Baking: From My Home to Yours
by Dorie Greenspan
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Book Reviews of Baking: From My Home to Yours
Book Review: The one and only Dorie Greenspan does it again
Summary: 5 Stars
In simple words, this book is absolutely fabulous.
Dorie has given to us yet another book that swells with jaw-dropping delights, but our jaws aren't to remain drawn for long because she (as she always does), puts down her recipes with brilliance, care, and innocence, which makes it impossible for any fan of Dorie's to stay out of the kitchen. That said, it was only 10 minutes after buying this book that I found myself baking away Dorie's famous chocolate chip cookies. But that's not to say you can't start anywhere; I'm almost halfway done and it's been high marks across the board.
Dorie seems to have given equal and precise care to each and every recipe in this book, a new and American classic. And it is exactly that - an "American" classic. To anyone who is familiar with Dorie's other books (the Cafe Boulud Cookbook and Desserts by Pierre Herme to name a few), Baking succeeds because it shows the amazing versatility of its author, Ms. Greenspan. While some of her other books have focused on French cuisine, and the complexities therein, Baking tackles the very hard task of stirring life back into those American originals that overtime can become boring. Not in this book, however. The always clever Greenspan not only rejuvinates the sweets we all grew up with, but she lets us in on the secrets of her craft while spinning for us the anecdotal yarns our own mothers and grandmothers once told. All of this has made her the cooking/baking/writing extraordinaire that she is (but something tells me she would never admit to any of this - she's too lovely I imagine).
Baking: From My Home To Yours is an absolute stunner. At first you won't want to ruin its beautiful pages, but soon you will find flour hidden between pages, "excellent" notes penned in the margins, and the book itself not far from the confines of your oven. Hooray to Dorie Greenspan. Our glasses of milk are raised to you.
Book Review: Oh yeah....
Summary: 5 Stars
I picked up this book a few weeks ago, because "Baking with Julia" is an absolute favorite cookbook of mine. The book is chatty and enjoyable to read through, but the proof is always if the recipes WORK.
I made two recipes from it for the first time for Thanksgiving.
The pecan pie is hands down the BEST pecan pie I have ever had, let alone made. What caught my attention is the description in that the pie is not as sweet as most pecan pies - which is a plus for me, since that's the one thing I dislike about pecan pies - the propensity to be super sweet. The undertones of espresso are fabulous. Next time I make it, I would probably omit the bittersweet chocolate just to get more of a "pure" pecan pie taste, but the espresso definately stays.
I also made the chocolate armagnac cake, but substituted Scotch and raisins for the armagnac and prunes (just because that's what I had on hand). Again, fabulous. Most nearly-flourless cakes fall in my experience - this did not. It was fudgy and dense - and you definately get more than the 8 servings out of it. A small sliver of a rich dessert is more appealing to me than a large serving, so this fit the bill. I will be trying this recipe with some of my other favorite paired-with-chocolate liquors, like Cointreau, Chambord, Kahlua, Amaretto...
I should note that I almost always make recipes to spec the first time, and after that I start playing with flavors - changing up liquors, nuts, extracts, spices, etc. The two recipes I tried would be very workable to make changes it seems without unbalancing the chemistry of the recipes.
With the upcoming holiday season, I do a lot of baking - this book will be getting a workout!
Book Review: A Classic
Summary: 5 Stars
I had tried many of Dorie's recipes found online, and loved every one of them. My husband loved them. Even my 5yo daughter's favorite cookies and cupcakes are Dorie's recipes. So I finally just bought the book. The only thing I miss is a picture with every recipe. And no statement on how amazingly, addictively, good is the "All-in-one" cake.
The thing that makes this book a must have is not just that it's massive, with every type of cake/cookie/pie out there, but that each recipe includes variations, sometimes unexpected, at least tripling the number of recipes. I made parmesan sables (a variation on the basic sable) last week and they were scrumptious. So one can find the appropriate recipe for any occasion. And every single thing I made has been delicious.
Finally, I find Dorie's descriptions of different stages incredibly helpful ("don't worry if the batter looks curdled at this point", "mix it until it looks satiny", ...). As well as her general intros (e.g., difference in the texture of pie crust made with butter vs. shortening), or techniques on how to make light doughs (what butter mixed into the flour should look like). And the fact that she tells you what can be frozen and how, that's such a great tip.
One thing I am not crazy about, but not worth taking away even 1/2 the star: the index. Could be more readable (there are so many subheadings that they go on the following pages and then it's hard to know what they are under), and some things have not been listed under their actual names (e.g., my beloved "All-in-one-cake" is not listed as its own heading, but as a subheading under "apple", which happens to be one of the ingredients).
Worth every penny.
Book Review: Yummy
Summary: 4 Stars
This is an almost-perfect dessert (alas, not baking) cookbook. I would have liked to see more bread products in it, but aside from that minor quibble it really is quite easy to follow. If you follow the directions, you will almost never turn out a bad cookie. Or muffin. Or cake.
One of the first cakes I tried was the chocolate-armagnac cake (originally with whiskey and raisins). This is a multi-stage affair of stewing prunes, melting chocolate, grinding pecans (in Holland, plain nuts are just generally hard to find), which is supposed to result in a dense and deliciously moist cake. Unlike most recipes I've tried, this one actually does. And as a bonus--it even looks like the pretty picture in the book.
Most of the recipes in the book do end up exactly as she describes, as fluffy or moist or whatever other adjective she uses to describe anything in it. My major quibble with the book, and the reason why I took off one star, is that her baking times and temperature are a bit off. Admittedly, our oven is a monster when it comes to temperature, but if it were solely the oven you would expect the times to be consistently shortened or lengthened. They are not. Sometimes I end up nearly doubling the baking time; sometimes I end up halving it. I have found it much easier to watch what I'm baking instead of relying on her baking times; fortunately this is made easier by her telling you what the finished product is supposed to look like. For instance, in our oven, pound cakes bake up in 45 minutes (rather than the given 75-90 minutes), and while the molasses spice cookies take somewhere closer to twenty minutes rather than the given 12-14 minutes.
Book Review: Disappointing.
Summary: 2 Stars
I've made four things from this book so far, and it's highly unlikely I'll be making any more.
The Coffee-Break Muffins were absolutely terrible - mushy and tasteless. I had to throw them out.
The Chocolate Ganache Ice Cream was excellent, but the instructions were not. It's amazing that Dorie left out the most crucial step in making any kind of custard. She failed to note that the custard needs to be strained before adding to the melted chocolate. Now since I've made custards and custard-based ice creams before, I was fully aware of the necessity of that step, but I'm sure there are lots of other people who are not. If they're not aware of the necessity to strain out the custard, they will be left with little pieces of scrambled eggs in their ice cream. Real appetizing.
The Cinnamon Squares were very good, but too cinnamony, even for me, and I'm a cinnamon lover. That wasn't really a problem, however, since I could always cut it down the next time around. But... something very strange happened after I froze the leftover pieces. When I defrosted them, they were absolutely gooey, sticky, and inedible. Needless to say, they went into the garbage. Now, that has NEVER happened before with any other cake recipe at any time in all the years I've been baking. So, why didn't Dorie simply indicate that these don't freeze well? Another real irritation.
And lastly, the Espresso Chocolate Shortbread Cookies were very good, but nothing outstanding, and probably not something I'd make again. As usual, the instructions were terrible.
Overall, this book is a real disappointment. The best part is the beautiful photography.