• Food52 Genius Desserts: 100 Recipes That Will Change the Way You Bake (Food52 Works) by Kristen Miglore (available to order from Amazon)—
  Food52 Genius Desserts is out, and I already ordered and received my copy. Now I have to decide what to make because I want to bake it all. Genius Desserts is a collection of the best, quirkiest, most interesting baking recipes collected from over a century's worth of sources, selected and tested by Food52's Kristen Miglore. So, though Miglore is listed as the author, each recipe is attributed to somebody else. In this book, you will find recipes for everything, from a classic olive oil cake from Maialino and Rachel Binder to Lucky Peach's parsnip cake (this is on my to-bake list for sure!) and J. Kenji Lopez Alt's "ten-minute lime cracker pie," which I find particularly intriguing. Miglore has taken the time to collect the best techniques in this tome, so this baking cookbook is a great resource if you want to learn something new or something different about baking.

• All About Cake by Christina Tosi (available for pre-order from Amazon)—I'm ecstatic about the release of Christina Tosi's latest book is an understatement. I am a HUGE fan (which is the only coherent sentence I managed to utter when I bumped into her in NYC in 2014). Her first book, Milk Bar, had such a big impact on my baking career and my blog. My favourite layer cakes to make are her Milk Bar cakes, and Tosi has now dedicated an entire cookbook to cake, from simple microwave mug cakes and impressive bundt cakes to her signature cake truffles and naked layer cakes. This book will no doubt inspire us all even more than the first one.

• Rose's Baking Basics by Rose Levy Beranbaum (available for pre-order from Amazon)—I have many of Rose Levy Beranbaum's cookbooks. When I was just starting to get into baking, I turned to "RLB" because of the very "scientific," clear way she lays out her recipes, often in table format! This book claims you will have no-fail results if you bake from it and it's got over 600 photos to guide you through the baking recipes.

• Sister Pie: The Recipes and Stories of a Big-Hearted Bakery in Detroit by Lisa Ludwinski (available for pre-order from Amazon)—This year, I vowed to do less crying over failed pies, so I have been practicing making pie. I have purchased a stack of books about pie making, and I have pre-ordered Sister Pie to add to my collection. Sister Pie is a collection of 75 recipes with standout flavour combinations like rhubarb and rosemary, sour cherry and bourbon... If you love pie, Sister Pie is going to bring you much inspiration for your pie-baking adventures.

• Modern Baking by Donna Hay (available for pre-order on Amazon)—Lately, Donna Hay has been publishing larger cookbooks with more recipes and photos. Modern Baking contains over 250 baking recipes, so you know it will be a big cookbook at 400 pages. I'm a fan of Donna Hay's style and photography, and I love how she manages to write baking recipes in about 5 to 10 lines of text each. It all seems so easy when Donna Hay does it.

• The Cookie Book: Decadent Bites for Every Occasion by Rebecca Firth (available on Amazon)—Rebecca Firth of the very popular site Displaced Housewife has put together a GORGEOUS cookbook centred on cookies. This book looks stunning, and seeing her twists on the classics will be interesting. I want to bake her Cold Brew Cookies With White Chocolate + Espresso Beans because they sound amazing. I love a good cookie book, and this is a cookie cookbook to add to the collection.

• The Bread Collection: Recipes for Baking Artisan Bread at Home by Brian Hart Hoffman (available to order on Amazon)—If you want to learn to make everything from classic flaky biscuits to sourdough bread, this book is for you. It was released at the beginning of September and clocks in over 100 bread-baking recipes. I am a big fan of the magazine Bake from Scratch and everything Brian Hart Hoffman does. He puts together quality books and magazines and surrounds himself with the greatest in the industry. This latest book dedicated to bread is one to bake from.

• Red Truck Bakery Cookbook: Gold-Standard Recipes from America's Favorite Rural Bakery by Brian Noyes and Nevin Martell (available to pre-order on Amazon)—Former President Barack Obama endorsed this bakery, quoted as saying “I like pie. That’s not a state secret . . . I can confirm that the Red Truck Bakery makes some darn good pie.” Need I say more? There's a caramel pumpkin pie that caught my attention because it's sweetened with caramel instead of straight sugar. I think this book will elevate the classic American baking recipes and I look forward to reading Red Truck Bakery's take on tradition.

I cannot wait to get my hands on these baking cookbooks, even though I did say at some point this year that I needed to buy less cookbooks... Screw that. I'm going to fill my bookshelves with ALL the baking cookbooks I can because they make me happy and I'm sure that you will enjoy them too!

The post Best baking books coming out in fall 2018 appeared first on The Bake School.

I still get a little nervous when it comes to hitting the "publish" button on my blog. I've been blogging for almost 6 years. You'd think I'd be more comfortable with the pressure of "publish". I'm not. I worry that I've made a typo somewhere in the text, or worse, in the recipe. I have no editors and I work alone, so it is entirely possible that, when I'm writing up a recipe, I miss a step, or I make a mistake. It's happened before. I've made some AWFUL typing errors. Like the mistake that resulted in a reader using over a kilo of butter to make frosting instead of a hundred and some grams of butter. True story. 1000 grams and 100 grams are VERY different numbers, and I made that mistake, accidentally typing an extra zero somewhere. So a poor reader made the frosting with a kilo of butter, generously writing to me that it was "a little buttery" as written. I was mortified and I felt very, very bad for that mistake. I spend a lot of money on butter every week, so I am very aware of the price of that much butter. Not only that, but that somebody took the time to read my post, follow my recipe, and waste those ingredients... It left me with the most awful feeling in my heart. Still, mistakes happen, and I am one person running this show. I try to be as attentive and as careful as possible, but mistakes will inevitably slip through the cracks. That's just a fact, no matter how much I sweat over a recipe. And if I wrote a cookbook one day (and that day may come!), there will be mistakes there too, no matter how many people I have on my side, reading over my work, testing the recipes, editing my writing. It's all very true and very scary.

I felt the need to preface this book review with a note that errors and mistakes happen because as much as I love this book, Making Dough: Recipes and Ratios for Perfect Pastries by Russell Van Kraayenburg, published by Quirk Books (available on Amazon), there are mistakes in this book. I don't want to be mean or overly harsh. That's not my goal. And I must point out that EVERYTHING I made from the recipes in Making Dough worked. I made danishes with fantastic layering (considering I make laminated doughs once a year, if that, these danishes turned out beautifully. Scroll down and look at them!). I threw together the tastiest biscuits I've ever made (cheddar bacon biscuits with a bourbon-maple glaze), and even cheddar gougères. Still, even though the recipes turned out really well in the end, I had to put a lot thought every step of the baking process. As cookbook readers, we shouldn't have to put so much thought into following a recipe. Unfortunately, there are inconsistencies in the book that went unnoticed when the book got published. Most of the directions could have used an extra careful eye to read through every page. I question whether every single recipe was tested by a recipe tester, honestly. Because from the 3 recipes I tested, every single one had some confusing mistakes or incomplete directions. And considering this is a book about ratios, which implies a certain level of precision, it's a little unsettling. I even got in touch with the publisher before writing this post. I sent in my edits to the publisher because I still like this book, and with a few corrections, I think it could be great.

The book is divided into logical categories, based on the basic doughs you need to master in order to make most pastries:  biscuits, scones, pies, tarts, cream puffs, brioche breads, puff pastries, croissants, and even danishes. Every dough chapter opens with a basic ratio and the most basic recipe for a dough. Subsequent recipes cover how to vary the base dough and showcase all the things you can make from that basic dough ratio. There are lots of sidebars and notes throughout the book. It's all very logical. I picked the three recipes I tested here because each came from a different section and therefore a different "basic dough recipe". I also picked these three because they come with varying levels of difficulty, the laminated danish dough being the most technically demanding of the three as it involves four single turns (croissants only take three single turns).

Cheddar gougères

The first recipe I tested was the pâte à choux recipe to make cheddar gougères. The pâte à choux worked well, and I appreciated that the author has directions for making it in the mixer because beating pâte à choux by hand is a real pain. Russel's recipe ratio is the same one we learned at Le Cordon Bleu, actually. Still, I cannot agree with the author's choice of a ¼-inch piping tip to pipe the puffs and éclairs throughout the book. That's way too small a tip to pipe any choux pastry, really. In pastry school, we used a 12 mm tip, which is just about double what Russell recommends. I used a 12 mm tip to make these puffs in the end, but first I tried with a 6 mm tip, the closest tip I have to a ¼-inch, and it just didn't work. The size that you pipe varies according to the size of the tip. So to pipe gougères that are the size of a Canadian toonie, you literally shouldn't/can't do that with a ¼-inch piping tip. And on that note, the author doesn't mention how big to pipe the gougères. That'd be helpful for those of us that never make them.

Bourbon-maple glazed cheddar bacon biscuits

The cheddar bacon biscuits with bourbon maple glaze were a huge hit with my friends (and me too!). The thyme in the glaze really brings out that oaky barrel-aged flavour of bourbons and works so well with maple. I saved some for pancakes. Yum! Unfortunately, in the biscuit recipe, the ingredients list includes only baking powder, which is fine except the directions state to add "the baking soda". Most of us know that baking soda and baking powder are not the same chemical leaveners. And I knew right away that Russell most probably meant baking powder, firstly because no recipe would ever call for 4 teaspoon of baking soda unless we were working on a kilo scale recipe, and secondly because there isn't an acid present in the recipe to react with that baking soda. Clearly baking powder was the correct ingredient to use. I deduced this and you probably would too, but we can't expect every reader to come to the same conclusion. I fear somebody may read the directions and add 4 teaspoon baking soda instead of 4 teaspoon baking powder. Yikes! That would be inedible, if that happened.

Maple braided danishes

The final recipe I tested, the maple braided danishes, gave me the most trouble because of the way the recipe was written. I've made a lot of maple syrup recipes, but this was my first attempt at maple danishes. If you follow me on Snapchat, then you saw all the issues I had (undissolved yeast, butter block being the wrong size, measuring issues with the dough and the shaping, the yield of the recipe states 9 braids, but the directions say to make 6 braids, and the list goes on...). I was exhausted by the end and my friends were starved because I stupidly didn't pay attention to the 8 hour prep time for this recipe when I invited friends over to eat them with me. Yes, you read that right: EIGHT HOURS to make these beauties! Sorry, friends! I'll make it up to you one day for starving you all day. The prep time issue was completely my fault, of course, and not the fault of the book. Still, they watched my struggles along the way. Sure, we laughed, but it was also a little frustrating. In the end, the maple braided danishes turned out beautifully. But I was rather frustrated many steps of the way. I'm still not sure if the recipe is supposed to make 6 braids or 9 braids, and I'm not sure how thick the dough was supposed to be rolled before cutting it into strips. My strips were thick and therefore awkward to braid. The braids I made look nothing like those pictured in the book.

Final thoughts

The number one thing that I found odd throughout the book is the author's choice to use a different ratio of cake flour to bread flour for each recipe. I understand that different doughs may require different percentages of protein (and specifically gluten) to achieve the best textures. However, the problem remains that depending where your reader is from and the brand/country of origin of the flours used, baking with a mix instead of straight all-purpose won't fix the fact that Canadian flours are different than American flours (we usually have a higher protein content in our flours from a "harder wheat" as Nick Malgieri pointed out to me once at a book signing). And if you use King Arthur flours, theirs are also higher in protein. So using a mix doesn't make for a more reproducible result from one person to another. It's more of a nuisance than anything else. In the end, I used all-purpose throughout my tests, which the author suggests is a suitable substitute. And I chose to use all-purpose flour only because I expect most readers wouldn't have the different flours on hand and would probably make that same substitution as I did.

Do I recommend this book? Yes and no. I hope there will be a 2nd edition that is revised and corrected. If that happens, I'd have no issue telling you to go out and buy it. The way the book is now, I would say, if you love to bake and you geek out on ratios the way I do, this book would make an interesting investment for your collection, but be prepared to have to think on your feet and wing it for some recipes. I don't regret purchasing this book. Not at all. But I honestly stuffed my face with danishes at the end of the maple braided danish bake day, puzzling over how to handle this review. It stressed me out, not only because I didn't want to anger a publisher like Quirk Books, but also because I don't want to insult a published author like Russell (who also happens to be a pastry chef and blogger I've followed for years on Chasing Delicious). I wonder if this book suffered from a combination of tight deadlines and small budgets. This book reinforced my strong beliefs that publishing houses need to find funding for external, objective, professional recipe testing. At this point, I've tested a lot of books to review on my blog, but I've also worked on the side as a recipe tester for 3 cookbooks. With every project, I realize the importance of the recipe testing step and the huge impact this can have on the reliability of the finished book. I could say more about this, but I've probably said too much already. I'll save the rest for another day.

If you would like a copy of Making Dough: Recipes and Ratios for Perfect Pastries by Russell Van Kraayenburg, published by Quirk Books, you can find it on Amazon. While you wait for your order, here's the recipe for the basic biscuit dough as well as the bourbon-maple glazed cheddar bacon biscuits variant.

Please note that I purchased my copy of this book. I tested three recipes from the book before coming to these conclusions. The recipes here were published with permission from Quirk Books.

The post Making Dough | Recipes and Ratios for Perfect Pastries Review appeared first on The Bake School.

I was particularly excited about the list of fall 2018 cookbooks released this year, as you know, and so I preordered almost all of them. Food52 Genius Desserts by Kristen Miglore is the first I received and the first I got to take for a test run. And after spending a lot of time reading and baking from this book, I want to tell you one thing: you must order the Food52 Genius Desserts book now if you love to bake and you should order it for any of your friends who love to bake, especially if you are searching for a good gift idea for the baker in your life. You can buy it on Amazon.

Food52 Genius Desserts is divided up like most classic baking recipe cookbooks, into chapters by dessert type: Cookies & Candy, Cakes, Custards, Puddings & Frozen Things, Pies & Tarts, with the last chapter dedicated to recipes that are "Mostly Fruit". The subtitle of the book is "100 recipes that will change the way you bake", and I tend to agree. The headnotes above each recipe are extensive and many come with tips from the recipe writers featured. There are full page inserts dedicated to even more tips, tricks, insider information, covering topics like how to turn bread into dessert, how to make a superstable fruit-flavoured whipped cream, different types of chocolate sauces, what to do with leftover cookies and cakes, no stress pie dough recipe loaded with tips, etc. There is so much great information and knowledge hidden in every page of this book.

The Food52 Genius Desserts cookbook is a compilation of the best baking recipes from home bakers, professionals, cookbooks, the internet... The recipes in this book aren't just great on paper, they are tried-and-tested dessert recipes that have survived the test of time (and Kristen Miglore's rigorous testing). Some of the baking recipes are also very unique and downright quirky. You might notice that many of the recipes in this book seem very familiar. In this book, you will find popular recipes like Dorie Greenspan's World Peace Cookies similar to these chocolate sablés and the chocolate cloud cake from Richard Sax that Nigella also republished years ago (quite similar to this simple gluten-free chocolate cake). There are recipes in here from popular, very well respected bakers, like Alice Medrich (these nibby buckwheat butter cookies) and Claire Ptak (these glazed cardamom walnut cakes).  Instead of having to buy a zillion cookbooks for just one recipe in each, here's a compilation of the best dessert recipes, all in one baking book. That seems like a deal to me. Need I say more?

Please note that this post is a review of the cookbook Food52 Genius Desserts by Kristen Miglore. I purchased the book on Amazon and you can too over here.
This post contains affiliate links to Amazon and Kobo. If you buy a product I recommend on Amazon or Kobo via the link, I will receive a small commission, and the price you have to pay will not change in any way.

The post Food52 Genius Desserts cookbook appeared first on The Bake School.

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

I have been a fan of Mardi Michels' blog eat. live. travel. write. for years, without exaggerating. I think I started following Mardi in 2010, back when she was learning how to bake the perfect macarons. She now teaches baking classes all about macarons in Toronto, Ontario. I've loved following along over the years as she explores cookbooks, recipes, and cooking with kids, and now Mardi's written a book!

Mardi works very hard and dedicates herself to everything she does. Her new book, In the French Kitchen with Kids: Easy, Everyday Dishes for the Whole Family to Make and Enjoy, is proof (available on Amazon). Mardi sets out to show that we can all cook and bake French recipes at home, regardless of how old or young we are. Her recipe instructions are clear and detailed enough so that you aren't left guessing. The recipes don't require years of experience to follow and the goal is to make French recipes approachable enough that even kids can follow along and help out (or take over) in the kitchen.

What you'll find in this cookbook

The recipes in the cookbook In The French Kitchen With Kids are divided into chapters according to meals, Breakfast (Le petit déjeuner), Lunch (Le déjeuner), After-school snacks (Le goûter), Dinner (Le dîner), Dessert (Le dessert), Special occasions (Pour les grandes occasions). There's also a chapter for Basic pastry recipes at the end, filled with some of the fundamental recipes you need to bake many of the most common French recipes, like a pâte sucrée dough recipe (sweet shortcrust). The recipes are given in imperial cups and also metric grams and millilitres, a preferred method for measuring ingredients, especially in France (though sometimes they mix in such things as decilitres and centilitres, but let's save that discussion for another time).

The introduction section includes tips on how to cook from the book with kids, successfully and safely. The reminder of practice makes perfect is a good one for all of us, regardless of age and experience. I feel like we should all apply most of the tips for cooking with kids in our own kitchen adventures. For example, wouldn't you agree that we are more likely to succeed in the kitchen if we take the time to read through a recipe completely before beginning and then if we do all our mise-en-place, measuring out and getting ready all of the ingredients to make a dish before jumping to the stove? I find baking certainly goes much more smoothly when you do a little bit of prep work ahead.

There are many, many helpful tips boxed off in this book to guide you along the way, and there are also a few fun language lessons to show the origin of some of the French terms, like how the French say "yogourt" or "yaourt" for yoghurt, or how the word "galette" in French can have many meanings. So true!

What I tested from this cookbook

In The French Kitchen With Kids is definitely more than just a baking book, containing both savoury and sweet cooking and baking recipes, but I'm a baker so I focused on that. I tested three baking recipes in this book, specifically the financiers, the crème caramel, and the mixed berry galettes. I especially loved making (and eating) the galettes. I chose to make raspberry galettes because I hardly ever make galettes and so I felt this would definitely be a challenge for me. I was a little stressed about baking the galettes because I'm always worried about the pastry staying put in the oven as it bakes.... but everything worked out great! Here's the raspberry galettes recipe so you can bake them and see for yourself! The crème caramels are sinfully good. You should definitely give that recipe a try too! If you have kids at home, I'd definitely recommend In The French Kitchen With Kids cookbook to you, whether you are looking for a children's cookbook or a great basic cookbook and reference for making popular French foods and recipes. Get it on Amazon today!

I was sent a free copy of the cookbook by the publisher Appetite. I was not obliged to review the book, nor was I monetarily compensated to do so. All opinions are my own.

The post In The French Kitchen With Kids cookbook by Mardi Michels appeared first on The Bake School.

If you have any books to add to my list, let me know in the comments. I'm always on the lookout for more geeky reads! For more baking book ideas, make sure to check out my 2020 recommendations for books on baking. You can also take online baking classes to develop new skills and to keep practicing.

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

My top 5 baking science books to teach you the science of baking:

I am a very geeky baker, but no matter how "educated" any of us are, we still have to consult a few books. These are the science of baking books (and science of cooking books) I've been consulting over the years, which, combined with the baking podcasts I listen to, help me learn as much of possible about baking and food. There are 3 books that I cannot live without.

Warning: most of these books don't have images! Needless to say, you don't buy these books for the stunning visuals. Then again, I didn't buy these books for the pictures. I got them for the content and I read them like textbooks. Whenever I have a baking question that I can't answer, I turn to them.

#1 How Baking Works by Paula Figoni (available on Amazon)

This is my favourite baking science book of the list and the #1 baking book that I consult over and over again. Anna Olson (yes, THE Anna Olson) recommended it to me and I am so glad that I listened (I should really write her a thank you note). How Baking Works will teach you about sugars, caramelization vs Maillard browning, what gluten is exactly, how heat is transferred...

Basically, this book will teach you just about everything you might want to know if you are as obsessed with baking as I am. It's well written and it's clear, but it's not dumbed down either. I have consulted it so much in the last few years to help me better understand baking recipes, order of ingredients, and to troubleshoot baking recipes. I read certain sections over and over again. And if you want homework, each chapter has a quiz and lab exercises that you can do at home to better understand and apply the material discussed. If you are looking for a baking textbook, Paula Figoni's How Baking Works is it.

#2 On Food and Cooking by Harold McGee (available on Amazon)

Harold McGee's book is huge, both physically and literally. It's 896 pages of content, loaded with science, historical anecdotes (like how a young colonist in 1755 reported that maple syrup was made from the sap using freezing techniques, not heat) and lots of side bars (like the percentage of sugar in some popular candies vs the ratio of sucrose to glucose).

If you want to know, for example, what happens to bread dough when you cook it in the oven or what's the difference between a prawn and a shrimp, Harold McGee has the answer. He covers most all topics and ingredients you can think of, and he has a few little schemes and diagrams to accompany the text. If you are curious about food and cooking in general, and not just baking, or you want to know the optimal pH for pectin gelation with scholarly references to back up the reported data and findings, this book is for you!

#3 Ratios by Michael Ruhlman (available on Amazon)

When I bake, I do a fair bit of math and I calculate baking ratios for all my recipes, whether it's the ratio of dry to wet ingredients, or fat to dry ingredients, or maybe even fat to sugar to flour. I don't do all this math simply to fill my head with numbers (I don't really memorize or retain these kinds of things as a rule).

I calculate the ratios so that if and when something goes wrong, I can then look at the key ratio behind the recipe (or the ratio I used that I suspect is a little wonky) and then I can compare that ratio to other recipes that I know work, or to recipes that give a specific desired result. I have Excel spreadsheets dedicated to chocolate chip cookies, where I've converted, from cups into grams, all the recipes I've come across so that I can see what it will take to one day to make the BEST chocolate chip cookie in the world.

Since I'm obsessed with calculating baking ratios, it only makes sense that Michael Ruhlman's Ratio would be on my list. If you like to tinker with recipes in the kitchen, it's a good place to start because you know that whatever you do, if you are working with a shortbread cookie ratio, that is 1:2:3 ratio of sugar/butter/flour, your shortbread cookies will most probably turn out, if you scale it up or down.

Armed with the basic recipe ratios, you can expand and vary recipes more easily and make intelligent substitutions. I'm telling you: ratios are a way of life! This book is for those who are very mathematical. Also, before you go out and buy Michael Ruhlman's book Ratio, please, please, please buy this OXO kitchen scale (from Amazon) first. Just do it!

#4 The Baker's Appendix by Jessica Reed (available on Amazon)

 The Baker's Appendix is a new addition on my book shelf, and I'm in love. I pre-ordered The Baker's Appendix book because I was THAT eager to get my hands on it. When it came, I was shocked at how tiny the dimensions of this book are. The book is small, and yet it is packed full of useful information.

A large part of this book is dedicated to baking conversions and equivalents, and that's my favourite part. This book is so handy because even though I started my own baking conversions list for my blog and recipes, my list is by no means exhaustive or complete. By the way, if you would like a printable copy, sign up to get the baking conversions chart pdf.

The Baker's Appendix covers most commonly used ingredients in metric and volume measurements, so grams and cups. There's even a table for adjusting recipes at higher altitude, tables for baking pan volume conversions, and much more. And though this book is quite new, I now consider it indispensable for bakers.

Why do I bake in grams and convert all my recipes? I try to calculate some of the key ratios behind the recipes so that I can better understand what's going on and I think this works best if I work in grams. Remember when I wrote about the Québécois "pouding chômeur" recipe scandal? I showed you my spreadsheet of pudding cake recipes.

My recipe spreadsheets are a huge part of my work. I make these spreadsheets for a lot of recipes I'm working on, and I actually have an ongoing mega spreadsheet with all the chocolate chip cookie recipes I come across. I'm building it up to eventually create the ultimate chocolate chip cookie recipe, and that spreadsheet will help me do that because I've broken down each recipe into key ratios. You can find Jessica Reed's The Baker's Appendix on Amazon. Get it!

#5 Bakewise by Shirley O. Corriher (available on Amazon)

I had Shirley O. Corriher's BakeWise on my Amazon wishlist for a very, very long time. It took years for me to actually buy a copy, and I don't know why. This one has pictures (!), but not that many pictures, to be honest. My favourite part of BakeWise is the tables of tweaking options, like for pie crusts: "if you want tenderness, do this..."; "if you want crispiness, add this..."; "if you want colour, include this ingredient in your crust to promote browning...". Tables like that are absolutely invaluable to every baker because Corriher is basically giving you the tools to take your recipes a step further and to tweak them according to your tastes and preferences.

However, Shirley Corriher seems to disagree with me on cooking fruit before making pie (remember back in the fall, when I wrote about baking the sliced apples first before making this maple apple pie). She prefers to toss the fruit in sugar and let them set for 3 hours so that they release their juices, and then to concentrate those juices before assembling the pie. I guess I need to try that next before passing judgment (though I still think that my maple apple pie was magical!).

A few more baking references and baking books to consider

#6 Bravetart by Stella Parks (get it on Amazon)

If you are interested in baking science, then you are probably familiar with Stella Parks work. Stella Parks likes to get all nerdy about baking and goes to great lengths to perfect her baking recipes, using science.

#7 How To Bake Everything by Mark Bittman (get it on Amazon)

How To Bake Everything is Mark Bitman's latest cookbook and it's a baking book to complete his series How to Cook Everything. I think the title of the book is pretty self-explanatory. How To Bake Everything is a huge book, as one would expect if we are going to learn how to bake everything, and quite the opposite of The Baker's Appendix in size.

The book covers everything, from the basic vanilla cake to a tall croquembouche. There's even a Japanese mochi recipe in this book! The description of the book claims there are over 2,000 recipes and variations in How To Bake Everything, and I believe it. Most of the recipes come with a set of variations and applications. Actually, this book reminds me a lot of the Joy Of Cooking (Amazon), but for baking, because How To Bake Everything includes lots of diagrams and tables so that you can better understand the baking techniques behind the recipes and how to take the recipes further. How To Bake Everything would make a great cookbook for beginner bakers and experienced bakers, and it's available on Amazon.

#8 The Flavor Bible or The Flavor Thesaurus (find it on Amazon)

I find that with experience (and a lot of eating), most of us have an idea of what flavours play well together. But whenever I have a doubt, or I'm looking for flavour inspiration so that I can try something new, I turn to The Flavor Thesaurus, which shows flavour pairings for commonly used ingredients.

I have to admit though, lately, I've been a little frustrated with The Flavor Thesaurus because it doesn't have some of the ingredients I want to bake with, like passion fruit and matcha tea, so I've been considering upgrading to The Flavor Bible, which I gather features a more extensive list of ingredients and flavours. You can buy The Flavor Thesaurus here on Amazon, and The Flavor Bible is also available on Amazon.

#9 The Science of Cooking by Peter Barham (available on Amazon)

The Science of Cooking by Peter Barham is by no-means mainstream, and I'm not even sure it's in print anymore. It's a pretty short book (in comparison to Harold McGee's) and I read through the sections that were specifically addressing baking.

Peter Barham presents recipes along with the relevant science behind key techniques and the role of each ingredient. He also includes tables of troubleshooting suggestions. By far, my favourite part of this book is when he explains that the key to prevent cake collapse (as it cools) is to literally drop the cake "from a height of about 30 cm on to a hard surface" as soon as the cake comes out of the oven. I read this part (and his explanation of why this works) a dozen times because it's so odd.  So, I dropped a cake on the floor on purpose and in the name of science!

The eight books about baking and cooking listed above are a great start to help you get more serious about your baking and recipes, and I'd say most of these books are indispensable baking references to add to your collection as you learn about baking. Many on the list are purely baking references and don't have recipes, but a couple are baking cookbooks (Bakewise and How to Bake Everything) and an excellent place to start if you are looking to buy cookbooks for beginner bakers.

I have a fair bit of experience and yet I still consult all of these books all the time when I feel like I need more information and when I need to troubleshoot a baking recipe to make it better. There is a ton of information in these books to help you better understand the science of baking, flavours, baking ratios, and loads of recipes to get you started.

Now with all these books on our shelves, I think we are better equipped to bake something awesome. If you've got any other baking (or cooking) references that you think I should check out, let me know!

Please note this post contains affiliate links to Amazon. If you buy a product I recommend, I will get a small commission, and the price you have to pay will not change in any way.

The post Best science of baking books appeared first on The Bake School.

When you look at the quantity of sugar and sweet in most recipes (including mine), and then you look at the recipes in this book, it honestly seems like the recipes in this cookbook can't work or that they shouldn't work. I expected that the results wouldn't be good. Right? After all, sugar plays the following roles in baked goods:

• lightens the crumb and allows you to incorporate more air into batters
• brings out the flavour in baked goods so that they don't taste bland or under-sweetened
• adds moisture to baked goods, keeping them from drying out
• preserves baked goods by absorbing moisture

Tip: To ensure your baking works every time, read about the role of sugar in baking before reducing it in your recipes!

Joanne Chang dedicated a whole book to reducing sugar in baked goods, called Baking with Less Sugar: Recipes for Desserts Using Natural Sweeteners and Little-to-No White Sugar, published by Raincoast Books (available on Amazon and Amazon Canada). So, for the past week or so, I've been baking my way through because I am was a baker that firmly believed that every gram of granulated white sugar was absolutely necessary and that not even a teaspoon of it could be spared. I think a lot of bakers would agree.
I went into this review with a little skepticism, and I wouldn't necessarily have believed any of it if it weren't for Joanne Chang's name on the cover (remember I tried out her recipe for apple coffee cake from her first Flour bakery cookbook). Her recipes are always solid and if anybody can make baking with less sugar work, it's Joanne Chang. I trust her!

About the book, Baking with Less Sugar

The book is divided into five chapters around the various ways of reducing or eliminating white sugar from baked goods:

1. Chapter 1 covers drastically reducing the white sugar in recipes because that is the first thing I think most people try to do when they are trying to bake a little "healthier"
2. Chapter 2 discusses how to use chocolate instead of sugar to sweeten chocolate baked goods without adding any sugar (because chocolate has some added sugar to begin with, so why add more?) .
3. Chapter 3 is about sweetening with honey instead of white sugar
4. Chapter 4 expands further on baking with less refined "liquid" sugar, using maple syrup and molasses
5. Chapter 5 is focused on "Fruit is Sweet", a concept that has been explored by others, but I don't think to the extent that Chang has.

To test this book, I chose to make three of the recipes: one recipe from the first chapter about reducing the white sugar (these blueberry bran muffins with only ⅓ cup sugar in 12 muffins!), one recipe from the chapter using fruit instead of sugar to sweeten baked goods (pecan-date shortbread cookies sweetened with, you guessed it, dates), and a final recipe that is sweetened with honey (fresh peach ricotta tart with 4 tablespoons of honey total for a 10-inch tart).

All three recipes I tried were big hits. I didn't miss the sugar (and neither did my family and friends), and I'd honestly make everything again. Overall, I noted that I had to bake the shortbread a little extra than the recommended time to dry them out a little more, and for the blueberry bran muffins, next time I might try using a half cup less of blueberries just because a couple of the muffins seemed overwhelmed with blueberries (and consequently a little harder to get out of the pan). For the peach tart, I was blown away by the all-butter crust recipe made in a stand mixer instead of by hand or in a food processor, but I wish there was an extra step in the blind-baking towards the end, without the beans, to better dry out the bottom of the crust.

I love that the book has measurements in cups and grams, especially that Chang fills her cup of flour differently than I do: when I weigh out a cup of flour, it's about 125 grams, but when Chang reports her flour measurements, 1 cup is 140 grams, which is a tablespoon-or-so more, and that could make a difference in some of the recipes. By the way, Chang's conversion of cups of flour to grams is the same as America's Test Kitchen uses. I've got my own list of baking conversions if you want to see how I convert cups to grams for this website.

Caveat

My only complaint about the book is in the "Fruit is Sweet" chapter, while I appreciate opting for a supposedly more "natural" source of sweetness, like dates, I don't think we should kid ourselves here: using fruit juice concentrate isn't ideal either and it is full of sugar, even if it's not added sugar. Still, I think this book is a big step in the right direction, and I look forward to applying what I've learned, and of course, more books from Joanne Chang.

My experience baking with less sugar is, shall we say, limited. There was that time where I accidentally cut the sugar when working on this recipe for reduced blood orange pâte de fruits. That was a math error that had me tweaking a recipe for days to make it work! Cutting back or removing the sugar from most baking recipes is very challenging if you want to achieve results that are as good as the original. But this book has taught me a ton about how to skillfully bake with less sugar in the future.

You can get your hands on Joanne Chang's Baking with Less Sugar: Recipes for Desserts Using Natural Sweeteners and Little-to-No White Sugar on Amazon and Amazon Canada.

Raincoast Books offered me one copy of this book, plus the opportunity to host a giveaway. As always, please know that I wouldn’t work with a sponsor nor recommend a product if it wasn’t worth it. I tested three recipes from the book before coming to the conclusion that this book is awesome. 

The post Baking with Less Sugar appeared first on The Bake School.

100 Cookies by Sarah Kieffer

Sarah Kieffer is the creative genius behind the pan-banging technique that was a game-changer in the cookie-making scene. That pan-baking recipe appeared in her first book The Vanilla Bean Baking book and that book is a favourite of mine and one I recommend a lot to friends and family. It's no surprise she dedicated a whole book to cookies, where she not only applies the pan-banging to other classics beyond chocolate chip cookies, but she also explores other types of cookies and bars too. I am a huge fan of cookie books and I own many, but this one is different and definitely one to add to the collection.

You can order 100 Cookies from Amazon or Indigo. And to purchase a copy of The Vanilla Bean Baking Book, you can also order it from Indigo or Amazon. This Dutch Baby pancake recipe came from The Vanilla Bean Baking Book.

The Book on Pie by Erin Jeanne McDowell

I am a huge fan of Erin McDowell, who writes for many reputable publications, like Food52 and the New York Times. McDowell has a way of presenting recipes that makes even more challenging desserts manageable. She is a great educator and I highly recommend you watch her videos because she is technical, but not overly serious. She wrote The Book on Pie which was published this year and this is THE BOOK to buy your favourite baker who wants to learn how to make pie or who already dabbles in the art of pie-making. This book is far from basic and is a compilation of so many pies. I highly suggest pairing The Book on Pie with a metal pie plate and a French rolling pin as a gift. 

You can order The Book on Pie from Amazon or Indigo.

Dessert Person by Claire Saffitz

Claire Saffitz was an editor at Bon Appétit magazine, and she became rather famous with the video series Gourmet Makes where Saffitz attempted to recreate commercial products in the Bon Appétit Test Kitchen. She tried her hand at recreating "simple" products, like Ben & Jerry's ice cream knockoffs, and more complex products, like Skittles and Cheetos. Saffitz's first book, entitled Dessert Person, is a rather impressive tome dedicated to the pastry arts, even more elaborate desserts, like croquembouche (made from pâte à choux) and tarte tropézienne from homemade brioche. The photography is as bold as you would expect from this ex-Bon Appétit editor. Crisp, strong shadows and bright light just like you see in the magazine. The premise of the book is that “There are no ‘just cooks’ out there, only bakers who haven't yet been converted. I am a dessert person, and we are all dessert people.” 

You can order Dessert Person from Amazon or Indigo.

The Farmer's Daughter Bakes by Kelsey Siemens

First of all, you should follow Kelsey Siemens' Instagram account if you aren't already. She works (very hard!) at her family farm and she takes beautiful photos of the farm and what they are growing AND she bakes. Need I say more? She's written a baking book dedicated to baking through the seasons and it is stunning. 

You can order The Farmer's Daughter Bakes from Amazon or Indigo.

Baking at the 20th Century Café by Michelle Polzine

If the honey cake on the cover of this book doesn't draw your attention and make you want to eat more cake and buy more books on baking, then are you sure you like baking and baked goods? That honey cake is made from very thin layers of cake batter spread evenly in circles on parchment paper, then stacked to layer them. It's a show-stopper! You'll need a mini offset spatula for this one, which is also my favourite baking tool and if you don't have one, get it!

You can order Baking at the 20th Century Café from Amazon or Indigo.

One Tin Bakes by Ed Kimber

Ed Kimber, very well-known creative mind behind the blog The Boy Who Bakes and who also won the first season of the Great British Bakeoff, has dedicated an entire book to baking in one tin (or for us North Americans we'd say one baking pan). It's a beautiful book and the recipes are so creative. They are simple, but not boring and many of the recipes have several components to make really impressive desserts all in one tin. One Tin Bakes isn't just for sheet cakes. You'll also find recipes for bars, cookies, breads, and pies. And if you want to give this book as a gift, I suggest combining it with the suggested baking pan: this gorgeous 9x13 baking pan from Nordic Ware. You could also combine this book with Ed Kimber's first book, Pâtisserie Made Simple, which is a gorgeous book dedicated to French pastry.

You can order One Tin Bakes from Amazon or Indigo. You can also order Pâtisserie Made simple from Amazon or Indigo.

The Pastry Chef's Guide by Ravneet Gill

The slogan of Ravneet Gill's book is "The secret to successful baking every time" and her book is dedicated to all the base recipes and components that make up pastries, from doughs and batters to frostings and fillings. Once you have mastered these base recipes, you can combine them to make almost anything, and that's how pastry chefs operate. This book is very much a manual and has few pictures, but I think this could be a very handy reference for those home bakers who are getting more serious about baking.

You can order The Pastry Chef's Guide from Amazon or Indigo.

Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz

David Lebovitz's ice cream book was re-published this year, updated with new photos and recipes. It's a great reference for home bakers who would like to make ice cream. This book has ice cream for everybody, from classic flavours like vanilla and chocolate to more elaborate flavours like "prune and armagnac"! You'll even find sorbet recipes here and there's also ice creams made with eggs and without. I highly recommend this book if you want to make ice cream. I suggest pairing it with a basic Cuisinart ice cream maker and an ice cream scoop for a super fun gift!

You can order Perfect Scoop from Amazon or Indigo.

Snacking Cakes by Yossy Arefi

This is Yossy Arefi's second book and it might be even more beautiful than the first, Sweeter Off The Vine. I have both, and Snacking Cakes definitely has a different vibe. I love snacking cakes. To me, they are simple single-layer cakes. Sometimes they are frosted, but they don't always need to be! Arefi describes snacking cakes as "low-stress cakes" and that's exactly right: they are something to bake to keep you going through the week because we can all use a sweet treat either for breakfast or mid-afternoon or for dessert on a Tuesday. Life is hard. Snacking cakes will give you something to look forward to as we tread on.

You can order Snacking Cakes from Amazon or Indigo.

Please note that I was gifted a copy of Dessert Person, Perfect Scoop, and Snacking Cakes from Crown Lifestyle (Clarkson Potter and Ten Speed Press).

The post Books on baking: 2020 edition appeared first on The Bake School.

It's the time of year when we are all scouring the internet and our cookbooks to find cookie recipes and desserts to fill our holiday dessert tables and to give as gifts. Fanny Lam has written a whole book dedicated to that: Oh Sweet Day! by Fanny Lam (buy it on Amazon) celebrates the recipes that make stunning festive desserts, holiday treats, and edible gifts. The cover says it all, really.

The book is divided into 6 chapters that cover everything from cakes to tarts, from cookies to confections and Fanny Lam pretty much cuts straight to the recipes, skipping a lot of those intro pages about pantry essentials and cooking tools. She goes straight to the good stuff. I think this makes the book a little more casual and approachable. Fanny Lam isn't telling you that you must use a particular type of flour from a specific brand. She's telling you to use flour. No stress here. No weird equipment. If you bake, you probably have what you need. I made all of these recipes, even the cranberry tart, by raiding my freezer and pantry, and everything turned out beautifully.

I focused on the shortbread cookies in Oh Sweet Day! because I follow Fanny Lam on Instagram, and when I think of her, I think of her gorgeous cutout shortbreads that she sells at the market in her Vancouver area. So, I tested out two shortbread cookie recipes. There are 6 variations of the "Oh Sweet Day!'s Famous Shortbread Cookies" on page 118, so the shortbread purists will be pleased with the classic version, as will the rest of us who want go wild with the base recipe and add orange zest, coconut, dried cranberries, lavender, etc. I tested the coconut variation for a change from the usual. They worked perfectly as you can see, though I was left wondering if I prefer golden brown shortbread or shortbread that are baked through but still pale and light. After sampling cookies at several points on the spectrum of pale to golden brown delicious, I still can't decide.

I also tested the "Roasted Strawberry Jam Shortbread Sandwich Cookies" on page 126 because after eating the coconut shortbread, I still was craving the classic. I did have to cheat for the sandwich cookies because I didn't have time to make my own roasted strawberry Jam. Sorry, guys! I used a jar of strawberry jam made in Scotland. Life! I've shared the recipe for these jam-filled shortbread cookies.

The last recipe I tried from Oh Sweet Day! was this gorgeous cranberry lime shortbread tart. How stunning is this tart? I loved the shortbread crust which is a simple press-in crust. No rolling pins required, which I think many will appreciate! Also, Fanny Lam blind bakes the crust without using any pie weights! High five! Remember, I tested that out for the coffee cookie crust of this milk chocolate ganache tart, but I digress. The cranberry curd was so flavourful, and topped with piped whipped cream, you cannot go wrong with this celebratory dessert. This would make a good holiday dessert that you can make the day before.

There are more recipes that I want to try in this book for the holidays, like the Cranberry Cinnamon Rolls on page 71 and the Mini Gingerbread Donuts on page 150! In the meantime, to get your copy of Oh Sweet Day! by Fanny Lam, head over to Amazon!

Please note this post contains affiliate links for Amazon. If you buy a product I recommend, I will get a small commission, and the price you have to pay will not change in any way

The post Oh Sweet Day!—a baking book to get you in the spirit appeared first on The Bake School.

These are the best baking and food podcasts that will inspire, motivate, and even educate you on the subject of baking, followed by a list of podcasts dedicated to cooking, careers in food, the history of food and cooking, and even restaurant news.

Best baking podcasts

Preheated podcast

When I started to listen to the Preheated podcast, I felt like I'd found "my people". Each week, hosts Andrea Ballard and Stefin Kohn challenge each other to make a new recipe, then the next week, they discuss their experience following the recipe, the issues they had, the discrepancies, what they loved about the baked goods they made, what they hated... I've been randomly listening to episodes over the last month or so, catching up on the old and the new, and I am in love. This podcast is fun, informative, and I like following along on their baking adventures. I love listening to their recipe analysis, especially when they really investigate the wording of some recipes. I find this particularly relevant for me because I write recipes almost every day and I always wonder if what I write makes sense. The Preheated Baking podcast is a new favourite of mine. I look forward to it every week and it makes me smile! There's a Preheated Facebook group dedicated to the podcast that you might want to join too! I joined!

Stir The Pot by Edd Kimber of The Boy Who Bakes

Edd Kimber (who was a contestant/winner of the first season of the Great British Baking Show) is working on a lot of cool things these days, and the Stir The Pot podcast is one of them. In each episode, Edd interviews bakers, food stylists, writers. Most, but not all, the people Edd Kimber interviews are bakers and I find it so interesting to listen to his conversations with other professionals. I really admire all the great work Edd Kimber is doing and I look forward to more episodes.

The Crumb—Bake from Scratch

The Crumb is hosted by Brian Hart Hoffman of Bake from Scratch magazine and Kyle Grace, and features talented bakers and trailblazers like Zoë François, Shauna Sever, and Joanne Chang, among others. Episodes are always informative and filled with baking tips and tricks and lots of baking inspiration. There is so much to learn from these talented bakers.

Flour Hour

Flour Hour is hosted by two bakers who were contestants on the first season of the Great American Baking Show: Amanda Faber and Jeremiah Duarte Bills. Amanda and Jeremiah start every episode recapping what they've been baking, their challenges, baking successes and baking failures. I love hearing about their experiences in the kitchen. I always learn a little something from them. Then, the hosts continue the episode with an interview of an influential baker, like Brian Hart Hoffman, editor of Bake from Scratch magazine (Episode 14),  Zoë François (Episode 8), The Artful Baker Cenk Sönmezsoy (Episode 23). Again, this podcast has a lot to offer with information and insight from bakers who work in the industry, either writing recipes and cookbooks or baking professionally. You can follow the Flour Hour podcast on Facebook and Twitter.

The Baking Podcast (no longer updated)

I haven't listened to as many episodes of The Baking Podcast, but I thought I'd give it a mention too since this is another podcast dedicated to baking. This podcast has two hosts: Melody, a.k.a "the business girl," and Taunya, a.k.a. "the baker girl". I gather Melody isn't a baker nor as familiar with baking as is Taunya, but they own a bakery together, Covet Artisan Bakery located in Sonoma County, California. Each episode is dedicated to a different recipe or technique and the hosts discuss the history of the baked good or the recipe, plus tips and tricks to keep in mind... There was an episode dedicated to chocolate after Taunya took a class with Valrhona where she learned to temper chocolate. That was really informative.

Best food science podcasts and educational food podcasts

Cooking Issues podcast

Heritage Radio has many great food podcasts, but Cooking Issues podcast, hosted by Dave Arnold and Nastassia Lopez might be my favourite. I have laughed out loud by myself on the street while listening to this podcast many, many times (the episode where Dave and Nastassia are arguing over whether all the listeners are married men who hide kitchen tools from their wives and secretly order kitchen gadgets; the time Dave discusses his obsession with the bagpipes and his wife's reaction when he was learning to play at home—so damn funny!). This show makes me laugh a lot, but I don't just listen to get a giggle out of it. Dave Arnold is very passionate and smart. I always learn a little something each episode, not that I'm about to rig a SodaStream from Amazon to pump more gas into water to make it super carbonated like he does, but I digress...

Modernist Breadcrumbs podcast

I find the topics explored in Modernist Breadcrumbs are quite underdeveloped but still, interesting enough that I devoured the first episodes. Modernist Breadcrumbs is especially geared for those of us who may never get their hands on the Modernist Bread books which cost around $600 for the entire set. The podcast will do while I wait to become a millionaire so that I can acquire the set of books from Amazon. Bread topics covered span milling grains, shaping bread... The content includes the history of bread-making but also modern breakthroughs. The show is quite fascinating with interviews from revered cookbook authors, like Maria Speck, world renowned bakery owners, like Apollonia Poilâne, and of course, Nathan Myhrvold himself. If you love bread (and can't afford the 5 volume book set), then you'll enjoy the podcast for sure.

PROOF podcast

America's Test Kitchen is now producing a podcast about food called Proof. Each episode is around 30 to 40 minutes, exploring the science of flavour in funky jelly beans, non-Newtonian fluids like ketchup, the rise and fall of celery, the science behind cravings, etc. Just like with Modernist Breadcrumbs, Proof mixes history, pop culture, science, and more to put together well-rounded episodes about the foods we eat.

Serious Eats "Special Sauce" with Ed Levine.

Kenji Lopez Alt & Stella Parks are often featured on Special Sauce podcast, so you know it's going to be full of detailed info, cooking and baking tips & tricks, and more.

The Food Programme by BBC Radio

Noteworthy episodes of The Food Programme include Eating Animals Part 1: The Future of Meat, and Eating Animals Part 2: A Meat Q & A. Both these episodes blew my mind and made me question everything that the media portrays and also made me rethink what I should focus on in 2020 in terms of groceries and buying food. I also loved an episode in 2019 about the nutrition of ballet dancers and what it takes to fuel these athletes.

Smart Mouth

http://www.smartmouthpodcast.com/Smart Mouth is hosted by Katherine Spiers who brings on different guests each week, and together they go over the origins of certain recipes and dishes and their history. Guests have included Gail Simmons, Jessie Sheehan, and Shauna Sever, among others. I've learned a ton from this podcast and many of the episodes have to do with baking, but even if they don't, the content is still fascinating! There was an episode dedicated to learning what the difference is between pies, crisps, crumbles, grunts, buckles, cobblers, pandoughdies, shortcakes, sonkers, and more. Turns out there are so many fruit desserts topped with dough that I was completely unaware of, and they are all a little different!

Podcasts dedicated to cooking

Home Cooking

This is a new food podcast and it is fantastic. Home Cooking is hosted by Samin Nosrat and Hrishikesh Hirway and this podcast is a joy to listen to. The hosts answer cooking questions and stories as we navigate our way through social distancing and quarantine cooking. This show is dedicated to making great food during difficult times and helping listeners eat well. Episode 2 features Stella Parks (of Serious Eats and Bravetart) who consults on baking questions. Lots of laughs here and loads to learn too.

Weeknight kitchen with Melissa Clark

Short and sweet is the name of the game when it comes to Melissa Clark's Weeknight Kitchen podcast, and I couldn't agree more. This is a podcast for those who don't have a whole hour to listen to podcasts, let alone to cook dinner every night. You'll get tips and tricks so you can dominate dinner during the week without drowning.

The Bon Appétit Foodcast

Bon Appétit Foodcast is a complement to Bon Appétit (BA) magazine, with interviews with chefs, BA test kitchen chefs, writers, and more. I love when they do a deep-dive into a recipe or a story from the magazine, like in episode 195 where Adam Rapoport interviews Chris Morocco about the Christmas cookies he developed for the December 2018 issue, the behind the scenes of how they ended up with the final recipes, the ingredients they used, what they modified in the classic recipes and why. So much info in these episodes and there's always something to learn.

Milk Street Radio

Christopher Kimball's Milk Street magazine is also a podcast, and it's a great mix of science and information, with different guests that have included a flavour chemist, Sara Moulton, Claudia Fleming, Sam Sifton, Yotam Ottolenghi, Nigella Lawson, and more. Each episode has a theme, and includes a call-in portion to answer listener questions. In one episode, a listener called in seeking help for making seedless jams and they discussed using old-school food mills to purée the fruit and remove the seeds, with tricks for emptying the food mill when it's full (spoiler alert: turn the mill handle in the opposite direction to lift all the food that gets stuck on the filter!).

What's Gaby Cooking

Hosted by Gaby Dalkin who started this podcast to help her readers navigate the difficult period when we all had to stay at home and limit even our grocery shopping trips. She covers topics from food storage, utensils, almond flour, etc. and some deep-dive episodes have interviews with industry experts. For example, the episode dedicated to flour had an interview with Grant of Chef Steps.

Inspirational food podcasts

Radio Cherry Bomb podcast

I spent my vacation listening to old episodes of Radio Cherry Bomb and I loved every single one. It comforted me, inspired me, kept me interested, and gave me all the good feelings you would hope to gain from listening to a good podcast. I especially enjoyed the recent episodes with Deb Perelman of Smitten Kitchen and Lily Diamond of Kale & Caramel. I was inspired by the episode with Samin Nosrat on the process of writing her book Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat (I ordered my copy of the book from Amazon after listening to this episode). I played an older episode with Martha Stewart twice because I found it so fascinating. She's a funny lady, full of wisdom and business insight.

Eater's digest (formerly known as The Eater Upsell podcast)

I have downloaded a lot of old and new episodes of this podcasts, and I listen to it off and on. I was inspired by the interview with Francis Lam who is a cookbook editor and used to write for Gourmet. As I constantly ponder writing a cookbook, I found that episode very useful. Eater Upsell features interviews with so many awesome food personalities, like Alton Brown, Ottolenghi, Melissa Clark, Nathan Myhrvold, and the list goes on. The questions the interviewers ask are really insightful and always elicit some fantastic responses. Definitely a great listen!

Keep Calm and Cook On by Julia Turshen

Julia Turshen has written some very popular cookbooks under her own name and she is also the writer behind Gwyneth Paltrow's cookbooks, which I find fascinating. Side note: Julia Turshen seems pretty chill and has a very soothing voice, and so I find it very calming to listen to her when I'm walking the dog.

Violet Sessions by Claire Ptak

Claire Ptak is a bakery owner in London (previously from California). She even made the royal wedding cake for the marriage of Harry & Megan! Her podcast is mostly interviews.

Sporkful by Dan Pashman

Sporkful has the slogan that it's a podcast not for foodies, it's for eaters. Dan Pashman hosts some great interviews on this podcast (like a food focused interview with Bill Nye the Science Guy), but also covers topics that are in the news, like the latest GMO apple to hit the market, called the Cosmic Crisp.

Podcasts about food business and food blogging

Food Blogger Pro Podcast

Food Blogger Pro Podcast is hosted by Bjork Ostrom (the husband of blogger Lindsay Ostrom of the successful food blog Pinch of Yum). I found episodes about branding and SEO really helpful, but Bjork also talks about business books he recommends, organization tips & trips, productivity apps to try, and more. This is a great podcast to listen to if you want to start a food blog or if you've been blogging for years.

Chopped podcast

Warning! The intros in some Chopped podcast episodes can be a little long (at the worst, an intro to an episode clocked in at a whopping 15 minutes!) but if you skip forward, you will learn a lot. There's an episode about Search Engine Optimization (SEO) with Casey Markee that I've listened to about 3 times because it's so packed with useful information and helpful tips. I'll probably listen to it another dozen times to be honest because SEO seems so difficult for me.

Eat Capture Share podcast

Eat Capture Share podcast is hosted by Kimberly Espinel from The Little Plantation, Kimberley shares her expertise about food blogging and Instagram and interviews experts so we can gain insight into building, growing, and monetizing food blogs and Instagram.

Raw Milk—The Creative Business Podcast

Raw Milk—The Creative Business Podcast is by Beth Kirby (the creator of the gorgeous food blog Local Milk) and though it's not dedicated to food blogging specifically, it's about creative businesses and food blogging is one of those.

The Sweet Scoop by Tessa Arias

The Sweet Scoop by Tessa Arias: though this one hasn't been updated in a while, I found it really informative, and spoiler alert: it takes A TON of work to run a successful food blog and Tessa and her guests go through a lot of the ups and downs and how to make a go of it.

Theory of Content

Theory of Content is hosted by Amber Bracegirdle and Joshua Unseth, and it's all about SEO and blogging, how to maintain a successful blog and how to drive traffic from Google search. Josh and Amber spend a lot of time answering blogger questions and reminding us all that we should focus on creating more content that answers blog reader questions and user intent, instead of worrying that our blogs are broken.

Keep It Quirky podcast

Keep It Quirky podcast by Katie Quinn is a podcast about creativity & entrepreneurship, food & travel, and the discipline and drive it takes to create. Katie Quinn has interviewed so many interesting people on her show, from Fuchsia Dunlop (renowned cookbook author who is British but writes books about Chinese and Asian cuisines) to Pippa Murray founder of the nut butter company Pip & Nut who was selling nut butters before it was so trendy.

Second Life

Second Life is not exactly about food, but this podcast is about women pivoting in life and changing careers, and many of the guests are in the food business, from Alison Roman, Christina Tosi, Kerry Diamond, Amanda Hesser, etc. So if you are interested in the career paths of some of the world's greatest women in food, give it a listen!

Food podcasts dedicated to cookbooks

1. Salt & Spine podcast is hosted by Brian Hogan Stewart where he interviews published cookbook authors.. My favourite episode was the interview with Rose Levy Beranbaum and Woody Wolston because you really got a real sense of how Rose Levy Beranbaum operates, her methods, her recipe testing, etc. It was a fascinating episode!
2. Cookbook Love podcast, hosted by Maggie Green is dedicated to all those that love cookbooks because the cookbook is not dead! The podcast is for cookbook readers, buyers, collectors, and clubs, with great interviews with cookbook authors and cookbook editors, as well as short episodes dedicated to the importance of cookbook headnotes, steps to becoming a cookbook author, writing style, and more. There's so much useful information for those thinking about writing cookbooks, but also so many snippets of what goes into a cookbook, the behind-the-scenes.

Food podcasts to make you smile

1. Spilled Milk podcast: The Spilled Milk podcast, hosted by Molly Wizenberg and Matthew Amster-Burton, has been around since 2010, though I only started listening to it a few years ago. Every week, Molly and Matthew do a deep dive into a food topic, share recipes, food memories, research on the topic, and make a lot of jokes. Spilled Milk always makes me laugh, while learning a little too. This podcast makes me laugh out loud and I highly recommend it.

Even more food and cooking podcasts that I haven't had a chance to listen to yet

1. Communal Table by Food & Wine magazine
2. Carbface
3. The Food Chain by BBC
4. A Taste of the Past by Heritage Radio
5. Gastropod
6. The Food Podcast by Lindsay Cameron Wilson
7. The Taste Podcast
8. Eat your words

What podcasts are you listening to these days?

Now that I have given you a peak into the cooking and food podcasts I've been listening to these days, got any others to recommend to me? Let me know! I'm always looking for new sources of inspiration! And if you prefer to read books, be sure to consult my list of top baking books about the science of baking. This is a list of great baking references that will keep you learning and help you troubleshoot recipes. You can also take online baking classes to develop new skills and to keep practicing.

Please note this post contains affiliate links to Amazon. If you buy a product I recommend, I will get a small commission, and the price you have to pay will not change in any way.

The post Baking, cooking and food podcasts appeared first on The Bake School.

I know a lot of people aren't a fan of "single subject cookbooks," but I am (to the point where I even own a book called Riz au Lait—Amazon— that is 72 pages dedicated to rice puddings). And I've added The Macaroon Bible (check it out on Amazon) to my collection.

I love macaroons but, to be honest, I'd never baked a single macaroon in my life. I couldn't tell you why that is, but this book was the perfect opportunity to give macaroon baking a try. Try these "stoopid macaroons" from the book.

Note that we are talking about macaroons and not macarons. If you aren't sure about the difference, read about macaroons versus macarons.

I love that The Macaroon Bible explores all forms of macaroons, from golf ball-sized cookies to macaroon sandwich cookies made with a variety of different fillings. And I like to see the flavours of macaroons that can be made from tweaks to the base recipe. If you pay close attention to the ratios and how they are changed along the way, I think this would be a good book to spring off of and into creating your own quirky macaroon flavours.

Macaroons are very "simple" cookies, yet there are several ways of making them. Some recipes include plain egg whites (unwhipped) and sweetened coconuts, while others are made from unsweetened coconut, sugar, and whipped egg whites. Many recipes include sweetened condensed milk.

Dan Cohen's macaroons are made from sweetened coconut, sweetened condensed milk, and egg whites whipped to stiff peaks. The fact that the egg whites are whipped and then folded into the coconut mixture implies that this method is a little more technically challenging than other macaroon recipes: if you "over-fold" the egg whites and the macaroon batter, you will deflate the egg whites. The resulting batter will be more liquid than it should. Your macaroons will be more difficult to scoop.

If this happens, some of the liquid may pool at the base of each cookie, yielding cookies with a larger "footprint". I did this to a batch of bourbon macaroons (which I made with whiskey—pictured above): they still worked out and I really enjoyed them, but they did look a little funny.

Dan Cohen explores so many different flavour combinations and brings the macaroon to a whole other level. I think this book is a lot of fun, and I am quite sure that macaroons are going to play a greater role in my baking roster because of this book. There are crazy flavours (like the "stoopid macaroons" that I will be featuring later this week) and there are seasonal flavours (like eggnog macaroons)

• The photographs and sketches are gorgeous. Honestly, I loved every picture and doodle in this book. The photographs are by Alice Gao
• The Macaroon Bible is a coconut lover's heaven, and most of the recipes are gluten-free
• The ingredients are readily available and the directions are clear. There is even an introductory section going through each step of the base recipe with images
• This book features weights and you all know how much I love weighing my ingredients instead of using cup measures!

Drawbacks of The Macaroon Bible

• The way the ingredients are listed is a little peculiar in that the package amounts/sizes are listed, not the amounts used in the recipe, so in a sense, the ingredients list is more of a shopping list (which could also be considered a bonus). This means you are forced to pay close attention to the recipe method section to know exactly how much of each ingredient you are actually going to use. You have to read the recipe, which is kind of a good thing because a lot of times I screw up recipes because I didn't read through the directions carefully.
• The macaroons are a touch on the sweet side (sweetened condensed milk + sweetened coconut), although this really didn't bother me. I expect macaroons to be sweet coconutty clusters. It might bother others though.
• The method is a little delicate in that you have to know how to fold egg whites without completely liquifying the batter.
• I really wish this book featured metric weights, but that's really not the author's fault per se: this book was published in New York, and in the US, they favour baking with Imperial measurements.

Please note that I was happy to receive this book from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing, but my opinion about this book is still my own.

The post The Macaroon Bible by Dan Cohen appeared first on The Bake School.