Fearless Baking: Over 100 Recipes That Anyone Can Make - Softcover

Klivans, Elinor

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1439154902 ISBN 13: 9781439154908

Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 2008

Synopsis

With recipes organized by technique and step-by-step instruction, Fearless Baking is the antidote to years of crumbly cookies, tasteless tarts, and burnt biscuits. If you're a first-time baker, you'll be amazed at the ease and speed with which you can turn out the same kinds of quality homemade treats you've envied in others' homes. If you're an experienced baker, you'll find focused instructions on each aspect of baking, and original fail-safe recipes that can broaden your repertoire.

Introductory chapters detail the basic ingredients used throughout the book, along with the appropriate pans and utensils. Each recipe begins with a helpful "Baking Answers" section to anticipate questions or problems and explain the baking ideas or techniques that the recipe introduces or emphasizes. In addition, the directions not only include tips for visual measurement but also often provide descriptive instructions for recognizing when a batter is properly mixed or an item is done.

Each chapter builds on skills and techniques that have been previously explained. Beginning with the simplest recipe (for Perfectly Easy Chocolate Chip Butterscotch Blondies) in "Just Stir and Bake," you progress to Glazed Fresh Raspberry Pie in "No-Roll Crusts with Simple Fillings," Butter Shortbread Cut-outs in "Mixing a Smooth Dough," and Deep South Pound Cake in "Mixing a Smooth Batter." Now go on to Cranberry Eggnog Cake with Bourbon Butter Frosting in "Putting the Frosting with the Cake," Apple and Hazelnut Macaroon Tart in "Rolled Crusts for Pies and Tarts," Orange Meringue Ice Cream Cake in "Whipping Eggs for Cakes and Meringues," and Dark Chocolate Cupcakes with Fudge Frosting in "Baking with Chocolate." Finally, wow family and friends with Aunt Elaine's Mocha Whipped Cream Shadow Cake from "Whipping Cream for Cakes, Pies, and Pastries," and the Pumpkin Pecan Praline Cheesecake from "Melting Sugar for Caramel and Praline."

This surefire guide to turning out delicious home-made treats should be on every baker's bookshelf.

About this title

Review:

Any less-than-intrepid bakers out there? No need to worry: Elinor Klivans comes to the rescue with Fearless Baking. By anticipating everything that can go wrong, Klivans lives up to the title of her cookbook and takes the fear out of baking. Organized by technique, from easiest to most difficult, Klivans guarantees success recipe by recipe. She anticipates questions and problems in a section at the beginning of every recipe called "baking answers," and includes a comprehensive glossary of baking terms, equipment, and techniques. You need nothing more fancy than a hand mixer to make even the most complicated recipe in the book, and yet the great quantity of original, delectable sweet and savory goods included here make it a worthwhile purchase for even the most accomplished baker.

Your baking course begins with a section called Just Stir and Bake, and includes some all-time favorites such as Perfectly Easy Chocolate-Chip Butterscotch Blondies (your friends will love you). The chapters move on through "No-Roll Crusts with Simple Fillings" (try the Glazed Fresh Raspberry Pie and everyone will think you're a pro) to chapters on mixing, frosting (how about a Cranberry Eggnog Cake with Bourbon Butter frosting?), rolling, whipping, "Baking with Chocolate," and even "Melting Sugar for Caramel and Praline" (one taste of Pumpkin Pecan Praline Cheesecake and you'll be convinced you're ready to open your own bakery!).

Klivans sets you up for success throughout Fearless Baking. Her instructions are detailed, she assumes nothing, and her explanations are clear and useful. This is truly a baking book that no kitchen should be without. --Leora Y. Bloom

About the Author:

Elinor Klivans is an award-winning pastry chef trained in France and the United States. She is the author of several cookbooks, including Big Fat Cookies and Bake and Freeze Desserts, a Julia Child Cookbook Award nominee, and a coauthor of Williams-Sonoma Essentials of Baking. Based in Maine, Klivans is also a frequent guest on radio and television and has written for numerous national magazines.

About this edition

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 1439154902
• ISBN 13: 9781439154908
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 400