clear directions, and the creativity Maury shows. I've made the lemon tart with berries and the chocolate tart infused with Ethiopian coffee beans. Both tarts were way better than anything I've had from a bakery. However on a recent trip to NYC I tried the tarts from City Bakery and the Payard bakery (Francois Payard, his book is Simply Sensational Desserts), and found that I preferred the Payard crust slightly. Comparing the recipes, the two key differences are that Francois uses more sugar and less butter. His crust comes out slightly sweeter and more chewy, with a more cookie-like taste. I plan to continue using his pastry recipe but want to applaud Maury Rubin for the creativity of his fillings most of which I have not tried -- but I certainly plan to! Kudos Maury! And thank you for sharing.

Dessert Tarts Masterpiece.......2004-10-28

Karen Barker in her excellent new "American Desserts" book recommends this one highly, and it does not let one down for finding and purchasing it.

One can tell that Rubin enjoys his art, and is very proficient at it. His humor and talent show from his culinary acknowledged beginnings of Pop-tarts, then from ABC Sports to cookbook reading in libraries! This book is lively and informative and creative and great eating tarts!

Applying all his French learning with his creative touch led to City Bakery fame. His desire for quality and seasonal menus breathed life into his enterprise and this resultant cookbook. How neat that he has shared all that work and development with us who like to whip up a tart every now and then. This work will greatly aid!

What is neat is that his goal of making simplistic tart recipes so that new employees could achieve the high quality he wanted is achieved for us home pastry types. Here they are seasonally offered after a just unbelievable primer on Tarts 101. Ingredients, equipment, then tart dough recipes and procedures, as well as decorating and chocolate tips. One can see why the likes of Barker likes this one!

The creativity displayed here in recipe design and photo of most makes this one a real keeper/user! Feast your tartloving eyes on the likes of: Champagne Peach Tart with Vanilla Sugar; Ricotta Cheese Tart with Summer Fruits/Flowers; Lime Cream in A Candied Ginger Crust; Sake-Spiked Plum Tart with Ginger; Zinfandel-Marinated Cherries with Cocoa; Square Pear Peg Tart; Grapes with Hazelnuts; Vanilla Bean Creme Brulee Tart; White Chocolate Cream with Raspberry in a Hazelnut Crust.

Sources are included as well.

absolute best tarts.......2004-06-29

I was told that the best tart dough recipe could be found in this book and was happy to discover this to be completely and utterly true. Yes, the pastry is fragile, but, my god, it's delicious -- buttery (but not greasy), flaky, slightly sweet. No more thick, heavy, greasy crusts from other cookbooks!

The recipes for the various tarts are wonderful and unique and the pictures beautiful. But, the bottom line is, you should buy this book for the pastry recipe alone.

great fun with great recipes!.......2001-07-06

After flipping through the pages of this book, I was on a mission like a thing posessed in search of flan rings, which the author lists as a "must have" to make his tarts. The tarts are so visually appealing, I had to find out for myself if they tasted anywhere near as good as they looked. I found four flan rings- at a rediculous $9 per four-inch ring. I couldn't see buying eight, which is the number that one recipe of pastry makes. But the results were worth it!! I tried two recipes. The first was a fully baked tart shell filled with ricotta cheese and topped with fresh berries. The second was a tart baked with almond cream and fresh cherries (my substitution for plum slices which the recipe called for). The cherry tarts looked like something I'd buy from a pastry shop- just gorgeous. The shells have a great short-bread like flavor and a much nicer crumb than many tart recipes. However, what they make up for in flavor, they lack somewhat in durability. They are somewhat fragile. Mr. Rubin's instructions are excellent, and though the first time through takes time and patience, it was not difficult. Anyone comfortable with pastry should have no trouble with the shells. The down side is the practicality. If you need many tarts at one time, the flan rings are expensive. I was able to fashion rings out of foil and shape the tarts with a foil ring inside a stainless steal ring. Once the pastry is shaped and trimmed, just slip the stainless steal ring off and the foil will hold perfectly fine for baking. The pastry dough handles easily, but the sharp rims of traditional tart pans will cut through it and ruin it before you have a chance to shape it.

Inspiration to make pure and simple tarts!.......1999-08-26

New York Times Aug 18. Food Section featured a splendid summer picnic menu. All recipes were included except Maury Rubin's Blueberry-Coconut Tarts. New Yorkers get them at City Bakery. What's a Bostonian to do? Get Maury's book which does have this recipe and many more. Best of all, he gives very easy to follow directions on making the dough. Many of the tarts are made with fresh fruit. The color photos of each tart are very helpful and inspirational to me. Love this book.

Average customer rating:

Yummy
A Baking Travelogue
Flatbreads and Flavors
Good introduction to simple breads and accompaniments
Superb Treatment of a Broad Culinary Topic. Buy It!

Flatbreads & Flavors
Jeffrey Alford , and Naomi Duguid
Manufacturer: William Morrow Cookbooks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Bread | Baking | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0688114113

Amazon.com

An amazing cookbook that travels to the furthest reaches of the world to celebrate flatbreads with over the recipes for a myriad of breads, including Afghani naan, Mexican tortilla, French fougasse, Middle Eastern pita, and Armenian lavash. Hungry for something to go with all that bread? The authors include another 150 recipes for traditional accompaniments. How about a Scandinavian smorgasbord, tomatillo salsa with arbol chiles, Nepali green chile chutney, Ethiopian beef tartar, or Yemeni stew?

Book Description

"Two people caught in the grip of wanderlust," as Alford and Duguid describe themselves, this American- Canadian pair has traveled for nearly two decades, singly and together, throughout Asia, Europe, the Mediterranean, North Africa, and North America. As they have pursued their passions for travel photography and culinary research, they have found around the world a shared and nourishing element of culture and cuisine: flatbreads, the simplest, oldest, and most marvelously varied form of bread known to humankind. Immersing themselves in local cultures-from the Malaysian island of Penang and the high Himalayan passes of Tibet to the market stalls of Provence and the pueblos of New Mexico -- Adford and Duguid have studied bread baking and cooking with local bakers, in family kitchens, with street vendors, and at neighborhood restaurants and cafes.

In Flatbreads and Flavors they share more than sixty recipes for flatbreads of every origin and description: tortillas from Mexico, pita from the Middle East, naan from Afghanistan, chapatti from India, pizza from Italy, and French fougasse. As well within the eight regional chapters of the book, they provide 150 exuberant recipes for traditional accompaniments to the breads. These include chutneys and curries, salsas and stews, rich samplings of the Mediterranean mezze table and the Scandinavian smorgasbord, and such delectable pairings as Chinese Spicy Cumin Kebabs wrapped in Uighur nan or Lentils with Garlic, Onion, and Tomato spooned onto chapatti.

Oven-baked, grilled, fried, skillet-baked, steamed, or even baked beneath the desert sand, flatbreads are a fascinating, satisfying, and simple form that brings wholesome grains into our diet. They can be made from every grain imaginable: wheat, rye, corn, oats, millet, sorghum, teff, rice, buckwheat. They can be unleavened or leavened. They can be made so thin that they become transparent, or they can be two inches thick and sliceable.

But Flatbreads and Flavors is not only a book about the original life-sustaining food served around the world since time began, it is also a book about people and places, with vivid images and shared experiences captured in brief prose essays and in Alford and Duguid's own acclaimed photographs. Redolent with the tastes and aromas of the world's hearths, it maps a course through cultures old and intriguing. With clear and patient recipes and special sections defining techniques, ingredients, and equipment, Flatbreads and Flavors makes accessible to the novice and experienced baker alike the simple and satisfying bread baker's art.

Flatbreads and Flavors has 8 maps and 16 pages of full-color photographs of breads and their accompaniments. It is a Main Selection of HomeStyle Books a division of Book-of-the-Month Club.

Customer Reviews:

Yummy.......2007-09-30

If you are into cooking some different food than American and want those delicious pita breads or even kebabs, then definitley get the book.

A Baking Travelogue.......2007-05-09

Alford and Duguid have done it again; created a cooking adventure in a book. Flatbreads and Flavors is a fine choice for the adventurous cook as well as the real, or armchair, traveler. The recipes are accurate and reasonably reliable, a helpful ingredient glossary is available to assist the cook new to foreign ingredients, and the way that the authors have been able to insinuate themselves so gracefully into the lives of nomads and others, make the cultures come alive. I have made a mezze dinner for friends using a selection of their recipes (they even provide menu suggestions) to rave reviews. A great read.

Flatbreads and Flavors.......2007-01-19

I like to make flatbreads with my flatbread/tortilla griddle. This book sounded good to me because of the recipes not only for the flatbreads, but foods that accompany them. Of added interest is where the recipes originated from, and accompanying stories.

Good introduction to simple breads and accompaniments.......2006-06-15

Flatbreads & Flavors is an intriguing culinary travelogue of Asia, North Africa, the Middle East, South America with a little Europe and North America thrown in. The bread recipes though are quite American because of the measurements in cups and the commercial dry yeast. I don't believe that folks in the hinterlands are shopping at American grocery stores. More information on natural leavening and native approaches to measuring ingredients would be of more interest. The accompanying dishes are more credibly presented.

Superb Treatment of a Broad Culinary Topic. Buy It!.......2006-04-02

`Flatbreads & flavors, A Baker's Atlas' is Canadian culinary photographer / writers' pair Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid's second book, which is easily more useful to the average foodie and reader than their last two expensive culinary travelogues, `Mangoes & Curry Leaves' and `Hot Sour Salty Sweet'. While this book covers a broad geographical range, like the `big' books, it maintains its high level of quality and focus by concentrating exclusively on the subject of flatbreads and dishes that are most commonly served with these flatbreads in their `natural habitat'.

While Alford and Duguid seem to have inherited the style of the great culinary travelogue, `Honey from a Weed' by Patience Gray, they have their own twists on this style which makes it all their own. One difference is that while Gray does a fair amount of reflection on the whys of local techniques, her observations are not systematic. They are more in the line of archeological observations. Since Alford and Duguid in this book, are dealing with the single technique of baking flatbreads, this focus give them the opportunity to give us an excellent tutorial on bread baking technique, including the use of modern appliances in the making of traditional flatbread recipes.

The authors take their `Atlas' approach seriously, as each chapter addresses a particular geographical region and opens with a map locating the center of traditional production for each type of bread. The eight regions are:

Central Asia, primarily Iran, the `...stans', and Tibet with lots of yoghurt and kebabs.
China, Vietnam, and Malaysia with dipping sauces, pancakes, and roll-ups.
India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka with chutneys, curries, and lentils galore.
Eastern Mediterranean, or `flatbread central' with pitas, matzos, Bulgar wheat, and dips and wraps.
Morocco, Tunisia, and Ethiopia, with mostly accompanying dishes.
Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan, the home of Lavosh
Europe, from Italian pizza to Scottish oatcakes
North America with tortillas, crackers, and salsas.

While this would seem to be a rich subject, the authors don't spend much time reflecting on why flatbreads are so important in some parts of the world and less important in others. In Asia, it seems that it is the only kind of bread they make, while in Europe, it's definitely a sidelight. I hypothesize that flatbreads are important where there fuel for ovens is scarce and the native peoples are or were at one time primarily nomadic.

It is just a bit surprising to see how many different bread recipes use yeast. One would think yeast requires a nearby brewing industry, but natural sourdough type yeast is free for the asking and a lot easier to manage on the road than chemical leaveners, when the nearest 7 - 11 is 7000 miles away. But, all the recipes have been modernized and none actually use natural sourdough yeasts. All yeast doughs are made with `active dry yeast', the kind you have to bloom in warm water, but which will keep for years in their little foil packets. The other side of the coin is that there are a fair number or yeastless recipes, especially India's skillet breads, where the leavening is the action of heat and water in the dough, very much like unleavened matzos, except that matzos is made in an oven. So, if you can't tolerate yeast and you are tired of buttermilk biscuits and Irish soda bread, this book may be a great ticket to enriching your range of tolerated breads.

One thing this book does not do is be a complete source on those flatbreads which are so dear to our French / Spanish / Italian backgrounds. If your primary interest is with Pizza, go to Peter Reinhart's `American Pie' or some other treatise on pizza by your favorite Italian cookbook author. If your primary interest is in tortillas, get Diana Kennedy's `From My Mexican Kitchen'. But, if you like these things and want to find the their flatbread cousins, this is your book.

This book is simply all around excellent, and certainly deserves its James Beard Cookbook award. It makes me wish Alford and Duguid would stick to their single subject surveys instead of boosting their photographs business with the richly pictured , `Mangoes & Curry Leaves' and `Hot Sour Salty Sweet'. Their other books on rice and home baking are similarly delightful and should be in every foodie's library.

The Healthy Oven Baking Book: Delicious reduced-fat deserts with old-fashioned flavor

Average customer rating:

My oven rejects this.
Great Recipes and Information
On the right track, but not completely there yet.
Thank you Sarah
A cookbook with delicious AND healthy recipes!

The Healthy Oven Baking Book: Delicious reduced-fat deserts with old-fashioned flavor
Sarah Phillips
Manufacturer: Broadway
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Tanita BC533 Glass Innerscan Body Composition Monitor

ASIN: 0385492812
Release Date: 1999-01-19

Amazon.com

Sarah Phillips was a single mother who pulled herself up by her apron strings by selling cookies baked at home. Then, she turned to making low-fat muffins, which became so popular she translated her recipes into mixes to be sold in supermarkets.

In her Healthy Oven Baking Book, Phillips is realistic. She explains why fat-free recipes give poor results: taking out too much fat also removes good taste and texture. So, she often uses applesauce in place of fat, but she also uses canola oil, whole eggs, or a small amount of butter in some recipes. Butter, she explains, makes pie dough tender and keeps baked goods moist. Healthy Oven Baking Book offers two new techniques for low-fat baking. Both rely on getting air into delicate batters, and help you avoid overmixing, which makes cakes tough. The techniques, the "New Classic Method" and the "New Creaming Method," call for beating batters for at least 1 1/2 minutes with a handheld electric mixer, and for handling batters very gently.

Using Phillips's 125-plus recipes, and following her advice on ingredients, you can bake everything from sticky Cinnamon Swirl Coffee Cake topped with Grape Nuts Cereal instead of nuts, to Zucchini Bread, a killer Fudge Layer Cake with fudgy frosting, and phyllo-layered baklava made with pears. She also features eight recipes incorporating her instant mixes. Cheesecake lovers should take special note--The Healthy Oven Baking Book offers amazing recipes that set a new standard for creaminess. They're low in fat but excellent compared to any other cheesecake. --Dana Jacobi

Book Description

Here is an abundance of recipes for everyone's favorite baked goods, made with completely natural ingredients and a minimum of fat.

Fast, easy, healthful, and delicious--that's the winning combination Sarah Phillips delivers in The Healthy Oven Baking Book, featuring more than 125 recipes for reduced-fat muffins, coffee cakes, pancakes, scones, pies, layer cakes, cheesecakes, cookies, and many other old-fashioned favorites.

Fans of Sarah Phillips's Healthy Oven brand of all-natural, low-fat cake and muffin mixes, sold in supermarkets throughout the country, have been clamoring for recipes to bake from scratch at home--and that's exactly what she provides in The Healthy Oven Baking Book, along with specific instructions for new ways of measuring, mixing, and baking that will ensure perfect results every time.

It's not hard to take the fat out of baking, but doing it without using artificial substitutes, and creating reduced-fat baked goods that taste like Mother used to make, requires a lot of experimenting and testing. Sarah Phillips has done all the work--using applesauce and other low-fat baking secrets--so that home cooks everywhere can produce healthful baked desserts that will satisfy everyone from picky children to discerning adult gourmands.

Customer Reviews:

My oven rejects this........2003-10-10

I hate to be the party-pooper, but these recipes just weren't that good. Since I am always modifying baked-good recipes to make them slightly more "healthy" (kind of a misnomer since we're talking about things usually made with highly processed white flour, lots of sugar, butter etc...and I wouldn't necessarily call the recipes in this book "healthy" either) I thought I would give this book a go. First off, the author eliminates all but 2 tbsp of fat in the majority of the recipes. I know what you're thinking, Yippee! Now you think you can polish off that whole loaf of lemon poundcake with no remorse. But the thing is, you won't want to after tasting a bite. You'll probably end up throwing most of the cake out! (now there's a diet). I tried three of the "substitute the majority of the fat with applesauce" recipes (a lemon cake, a zucchini bread, and something with carrots in it) and all of them had this weird "rubbery" taste/texture. Ever had a cake that proceeds to battle with your teeth? Completely unnatural! There is such a thing as not having enough fat--I am reminded of an old college roommate who made "chocolate chip cookies" and replaced all the butter in them with some sort of prune goo. She tried to convince me that they were delicious, but I picked one up and proceeded to bend it in half...its ends touched and the cookie did not even break! This revolted me so much that I threw it toward the garbage can, but missed, and it actually *bounced* off the floor! So if you want to achieve a similar effect, by all means, go ahead and applesauce all of that fat on out of here. For me though, I'd rather have something delicious and temper it with moderate portions.

Great Recipes and Information.......2002-05-24

I love this Cookbook. I am retired and Lowfat Cooking and Baking is important to my wife and I. The recipes I have used were wonderful. I especially like all the crossover information Sarah has done.Its all right there, very easy to use. Plus her Web Site is a Godsend. Use it all the time. Highly Recommend it and the Cookbook.

On the right track, but not completely there yet........2002-03-21

Sarah Phillips has a lot of great ideas. However, this cookbook doesn't deserve a 5-star rating because:

(1) some of her recipes have more sugar than most.

(2) she included recipes that call for Healthy Oven Baking Mix, which I don't have & don't wish to purchase. Maybe I'm splitting hairs here, but I purchased the book thinking that all the recipes would be completely from scratch.

Thank you Sarah.......1999-10-08

I am a new baker when it comes to healthy baking. I've only used gradma's recipies which are delicious but not very healthy. Sarah Philips has brought us both... healthy and delicious and also made it simple follow her directions. Thank you Sarah!

A cookbook with delicious AND healthy recipes!.......1999-07-16

I have hundreds of cookbooks, but this one is going to be my favorite. I love dessert and have a hard time finding recipes that are healthy and that my family will enjoy. The recipes are easy and call for regular ingredients. There is nothing better than butter in a dessert and Sarah has found a way to use butter and still keep the recipe healthy.

Great Job, Sarah!

Damon Lee Fowler's New Southern Baking: Classic Flavors for Today's Cook
Average customer rating:

An outstanding look at Southern baking traditions

Great book for beginning bakers

The Proof Is In The Eating

Will appeal to all levels of cook with easy recipes and plenty of tips

Damon Lee Fowler's New Southern Baking: Classic Flavors for Today's Cook
Damon Lee Fowler
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0743250583

Book Description

They are the stuff of Southern legend: fresh-from-the-oven biscuits, skillet-baked cornbread, and melt-in-your-mouth cookies. Whether you remember these heavenly treats from childhood or are creating them for the first time, Damon Lee Fowler's New Southern Baking is a tantalizing collection of Southern baking recipes, balancing the timeless appeal of rural Southern flavors and the modern sensibilities of today's baker.

The history of Southern baking is as rich and varied as its culinary offerings. Writer, teacher, and food historian Damon Lee Fowler is immersed in the traditions of classic Southern baking, and each recipe is infused with memorable Southern flavors that are just as irresistible today. From the warm flavor of Sage and Olive Oil Biscuits to moist, dense Brown Velvet Cake with Dark Fudge Frosting to luscious Bourbon Pecan Squares, this book is both a celebration of traditional baking techniques and an up-to-date guide for delicious and innovative creations.

For the experienced baker or a first-time home cook, Damon Lee Fowler's New Southern Baking is the ideal kitchen companion. With easy-to-follow instructions and baking tips, these essential recipes will effortlessly find their way to your table. The richly satisfying Classic Old-Style Pound Cake is easy to master, and the Plain or 1, 2, 3, 4 Cake is a Southern standard with endless variations. Classics such as Savory Virginia Ham Muffins, Coconut Tea Cakes, and Sweet Potato Waffles are perfect for any occasion, and the Southern ingredients in Sour Cream Cheddar Drop Biscuits, Spicy Cheese Straws, and Lemon Pepper Benne Cocktail Bits add a contemporary twist to any social gathering. And of course, there is a delectable lineup of pies, from Lemon Buttermilk Chess Pie to Gingered Apple Custard Tart to Kentucky Chocolate Chip Bourbon Pie. There are also wonderful new recipes for legendary Southern favorites like Savannah Flatbread and Herbed Skillet Rice Bread, and real old-fashioned yeast breads, including Creole Brioche and Carolina Rice Bread.

In addition to the delightful recipes, Damon Lee Fowler's New Southern Baking is an engaging and informative look at Southern baking heritage, tracing the evolution of our favorite foods and flavors to the welcome table of today. Complete with comprehensive resource lists, Damon Lee Fowler's New Southern Baking brings the warm graciousness of the South to any kitchen.

Customer Reviews:

An outstanding look at Southern baking traditions.......2007-10-09

This book takes a wider, deeper, more historical look at Southern baking. Fowler looks at all both white and black baking, and the traditional recipes for things like rice-based baked goods that are not so prevalent nowadays. He also points out that biscuits are not such a traditional item in the Southern repertoire, since baking powder is only about a century old. His recipes provide a way to taste yourself back in time. Wonderful book.

Great book for beginning bakers.......2007-03-09

I must say this is my first review. This book is really a great book for someone who has never baked or has not been that good at it. The only reason I bought this book to begin with was because I was shopping at a store in Savannah, GA and the gentleman who helped me find a good knife for cooking happened to be the author. Well I must say after getting it home I decided to scan for a few good recipes. I didn't even get to any recipes that night because I was learning about the ingredients that go into baking. I now know why I was never any good at baking. Mr. Fowler's instructions are very detailed and he gives wonderful histories of ingredients. I loved this book so much that I went straight to Amazon and looked for more books that he has written and have bought a couple of them. All of them that I have gotten are equal in quality. I really never read cookbooks, I just used them for recipes but this one is worth reading. Just a note, he is wonderful person if you ever get to meet him and very knowledgeable on all things culinary.

The Proof Is In The Eating.......2006-02-20

Southern cookbook writers are almost as prolific as its novelists. Just when we think there is nothing else to be said, another great book with new, untried recipes gets published; and we know we cannot live without it. Damon Lee Fowler has written just such a book.

Mr. Fowler in his introduction gives a brief history of Southern cooking, tracing its roots primarily to the African American and European tradition. He reminds us that there is no need to publish yet another lemon meringue pie recipe as there are dozens floating around. It also "pains" him that he cannot print again his fruitcake recipe (I for one feel no pain since I've never met a fruitcake, the accordion of desserts, I liked although I've neither cooked nor tasted his recipe). He also discusses fully ingredients and equipment in a chapter called "Southern Baking Essentials." There are chapters on quickbreads, stove-top baking, cookies, cakes, pies and pastries, and yeast baking. Finally there is an exhaustive biibliography and reading list.

I'm easy on cookbook writers. They must only print one outrageously good recipe in order for their book to be a success. Bubber's Key Lime Cake (pp. 184-185) makes the cut. This divine cake is a beauty to behold (all white layers and icing); is easy for the most part to assemble although sifting almost five cups of confectioners' sugar for the icing will not make your day; the key lime cream cheese buttercream icing, however, is as good as I have ever eaten; and finally the aroma of lime when you present your cake to your guests will make them smile. I guarantee it.

There are other recipes I want to try. The Appalachian Stack Cake (pp. 188-189) is close to one my grandmother baked when I was a child and I haven't had since then. The Brown Velvet Cake with Dark Fudge Frosting will probably let you live longer without the poisonous red food coloring we associate with red velvet cake. Mr. Fowler also includes several varieties of poundcakes and apparently has a love-hate relationship with them, noting that if you worry about them they are bound to fall.

There are of course many other recipes that will appeal to the individual baker. Mr. Fowler's directions are clear and easy to follow; to his everlasting credit he always tells the reader where to position the rack in the oven, something that many otherwise good cookbook authors fail to do.

Mr. Fowler writes an often pleasantly chatty introduction on the subject covered in each chapter and includes general information about baking those items. Examples: "The first thing required of biscuit making, as with all pastry, is a light touch." And filtered or bottled water should be used for your bread baking. Finally there are several fine color photographs included. You will find many recipes to try in this delicious book.

Will appeal to all levels of cook with easy recipes and plenty of tips.......2006-02-06

From cornbread to sweet potato breads and cakes, Southern baking holds a wide reputation - and there's no better place to learn the basics than from Damon Lee Fowler's New Southern Baking, celebrating traditional baking techniques but updating dishes for modern times. New Southern Baking will appeal to all levels of cook with easy recipes and plenty of tips - and it'll even appeal to advanced cooks who want different twists to dishes, such as a Chocolate Chip Pecan Wedding Shortbread or Sweet Potato Griddlecakes. Recommended above other more general Southern cookbooks, with its focus on baking and the wonderful blend of tradition vs. innovation.

Covered in Honey: Tha Amazing Flavors of Varietal Honey

Average customer rating:

A compendium of honey-loving culinary enchantments

Covered in Honey: Tha Amazing Flavors of Varietal Honey
Mani Niall
Manufacturer: Rodale Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Baking | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books

Herbs, Spices & Condiments | Cooking by Ingredient | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books

General | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1579548083

Book Description

A fascinating look at honey and its many varieties, with more than 125 tantalizing recipes Honey has been revered and savored for thousands of years, even in ancient Egypt, where it was buried in the tombs of kings and pharaohs. Today, there are more than 3,000 different varieties as diverse as clear Fireweed honey from the Pacific Northwest; smooth Tupelo honey from Florida and Georgia; and the deeply rich Curlytop Gumweed from New Mexico. Niall begins with a brief history of honey, then offers chapters on Baking with Honey; Breads and Savory Baking; Drinks, Appetizers, and Salads; Entrees, Marinades, and Sauces; Vegetables and Side Dishes; Candy and Sweets; and Desserts. The gourmet recipes include treats such as Sweet Potato and Ginger Scones; Oatmeal Honey Bread; Teriyaki Beef and Soba Noodle Salad; Honey, Lemon, and Chili Glazed Halibut; Peanut Brittle; and Apple Tart with Honey Caramel Sauce. Charmingly illustrated with 50 line drawings, Covered in Honey will appeal to healthy eaters searching for recipes using natural sweeteners and to foodies who will appreciate the range of subtle flavors awaiting their discovery.

Customer Reviews:

A compendium of honey-loving culinary enchantments.......2003-11-14

Enhanced with fifty wonderful illustrations, Covered In Honey: The Amazing Flavors Of Varietal Honey features chapters on Baking with Honey; Breads and Savory Baking; Appetizers and Salads; Entrees, Marinades, and Sauces; Candy, Sweets, and Grown-Up Kid's Stuff; and Deserts. Chef Mani Niall reveals new and delightful culinary uses for honey and mixes food history with honey lore along with more than one hundred superbly crafted recipes showcasing this unusually versatile ingredient. From Honeybuns; Gingerbread Hermits; and Parmesan Biscuits with Sage, Sage Honey, and Kalamata Olives, to Seared Portobello Mushrooms over Grilled Radicchio with Buckwheat Honey and Manchego Cheese; New Mexican Layered Enchiladas with Red Chile and Mesquite Honey Sauce; and Lime Pavlova with Fresh Fruit and Leatherwood Honey, Covered In Honey is a compendium of honey-loving culinary enchantments and a unique addition to any dedicated cookbook collection.

Average customer rating:

American Cooking (Foods Of the World)

Manufacturer: Time Life Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Board book
ASIN: B000BUYPL4

Product Description

American Cuisine

The Art Of Fine Baking - Cakes And Pastries, Coffeecakes, Breads With Continental Flavor

Average customer rating:

The Art Of Fine Baking - Cakes And Pastries, Coffeecakes, Breads With Continental Flavor
Paula Peck
Manufacturer: Barnes & Noble
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000K03QXS

Average customer rating:

Baking By Flavor
Lisa Yockelson
Manufacturer: John Wiley & Sons
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000N63U9Y

The Flavor of New England: Bread, Rolls and Pastries (The Flavor of New England)

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The Flavor of New England: Bread, Rolls and Pastries (The Flavor of New England)
G. Orcuft
Manufacturer: Yankee Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Baking | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books

General | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0911658289

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