The Weekend Baker: Irresistible Recipes, Simple Techniques, and Stress-Free Strategies for Busy People - Softcover

Dodge, Abigail Johnson

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0393331393 ISBN 13: 9780393331394

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, 2008

Synopsis

"This no-time-for-frills cookbook offers low effort/high yield desserts."--USA Today

Want to start baking (again) but can't find the time? The Weekend Baker makes it easy with its unique organization. Recipes are grouped by how long they take, from the simple to the elaborate. Need a dessert in under an hour? Turn to Baker's Express and whip up Emergency Chocolate Cupcakes. Like to plan a bit more? Try the Glazed Apricot-Plum Galette in Baking in Stages--there's no pie plate, no crimping, no double crusts. Want a sophisticated dessert for your dinner party? You can make the Lemon Chiffon Pie with Pretzel Crust and store it in the fridge for up to three days.

About this title

Review:

What's a weekend baker? "Anyone who loves to bake, but gets tripped up feeling that it's too time consuming," writes Abigail Johnson Dodge in The Weekend Baker, her collection of 100-plus recipes for a wide range of sweet and savory baked goods. Formulas for the likes of Gingered Shortcakes with Jumbled Fruit, Soft Chocolate-Almond Oatmeal Cookies, and Chocolate-Banana Swirl Cake are immediately attractive, but the great value of Dodge's book lies in its organization, which takes readers from the simplest and quickest projects--"Baker's Express"--through "Baking in Stages," and finally "Productions," fuller-dress items like Four-Layer Carrot Cake and Overnight Brioche Braid; these are, nevertheless, well within the average baker's skill. In a world of baking books that offer the simplest and most traditional recipes only, or assume that readers have the time and technique to create multi-element extravaganzas, The Weekend Baker stands apart. Its approach is realistic without sacrificing good taste or recipe integrity. Dodge includes tips that cover familiar ground--get to know your oven, and the lik--but also offers, for example, "Bake It and Stow It," a detailed guide to storing sweets. Features like "Do-Aheads," and "Got Extra Time?," usefully further Dodge's quick-and-delicious approach. (She's also pleasingly droll; a really rich brownie is dubbed "prescription-strength."). With color photos, the book is a real addition to the harried baker's library. --Arthur Boehm

About the Author:

* ABIGAIL JOHNSON DODGE studied pastry-making at La Varenne in Paris and founded the test kitchen of Fine Cooking magazine, where she is a contributing editor.

About this edition

• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0393331393
• ISBN 13: 9780393331394
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 384