Baking Illustrated
by Cook's Illustrated Magazine Editors
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Book Reviews of Baking Illustrated
Book Review: My New Favorite
Summary: 5 Stars
I have always enjoyed baking but have always stuck to my tried and true recipes. This book has changed all of that. I'm familiar with the Cook's Illustrated line of products and asked for the book for Christmas.
I have not been disappointed. The instructions and lengthy explanations are clear and remove alot of apprehension when starting a new recipe. The explanations of why things work the way they do help to troubleshoot or problem solve when a recipe goes wrong.
Even the ingredients are precise. This book offers both volume and weight measurements and recommneds specific ingredients where necessary.
The yellow cake mix blows the boxed mixes away. The recipes for Rustic Italian Bread, American Sandwich Bread, and Whole Wheat Bread were all clear and easy to follow, even for a first timer, and produced fantastic results.
While I have a number of baking books, this one is by far my favorite. The recipes, clear instructions, and lengthy explanations make for an invaluable baking resource.
Book Review: A must have for the home baker
Summary: 5 Stars
This book has probably the most recipes that I use over and over again. I know that many true "pastry chefs" cringe at the thought of America's Test Kitchen because of their non-traditional methods and/or ingredients, but it always ends up coming down to one thing for me - their recipes work. They are reproducible and have been lab tested for a taste and texture that mostly I agree with. I don't need a 3 star Michelin chef telling me what's good - good pastry is what tastes good to me.
I admit though that some of the recipes go against the grain of traditional baking. Example, they insist that key lime pie tastes better when made from regular limes and not key limes - something considered sacrilege. I also have to agree that their tasting panel's determination as to what tastes good can be skewed at times and not necessarily accurate to what you may think is good. I have always been able to tweak the recipes to adjust for my tastes, so I didn't find this too much of a problem.
Book Review: Reliable Recipes
Summary: 4 Stars
I have made a few baked items from this book in the short time I've owned it, and each one of them came out quite well. That alone, to me, is worth the money I spent on the book and ingredients. As many home bakers can attest, there are many baking books that are of the too-much-hype-little-delivery quality.
The recipes I've tried are: Sour Cream Coffee cake (increased cinnamon just because of personal taste), German Chocolate Cake, Triple Chocolate Brownies, various cream pies, Corn Muffins, Chocolate Souffl?, Lemon Meringue Pie, Lemon Pound Cake, and Key Lime Pie. They've all been successful and the work involved was not anything close to arduous.
The only reason I give this book four stars instead of five is because the recipes are for very basic baked goods. There aren't any items here that will deliver any WOW! effect. It's a good, solid, no-nonsense baking book with can't-fail recipes and techniques. However, don't expect any marvelous creations.
Book Review: Step Up to Perfection
Summary: 5 Stars
I baked my first cake when I was nine years old, with the help of my Dad who was a pastry chef in the Navy. That's when I became a closet pastry chef! I want to open my own bakery, but I need to hone this craft, trying to get my baking to be as close to my Dad's perfect pastries as I can and this book, "Baking Illustrated" has helped me take a huge step up to being close to perfect! I love it; the recipes are good and the explanations and tips are even better. I wish there were more pictures of each finished item, but the pictures and illustrations are really helpful also. I've had the book for one month and I've baked something from each section so far and have already planned my fall baking and my Thanksgiving and Christmas baking from this book. If you want to learn to bake and if you want to impress your family, friends and coworkers, then please, buy this book and make sure that you have some people ready to indulge in these goodies! I'll send out ads when I open my bakery shop!Book Review: One of my favorite cookbooks
Summary: 5 Stars
Let me start by saying, if you like lots of pictures in your cookbooks, this may not be a good choice for you. That said, this has some fantastic recipes in it: pizza crust dough, cream biscuits, buttermilk biscuits, chewy chocolate chip cookies, double/triple chocolate cookies...I could go on & on.
This is the first time I've been able to make a pizza crust that's actually good & tastes like a pizza crust. My husband loves it!
One of my favorite things about this cookbook is the wonderful "why" information. It explains why certain ingredients are preferred (like bread flour over all-pupose flour). It give step-by-step directions for how to stretch pizza dough, make giant cookies, form biscuits, etc.
The friend who recommended this cookbook to me, told me she had loved every recipe she had used. I totally agree with her.
(By the way, this book was purchased for me from Amazon as a gift.)