Bread: A Baker's Book of Techniques and Recipes

Bread: A Baker's Book of Techniques and Recipes
Average customer rating:

Makes baking bread easier!

A must for any bread baker

ONE OF THE BEST BREADBOOKS

Not really for the home baker

Finally, a book by a real baker!

Bread: A Baker's Book of Techniques and Recipes
Jeffrey Hamelman
Manufacturer: Wiley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Bread | Baking | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0471168572

Book Description

The warm, complex aroma of a fresh-baked loaf of bread can be utterly tantalizing; the first bite, a revelation. In Bread: A Baker's Book of Techniques and Recipes, award-winning master baker Jeffrey Hamelman presents the definitive, one-stop reference on the art and science of bread baking - a kitchen essential for seasoned home bakers and professionals alike. Hamelman, a professional baker for nearly three decades, was a member of the United States national baking team that won first place in the 1996 Coupe du Monde de la Boulangerie, the bread-baking World Cup. Here, he shares this experience, putting world-class artisanal loaves within reach of any serious baker. Opening with a comprehensive overview of the foundations - essential ingredients; hand techniques for kneading, scoring, and shaping; the basic process from mixing through baking - he lucidly guides bakers through all elements of this richly rewarding craft.

Bread contains 118 detailed, step-by-step recipes for an array of breads: versatile sourdough ryes; breads made with pre-ferments; and simple, straight dough loaves. Recipes for brioche, focaccia, pizza dough, flat breads, and other traditional baking staples augment the diverse collection of flavors, tastes, and textures represented within these pages. From the delicate flavor and aroma of classic French baguettes to the mellow smoothness of Roasted Garlic Levain, a bread for every season and every palate is here.

Each recipe clearly outlines the key stages, with easy-to-use charts that list ingredients in both American and metric measures, quantities appropriate for home baking, and baker's percentages. Hundreds of drawings vividly illustrate techniques, and 35 handsome color photographs display finished breads. Sidebars accompany each recipe and section with valuable tips, from the subtle art of tasting and evaluating breads to the perfect fare to complement Vollkornbrot. A complete chapter on decorative breads - with instructions on techniques as well as a wide variety of exquisite patterns - will inspire magnificent display creations.

Laced throughout the book, Hamelman's personal narratives offer a compelling portrait of a lifelong love affair with bread and vividly communicate this passion. For bakers seeking to finesse this time-honored craft or simply to learn the tricks of the trade from a real master, Bread is a resource to be consulted time and time again.

Customer Reviews:

Makes baking bread easier!.......2007-09-17

One of my friends asked me about helping her make a different kind of bread - I usually bake my grandmother's Greek bread and my family really loves it - I also make it in wheat bread for my brother and sugar free versions - but had not gone beyond that - Bread takes you into many recipes and gives you regular and metric measurements as well as quantities for large batches and a few loaves - It helps you learn how to knead, and how to fashion, braid breads to make them beautiful.
I learned to knead bread the hard way - after having some breads that felt like hockey pucks, I finally got the hang of it and make a mean bread.
If you enjoy that wonderful aroma of bread baking, you will enjoy this book. It is a great price on Amazon - many cooking catalogs sell it for its entire suggested price -

A must for any bread baker .......2007-09-01

I have been baking bread 30+ years and didn't know what I didn't know about bread and why it does what it does under certain conditions. I love this book. Not your typical cook book. Doesn't just give you recipes and lets you take a stab at baking. It tells you the history of bread and what you can do to make it absolutely wonderful. I thought I knew a lot about baking bread. Never had a complaint, but with this book and some of the tricks, my bread is so much better. Now I can't bake enough and I had trouble keeping my baking urges at bay before.
An excellent book for a bride to be.

ONE OF THE BEST BREADBOOKS.......2007-08-23

I am a professional baker/patissier with a special interest in flavorful, traditional bread and the methods to make it. I can wholeheartedly say , taking into consideration the price, the layout and the content of this book, that it is probably the best breadbook around. 'The taste of bread' by Raymond Calvel is also an excellent book but with a triple price tag. Another good book (actually a series) is 'Special and decorative breads' although beginners will find it a bit difficult to follow.
All in all Mr Hamelman has presented us with an excellent source of information on the preparation and baking of bread and other baked goods. Unlike other breadbooks, he is using a variety of methods to achieve good results and upper and foremost in his procedures is consistency of the product and taste. Most books care more about doing bread the easy way. That is how to make bread that looks good, fast. To the knowlegable this is bread that looks good, tastes bland and is stale by the next day. Also, very few books explain the reason or logic behind each step in the recipe. Not so here. Even though I am a professional I learned quite a few new things just by flipping casually through the book. When I started reading it I started finding out many tips and methods that have improved my skills and techniques. The explanations are thorough and precise, the information abundant, the recipes clear and flavorful. I particularly like the tables that are dispersed throughout. Some are for troubleshooting, others for comparison and others for extra information. Their usefulness cannot be overstated.The style of writting is so easy that even a person with no knowledge on the subject can find his way through and acquire theoretical skills that they can put to practice. I only wish I had this book when I was learning to be a baker.
I live in Cyprus (Europe) and many of the products included in the book are European. The methods and end products are consistent with the best one can find in the Old World. Another aspect of the book that I like is that it has temperatures both in Celsius and Fahrenheit and quantities are in both Metric and Imperial, as well as in percentage formulas. Rarely has an American book such sensitivity towards the non American consumers.
For all the above a very well deserved 5 star rating.

Not really for the home baker.......2007-06-12

This seems like quite a good book with a lot of important information. For me it has been a great disappointment as the total majority of that information is oriented towards a professional bakery operation rather than for a home baker such as myself who prefers to knead by hand. So for the home baker i'd give 2 stars. For a professional baker operating in large volumes, 5 stars...

Another disappointing factor has been the fact that this book doesn't have any recipes with 100% whole grain which is my personal preference... I am getting this book for which I read some good reviews on the net: The Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book: A Guide to Whole-Grain Breadmaking.

Happy baking!

Finally, a book by a real baker!.......2007-05-17

I have been obsessed with bread baking for a few years now and have read loads of books on the ins and outs of getting bread to rise and turn out consistently. This is one of the best.

Mr. Hamelman has been baking bread his entire career. He is not a pastry chef who wrote a bread book. That said, his explanations of why you should do each step and how to calculate amounts, if you want to modify things to your liking, are clear and invaluable. The recipes are wonderful. He describes everything from how to get the best flavor out of white flour to how to cultivate, nurture and utilize rye sourdough starter. The breads I have made from this book have been really quite delicious and rival or exceed the most expensive loaves from the stores.

The only downside to this book is that it could be said to be written more for professionals than for home bakers. A lot of the breads should be baked with steam, and that is hard to do at home. Nonetheless, I guess it is better to try to duplicate the effect of a steam oven at home than to ignore the recommendation altogether and miss out on what could be a real improvement in taste and texture.

Bob's Red Mill Baking Book: More Than 400 Recipes Featuring Whole & Healthy Grains

Average customer rating:

Bob's Red Mill Baking Book Review
BOB'S RED MILL BAKING BOOK
Great Concept, But Many Recipes Unreliable

Bob's Red Mill Baking Book: More Than 400 Recipes Featuring Whole & Healthy Grains
John Ettinger , and Bob's Red Mill Family
Manufacturer: Running Press Book Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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

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The New Book Of Whole Grains: More than 200 recipes featuring whole grains
The King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion: The Essential Cookie Cookbook

ASIN: 0762427442

Book Description

From Bob's Red Mill, the nation's leading miller of the most diverse selection of natural whole grain foods, comes this exciting collection of more than 500 wholesome baking recipes that reflect Bob's Red Mill's dedication to healthful eating. This invaluable baker's resource provides home bakers with delicious ways to use whole and other healthful grains and flours to suit their dietary, allergic, and basic baking needs. Including new and traditional recipes, and featuring a collection of recipes from prominent bakers and chefs, Bob's Red Mill Baking Book allows bakers to take full advantage of the healthful benefits of whole grains.

Bob's Red Mill Natural Foods was founded in 1978 and has become a multimillion-dollar business with international distribution. Inspired by a commitment to whole grain nutrition, Bob and Charlee Moore started their business with a mission to support the health and well-being of people in their community. But the demand for healthy whole grains made their small northwest business grow nationwide. Bob's Red Mill Natural Foods offers a diverse line of all natural and organic flours, cereals, meal and mixes for pancakes, bread, and soups. The company's more than 300 products are available throughout the U.S. and Canada at all natural food and major grocery stores. Bob's Red Mill brand products may also be purchased by phone, mail order, or on the company's website.

Customer Reviews:

Bob's Red Mill Baking Book Review.......2007-07-31

Lots of information on various grains. Good recipes but not necessarily low in calorie or sugar (wanted more healthy recipes). Many recipes use items not commonly found in the pantry, most likely having to buy more than needed at a health food store. Uses the ingredient "hard white whole wheat flour" in many recipes but fails to give a description of that ingredient except in an excerpt from another recipe I happened to peruse which states it is AKA bread flour. Why not simply state "bread flour"? Will adapt many recipes to use Splenda and less white flour. Overall a good book but wish there were pictures of the finished product and the nutritional information.

BOB'S RED MILL BAKING BOOK.......2007-06-10

This was a much sought after and anticipated book for me. Not everyone has the knowledge to pass on about baking with such a variety of whole grains as BOB'S RED MILL. He has been ahead of his time for many years offering foods that are good, and good for you. I look forward to using this book both proffesionaly and at home for my family.

Great Concept, But Many Recipes Unreliable.......2007-05-28

I use a lot of Bob's Red Mill products and have baked with whole grains for more than 25 years, so I was excited when this book was published. The format is easy to use and appealing, and the directions are clear,although there are no photographs or drawings.

After a description of different kinds of flour and cereals, the book is divided into chapters on whole grain yeast breads, rolls, and sourdough; quick breads, muffins, biscuits, and scones; flatbreads, focaccia, crackers, and pizza; pies, tarts, cobblers and crisps; cookies; and cakes.

There are many ideas for using spelt, teff, quinoa, barley, buckwheat, and other less common flours, and there are quite a few gluten-free recipes, including cakes, gingerbread. and even sugar cookies. There are recipes for seven kinds of pizza dough, from yeast-free to cornmeal, and an unusual recipe for a strawberry pie that calls for baking the strawberries in a double crust. There are also many kinds of piecrust to try, ranging from sorghum and almond oat to whole wheat and barley.

The first recipe I tried was Bob's High Fiber Bread, which turned out dense and dry. I made Whole Wheat Irish Soda Bread, which was dull, dry, and heavy (I threw it out),and Gluten-free Rice Bread, a two-day project that didn't rise properly and had to be thrown out, also. Maple Pecan Muffins were very dry as were Whole Grain Bread Rings.

Here are some winners: the whole wheat pizza dough was very good, as was the Italian sausage and fontina calzone. Oatmeal pancakes were excellent, and the oatmeal muffins and orange spelt muffins were good.

It seems that often the proportions are wrong. Bob's Energy Boosters contained too much butter and didn't hold together. Five-Grain Daybreak Cookies taste great, but the recipe called for way too much butter and should have used baking powder instead of soda to prevent spreading. It made 48 very large, floppy, sticky cookies instead of the predicted 24.

I'm not ready to give up on this book, because the recipes sound so good, and every once in a while, I hit a winner. But not often enough. When I want to be sure of a success, I turn to King Arthur's Whole Grain Cookbook, The Baker's Apprentice, or Berenbaum's Bread Bible. Hodgson Mills just published a whole grains cookbook--it will be interesting to compare their book to Bob's Red Mill Baking Book.

Average customer rating:

Delightful from beginning to end
Bunny Cakes
Favorite Max and Ruby
another good Max and Ruby Book
Max and Ruby

Bunny Cakes (Max and Ruby)

Manufacturer: Puffin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0140566678

Customer Reviews:

Delightful from beginning to end.......2006-07-13

As a parent, this may very well be my favorite bedtime story. Don't judge the book based on the TV show-- it is much better! Max and Ruby are making birthday cakes for Grandma. Max is making an earthworm cake but Ruby wants to make an angel surprise cake with rasbery fluff frosting. Despite Ruby's increasingly restrictive instructions, Max keeps knocking her ingredients off the table, and Ruby keeps sending him to the store with a shopping list for replacements. Max wants red hot marshmellow squirters to top off his cake, and his attempts to communicate this to the grocer make up the heart of the story.

The illustrations are delightful and are cleverly incorporated as part of the story. My 3 year old loves this book, and believe it or not he gets tired of it before I do!

Bunny Cakes.......2005-07-24

This is an excellent picture book for young children. The story line is simple and easy for kids to connect with. Many children have siblings and can relate to Max and Ruby. The illustrations are heart warming and draw the reader in. Rosemary Wells repitition of events within the plot make her an excellent storyteller. Bunny Cakes is an endearing story.

Favorite Max and Ruby.......2004-10-09

My children are Max and Ruby(practically) and this is our favorite. A friend's daughter even demanded a Max cake for her birthday complete with gummy worms. This is a favorite of my 3 &5 year old.

another good Max and Ruby Book.......2003-09-04

I think this is one of the better Max and Ruby books, along with Bunny Money and Bunny Party and Max Cleans Up.

Max and Ruby.......2003-07-30

This is a nice little story that is popular with my three children ages 3,4,6. Any child who is a fan of Max and Ruby will like this story...........................

Average customer rating:

Plenty to Celebrate
Wonderful book...
Almost perfect ...
Tried and like it!!!
Cake Maker

The Cake Book
Tish Boyle , and John Uher
Manufacturer: Wiley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0471469335

Book Description

"There's something magical about the process of makinga cake from scratch, a process that transforms a few simple ingredients—butter, sugar, flour, and eggs—into culinary artistry."
—Tish Boyle

Customer Reviews:

Plenty to Celebrate.......2007-10-10

As author Tish Boyle put it, "Cakes are the edible symbol of life's celebrations." Cakes are - or should be - celebrations on their own, however, and this volume gives many reasons to rejoice.

Boyle is a professional. She serves as editor-in-chief for both "Chocolatier" and "Pastry & Art Design" magazines and is a graduate of LaVarenne Ecole de Cuisine (founded by the extraordinary Anne Willan). She has worked extensively as a pastry chef, food stylist, caterer, and has authored several other dessert books. Cakewise, Boyle is in the same caregory as Carole Walter, Susan Purdy, Rose Levy Beranbaum, Maida Heatter, Carole Bloom, and Lisa Yockelson - all of whose books I own, along with anoither dozen devoted to cakes alone. Did I need this one? Absolutely. Did I glean things from this volume that I had not found in others. Without question. Is it worth $40? (less on amazon.com and other sites). Yes, it is.

In the third chapter, entitled "Cake-Baking Equipment", there is a handy "Guide to Cake Pan Sizes" giving not only surface area, but volume in cups for 24 diffent pans! A guide to blanching and toasting nuts in Chapter 4: "Cake-Making Techniques, Tips and Troubleshooting" provides oven temperatures specific to five different varieties of nuts.

Wonderful book..........2007-08-31

... great range of recipes, and they all work (unlike Martha's Baking Book).
Definitely recommend this for non-beginners only though.

Almost perfect ..........2007-04-21

I loved this book. I think Tish Boyle is very underrated in the food world - she is one of the best bakers around. The reason I rated this a 4 rather than a 5 has nothing to do with the recipes. It has to do with the publisher. A book this good and this expensive should have a color picture accompanying every recipe.

Tried and like it!!!.......2007-04-19

I got this book for the reputation of the author and tried some recipes already and loved them!!!! The carrot cake is really, really good. Instructions are clear enough for my 13 year old boy to follow (he made the carrot cake) and complete sucessfully. I am a pastry cook and really appreciate that that the recipes are in weight as well (weighting ingredients is more accurate than measuring).
I highly recommend this book for novice and pros alike!!!

Cake Maker.......2007-03-21

I really enjoyed this book. Felt that the recipes and information were useful.

Average customer rating:

Best cookie book ever
Love It!
Great book for bakers and for people who love vintage things
The one and only classic cooky book
The book YOUR Grandmother learned to bake cookies from!

Betty Crocker's Cooky Book
Betty Crocker Editors , and Eric Mulvany
Manufacturer: Betty Crocker
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Spiral-bound

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ASIN: 0764566377

Product Description

Here is the complete cooky book ~ more than 450 recipes, dozens of appetizing full-color photographs, and many how-to sketches. Embraces tastes from the old-fashioned and traditional to the new and sophisticated. Printed in the U.S.A. (Age 5+)

Customer Reviews:

Best cookie book ever.......2007-09-24

I grew up choosing christmas cookies out of this book. I have wonderful memories of paging through it; I'm not sure, but I think every cookie is pictured (not individually, but in groupings), this is great for the little kids that want to choose a recipe, they just say, "I want that one". A few years back when I had my daughter, my Mom looked into getting one for me off ebay and was impressed that they were collectable, and expensive (the older ones anyway). Between this and her inexperiance with the internet she never got me one and isn't ready to give up hers yet. So now that I have two daughters and the first is at an age that she enjoys dumping ingredients into the mixer I just ordered one so we can choose and make cookies together this christmas.

Love It!.......2007-08-25

I love to bake pies, cakes and cookies. I have many cookbooks and find this particular cooky book very enjoyable. Recipes are easily explained and the full page pictures enhance the recipes.

Great book for bakers and for people who love vintage things.......2007-08-23

I love this book, haven't made anything in it, but I just like having it in my library. It's wonderful to look through, the recipes aren't low-fat, low-cholesterol, they're good old-fashioned baking recipes that comfort me just looking at them. The pictures are really wonderful too, very heartwarming and reminiscent of a kinder time. I enjoy this book so much I am giving it as a wedding gift in a basket filled with like items: cookie cutters, measuring cups, a new "old style" glass cookie jar with a red enamel lid and some sage plaid dishtowels because this book reminds me of what all homes should be about: family, good food and good memories!

The one and only classic cooky book.......2007-07-17

Is cooky really spelled cooky? I have always spelled it "cookie". But who really cares, this book is full of great recipes for both. This book is going onto the third generation in my family. I learned to make cookies as a kid with my my mom's copy, my kids learned from my copy and I have bought this book for each of them as they have moved out of the house. Now I am replacing my own time-worn copy. Lemon bars, ginger almond cookies, chocolate crinkles, Ethel's sugar cookies (I don't know who Ethel is but I love her recipe), snickerdoodles, etc. Buy this book for yourself and your kids.

The book YOUR Grandmother learned to bake cookies from!.......2007-07-12

That is how I introduced my granddaughter to this new & less ragged copy of my beloved Betty Crocker's Cooky Book! There are no "hard" recipes here, very little "artificial" and all of it good. A wonderful way to share some fun with the kids while eliminating all the "junk."

Average customer rating:

Cookbooks don't get better than this
Fanny Great
I love this cookbook!
Best Baking Book Out There.
Solving the mystery of the pie crust

Fannie Farmer Baking Book
Marion Cunningham
Manufacturer: Gramercy
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Tartine

ASIN: 0517148293
Release Date: 1996-03-16

Book Description

A superb collection of more than 800 recipes drawn from both America's rich past and new culinary discoveries. It's the Bible of baking, considered by many as the most thorough baking book on the market. The highly readable, easy-to-follow text explains the whys and hows of baking and makes it easy for even the beginner to achieve delicious results in the kitchen. Line drawings throughout.

Customer Reviews:

Cookbooks don't get better than this.......2007-05-17

I've had this book for years. Its pages have drips and stains, especially on the recipes for angel food cake (infallible), chocolate mayonnaise cake (sounds weird but is wonderful), Portsmouth frosting (to go with the mayo cake), rhubarb pie, sour cream coffeecake, and so on and so on. These recipes are excellent; it's hard to go wrong. There are also step-by-step recipes for things like pie crust, and on those you can't go wrong if you try. Sure, there are newer and glossier baking books out there, like "The Cake Bible" or the Dorie Greenspan's "Baking," both lovely books, but if I were starting out as a baker, this is the one I'd want. And even though now I'm a pretty good cook and not starting out at all, I continue to return to "The Fanny Farmer Baking Book." It would also be a great present for someone interested in learning how to bake.

Fanny Great.......2007-05-13

The cookbook I revere as a bible in the kitchen. I haven't used it very much, but just knowing I have it, comforts me.

I love this cookbook!.......2006-11-28

Like another reviewer I bought this book to replace the one I had worn out.
Often in this day and age people do not bake, so if Mom didn't teach you to make
a pie crust, yeast bread or to bake a cake without a mix, this is the book for you! Lots of great recipies and easy to follow
instructions. It includes the original Tollhouse cookie recipie and even one
recipie for dog treats! I actually gave this book to Mom many years ago, and she
still loves it too! These have become "our" family recipies.

Best Baking Book Out There........2006-11-12

I have had a Fanny Farmer baking book as long as I can remember. Every recipe is fool proof and comes out perfectly. I am an avid baker and have been given many books, but this is my absolute favorite. Only reason I got a new one was because the other one was in pretty bad shape from so much use.

Solving the mystery of the pie crust.......2006-06-29

I first stumbled across this book when I was trying to learn to make a pie crust. I had tried everything from the little sticks to the frozen crusts, and nothing came out the way I wanted it. I found this cookbook on a shelf in the used book store, and liked the way the instructions were written. I tried the pie crust instructions inside the book cover and was delighted with the results.

Try anything in this book, from the maple pecan pie to the chocolate tea bread to the snickerdoodle cookies, and I think you will find the instructions simple, straightforward and easy to follow, resulting in a pastry you can be proud to serve to anyone.

Biggest Book of Cookies: 475 All-Time Favorites (Better Homes & Gardens)

Average customer rating:

Wonderful and easy!
Great and Original Recipes
Good Cookies
Eighty tips for making homemade cookies better
No other book neded

Biggest Book of Cookies: 475 All-Time Favorites (Better Homes & Gardens)
Better Homes and Gardens
Manufacturer: Better Homes and Gardens
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Plastic Comb

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ASIN: 0696217139
Release Date: 2003-08-15

Book Description

Better Homes and Gardens kitchen-tested cookie recipes please every cookie lover.

A wide variety of cookie recipes, including traditional standbys and new cookie ideas, ensures bakers always have the right recipe for any cookie occasion.

Cookie basics and expert tips give cooks confidence their cookie creations will never fail.

Customer Reviews:

Wonderful and easy!.......2007-02-11

I bought this book based on the other reviews, and because over the years I have enjoyed baking with the holiday season baking magazines put out by Better Homes & Gardens. I have had this book about two weeks and have made the Pecan Bars and the Banana Bars. I took the Pecan Bars to a party and within 2 minutes of putting the cookie platter down I had three people ask for the recipe. I made the banana bars yesterday, and thought that I had died and gone to heaven. They are so rich and wonderful especially with the browned butter frosting. I know that I am going to find all kinds of favorites in this book, and that I will have lots of fun baking new things!

Great and Original Recipes.......2006-09-01

The Snickerdoodle Pinwheels recipe (p. 174) is one of our favorites. It's better than the traditional Snickerdoodles.

There's something for everyone. Nut lovers, nut haters. Chocolate lovers. etc.

Good Cookies.......2005-07-06

I like this book very much, and recommend it highly. It is a rare combination of 2 things that I enjoy every much: rich and fattening cookies, and recipes that work.

This book has 475 cookie recipes that have all been thoroughly tested by the test kitchens at Better Homes and Gardens. As such, every recipe I have ever done from this book has worked the first time through. With this many cookies, you are sure to find a recipe that fills the bill, and you will find rarities such as rosettes, cookie gun recipes, and pizzelle. There were some that I did not like, but that is not because the recipe was faulty, but because I just didn't like the cookie (this is especially true of the some of the bar cookies). This is also a handy book if you have youngsters who want to help you make cookies: the recipes won't fail you, and there are several "smiley face" sort of cookies that will appeal to children, and also many bars that are easy to do, even for children.

Also commendable is the format. The book is plastic spiral bound, which means that the book lies flat on the table when you are trying to do a recipe from it. Each recipe has a full page devoted to it, meaning that the text is nice and large and easy to read, and the recipe is nicely spread out over the printed page and not just jammed into a corner of it.

There are a few problems:
1) the most aggravating of which is side-bar mania, that is the placing of important information about techniques, ingredients, and equipment in random places throughout the book where you will never find them when you need them.
2) The actual introductory material on how to bake cookies in general in the first chapter is rather scanty. If all the above mentioned side-bars where collected and put into the first chapter, it might make for a decent primer on cookie making.
3) at one point, the authors suggest that you boil dried fruits in brandy on the stove. This sounds like a good recipe for a kitchen fire.
4) the chapter on bar cookies, in a side bar, admonishes you to always use the correct size pan. By my count, however, the chapter uses 5 different pan sizes, and you are unlikely to have all of them. Would it have been that much trouble to standardize all the bar recipes to one or two pan sizes?
5) this book had its share of marginal recipes: those that used mixes or store-bought cookie doughs, plus all those that have oats and/or dried fruit in them.
6) The flour measurement is spoon-and-sweep, but this important information is buried in a section titled "What makes cookies too dry?"

It has the following chapters (the chapter titles were too cute by half): Cookie Basics, Sweet Spoonfuls, Heavenly Hand-Shaped Cookies, Mold and Pressed Shapes, Slices of Delight, Rolling Pin Favorites, Fabulous Filled Cookies, Simple Shortcuts, Best Bars and Brownies.

Eighty tips for making homemade cookies better.......2004-05-06

Enhanced with more than one hundred mouth-watering color photographs; a comprehensive index and an separate index listing cooky recipes especially appropriate for the holidays; eighty tips for making homemade cookies better than any that can be bought in even the more upscale bakeries; and easy-to-follow methods for making, baking, and decorating cookies, bars, and brownies; the Better Homes & Gardens' Biggest Book Of Cookies is a spiral bound compendium of cookies that will make you hungry just to browse through! From Pecan Crispies; Spiced Apple Drops; Chocolate-Covered Cherry Cookies; and Peppermint Candy Cookies; to Scandinavian Almond Bars; Watermelon Cookies; Gingerbread Cookies; and Mascarpone Creams, every recipe comprising the Biggest Book Of Cookies will turn even the most novice kitchen cook into a world class cookie baking chef!

No other book neded.......2004-04-02

This is THE book, you will need no other. I have been buying the grocery checkout seasonal cookie books for years and now I can give them away. All of my tried and true favorites are in one place now. I bake a lot of cookies and I have been pleased with every recipe I have tried. I look forward to new discoveries. I especially like the separate indexes; holiday suggestions are featured separately. The index also features listings by ingredient, so if you are looking for apricot, or pecan, or oatmeal, you can bake a treat based on what you have at hand. I have bought three of these as gifts already--bridal shower season is here. I collect cookie cookbooks and lately this is the one that I reach for most often. It is underpriced for the value. If it is not in here, there is probably not a recipe for it. I highly recommend this as an investment purchase... You deserve it.

The Flour Pot Cookie Book: Creating Edible Works of Art

Average customer rating:

How Do You Plan to Use This Book?
Great book!!
Professional Results Fast
A useful book, with a couple of caveats
Beautiful cookie designs

The Flour Pot Cookie Book: Creating Edible Works of Art
Margie Greenberg , and Abbey Greenberg
Manufacturer: Running Press Book Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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

General | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Creative Cookies: Delicious Decorating for Any Occasion
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ASIN: 0762425954

Book Description

Why wait for the holidays to bake and decorate cookies? Let Margie and Abbey Greenberg show you how to make beautiful and easy cookies that are perfect for gifts year-round--plus, they taste great! The Flour Pot Cookie Book is a fun and fanciful exploration into the world of cookie decoration, featuring designs for all occasions, or for no occasion at all. People will think these cookies are almost too pretty to eat! With more than 40 decoration ideas, grouped by theme, this book is a sure-hit with home bakers.

Customer Reviews:

How Do You Plan to Use This Book?.......2007-09-30

I purchased the book today and I've decided to return it. Kudos to the authors for figuring out how to use fondant for cookies. However, if I tell you to buy fondant, roll it, cut it with the same cookie cutter, adhere it to the cookie with corn syrup and decorate with royal icing -- you don't need to buy the book.

The photography is beautiful, but the book didn't inspire me as other decorating books have. If you are a fondant novice, this may not be the book for you as it lacks detailed instructions. I would also recommend practicing with royal icing before you begin your cookie project. Some designs use royal icing flowers, but there are no instructions about how to make them. These can be purchased at a cake decorating store or you can use other resources to learn to pipe them.

I was looking forward to this book, but it has turned out to be a disappointment.

Great book!!.......2007-07-31

I am new with fondant icing on cookies but found it really easy to decorate the cookies with fondant instead of the usual royal icing but not so keen on the ribbons decoration. Their sugar cookie recipe is also very delicious and quite soft in texture.
I recomment this book for a beginner.

Professional Results Fast.......2007-06-18

What I love about this book: The cookies are covered in fondant. This method allows me to decorate in half the time. Cookies decorated the traditional way, with a sugar glaze, are often too sweet ar simply don't taste good. NOt to mention time consuming to decorate. If you have a favorite, great tasting fondant recipe this technique will give you cookies that taste as good as they look. I would not use commercial fondant on these cookies as this type of fondant usually don't taste good.

Some things I don't like: inedible decorations like fabric bows, no templates.

Overall I still am very pleased with this book. I use it as an inspiration for my own cookie designs. The pleasure alone that I get from browsing it makes it money well spent

A useful book, with a couple of caveats.......2007-05-31

I like that I now understand the basic method for decorating cookies using fondant. I do feel the book is at times slightly short on details, for beginners anyway. For some examples:

*Necessary tools are not always explained, such as what a border cutter is.
*There is no indication of how to attach the stick to a cookie on designs that require that.
*Complicated designs, such as squiggly pattern of accent fondant on top of a shoe cookie (displayed in a photo), sometimes do not include instructions for how to achieve that affect.

Also, a note about how fondant compares in taste and texture to cookies frosted with royal icing would be nice.

One final note: Although there are a few supplier web sites provided at the end of the book, I haven't been able to find all of the sugar flowers like the ones the authors used in the book, or where one could order many flowers of just one color. Since readers may want to try the designs in the book, it would be good if more specific info were given about where to locate the items needed.

But all in all, a good book.

Beautiful cookie designs.......2007-04-06

The only thing I didn't like in this entire book were the non-edible bows that were used. I love to have everything edible except for the wrapper. The designs and the detail were amazing, and this is a book I will use over and over again. I even checked out their website and am a true fan now.

Lesley Herbert's Complete Book of Sugar Flowers

Average customer rating:

Leslie Herbert's Complete Book of Sugar Flowers
Variety
SUGAR FLOWER BOOK REVIEW
Glorious Sugar Flowers

Lesley Herbert's Complete Book of Sugar Flowers
Lesley Herbert
Manufacturer: Tuttle Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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

General | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1853913561

Customer Reviews:

Leslie Herbert's Complete Book of Sugar Flowers.......2007-10-03

This is a very lovely book. Full of great information for the more advanced decorator. It is a fine one to add to your permanent library, especially if you really enjoy making fondant/gumpaste flowers. She offers some of the more interesting and unusual flowers. She is from the U.K. so some of the flowers are not ones we get in the U.S.A. Most of these flowers require cutters, but she does include some that do not. There are good step by step directions, provided you do have some knowledge of this medium. The only flower that I can't find a cutter for here is the carnation and it looks as though it would be a great way to make it, too.

Variety.......2007-04-06

I am just starting out with gum paste and sugar flowers. This book has a wide variety of different flowers.

SUGAR FLOWER BOOK REVIEW.......2006-07-27

I THINK THIS IS AN EXCELLENT BOOK FOR ANYONE WHO KNOWS THE BASICS OF SUGAR FLOWER MAKING AND WOULD LIKE TO LEARN MORE. ITS WELL WRITTEN AND GIVES DETAILED INSTRUCTION AND MANY FLOWERS TO MAKE THAT ARE HARD TO TELL FROM THE REAL THING.
I LOVE IT.

Glorious Sugar Flowers.......2000-05-04

If you have any experience of gum paste flowers you will love this book. Excellent clear step by step colour pictures and good explanatory text. Glorious pictures of finished cakes and flower bouquets. Not for the beginner though as some of the techiniques are quite complex. Buy this book if you are looking for inspiration and a challenge .

Mom's Big Book of Baking: 200 Simple, Foolproof Recipes for Delicious Family Treats to Get You Through Every Birthday Party, Class Picnic, Potluck, Bake Sale, Holiday, and No-School Day

Average customer rating:

I have been looking for a cookbook just like this one....
Easy Delicious baking
YUMMY!
Great Book!
I'm a mom and I like this book!

Mom's Big Book of Baking: 200 Simple, Foolproof Recipes for Delicious Family Treats to Get You Through Every Birthday Party, Class Picnic, Potluck, Bake Sale, Holiday, and No-School Day
Lauren Chattman
Manufacturer: Harvard Common Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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

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

General | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books

General | Quick & Easy | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
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Instant Gratification: No-Hassle Desserts in Just About No Time

ASIN: 1558321942

Amazon.com

Lauren Chattman is both a pastry chef and a mom, so she's in the perfect position to offer Mom's Big Book of Baking, a cookbook filled with recipes the whole family will love. This collection of 200 recipes for simple, home-style baked goods lets already busy moms bake for bake sales, slumber parties, the family cookie jar, and other special occasions, without spending what little spare time they might have tied up in the kitchen. Tips called "Kids Can Help" describe different ways to involve children in the kitchen, and there are also plenty of funny sidebars, entitled A Good Excuse to Make..., that will give you a chuckle whether or not they convince you to try the recipe. Chattman includes favorites like Caramel Swirl Brownies, Rolled Sugar Cookies, Lattice-Top Apple Pie, and Chocolate Milk Pancakes. You'll be well prepared for birthdays with recipes such as Strawberry Cupcakes with Vanilla Whipped Cream and Strawberry Roses, a "magical" Marble Pound Cake, and Chocolate Birthday Cake Frosting. --Leora Y. Bloom

Book Description

If your mother made the world's best apple pie, you probably know that baked goods made for and with children are the stuff of family memories. But before creating warm and fuzzy memories, you need recipes that allow you to bake without fear and don't keep you chained to the kitchen for hours. Find those recipes in Mom's Big Book of Baking, which has more than 200 recipes tailor-made for today's extremely busy mom. The recipes are all tested in a real mom's kitchen (Lauren Chattman's) and tasted by real kids (her own). Chattman has created streamlined recipes that produce the highest quality baked goods with the least amount of fuss, striking a balance between familiar favorites and new twists. Try Caramel Swirl Brownies on a rainy afternoon, Strawberry Cupcakes with Vanilla Cream at the next school bake sale, Thin and Crispy Pizza for a slumber party, and Chocolate Milk Pancakes at breakfast the next morning. Chattman provides you with advice on when and how to let kids participate. There are loads of tips on vital topics including how to mass produce cupcakes, how to make the most Christmas cookies in the least amount of time, and how to make a birthday cake your child will remember forever without losing your own mind.

Customer Reviews:

I have been looking for a cookbook just like this one...........2007-09-01

for years! I always have the ingredients in the house, and the recipes taste wonderful. With Cheap Fast Good and Mom's Big Book of Baking, I can get rid of the rest of my cookbooks!

Easy Delicious baking.......2007-08-31

I checked out this book from the library and was inspired to buy it, I had to have my own copy! My favorite recipe is the blueberry muffins with the crumb topping, so easy to whip up. My 14 yr. old daughter loves to use the book often and surprises us with delicious treats. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves to bake, specially with such easy, delicious recipes.

YUMMY!.......2007-07-13

I have made about 10 of the recipes out of this book and we have loved all of them. I am looking forward to baking my way through it. The microwave brownies are so simple and our families quick chocolate fix.

Great Book!.......2007-05-21

As the mother of 2 little girls, I am finding a huge need for baked goods for all kinds of functions. So far everything I've made has been awesome - and simple. If you have children, this a great book to add to the collection!

I'm a mom and I like this book!.......2007-04-08

Like the author, I am a mother of 2 small kids and a professional chef. I work, I can cook fancy dishes with the best of them, but for birthday parties, playdates and bake sales. I have to put on a different hat and make simple, delicious things kids love - this is the book I use for that purpose. I've made a number of the recipes - the brownies and their variations are particular favorite. After I discovered the Microwave Brownie recipe, I think I gained 5 pounds, because I can now make brownies in 10 minutes from start to finish and I usually have all the ingredients in the house!

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