Baking: From My Home to Yours at Chef2Chef

Greenspan knows her stuff, of course, but it's her droll, anecdotal style (readers learn, for example how a chocolate cake got her fired) and her recipe-making expertise that sets the book apart. Precise descriptions of the baked goods--a pound cake, for example, is said to have a "moist, tightly knit crumb"--help readers understand baking anatomy. Equally exact, and reassuring, are her recipe guideposts--she notes, for example, that rubbing butter into the dry ingredients when making a biscuit recipe will result in "pea-size pieces, pieces the size of oatmeal flakes, and pieces the size of everything in between." With recipe variations and enticing color photos, the book will inspire--and inform--baking novices and experts alike. --Arthur Boehm

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Greenspan, coauthor of books with culinary icons such as Julia Child (Baking with Julia), Daniel Boulud and Pierre Hermé, shares her favorite recipes in this tantalizing collection, which covers all the baking bases, from muffins, cookies and brownies to spoon desserts, pies and cobblers. Instructions are clear and easy to follow, and Greenspan uses everyday ingredients readily available to the home chef. Recipes like Perfection Pound Cake and All-American, All-Delicious Apple Pie convey a comfortable, almost homey, familiarity that will bring readers back to this collection again and again. In addition, she provides insight into matters many cooks may not often consider, such as leaveners, technique and choosing the right pan. Numerous mouth-watering photos dot the book throughout, making it hard to choose which one to make first. Especially helpful is the Indispensables: Base Recipes section at the end of the book, which includes pointers for making key ingredients such dough, pastry cream, lemon curd and faux crème fraîche. This is baking at its best. Over 100 full-color photos. (Nov.)
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Reader Reviews
There is no other word for this work of art for all the "little" people of the baking world who don't have restaurant-grade kitchens yet want to bake as if they do!! Dorie Greenspan is my brand new baking buddy!! The way that she speaks to you as you're reading the recipe introduction, you feel as if she's right in the kitchen with you, right next to you, just talking and spending the time showing you a fabulous recipe that will make you feel like a baking diva (or divo)!! I think that it's the secret to her incredible success and since she's written over nine books, you got to figure that she knows what she's doing. I first learned of Dorie specifically when she worked with Julia Child in making "Baking with Julia"; probably my favorite Julia book. The character of her writing is that of someone who has come to know and love the kitchen as much as yourself. She seems to gravitate to baking and make it as much a love of art as it is a love of creating. No wonder that you feel so comfortable attempting these desserts since Dorie makes them so accessible without feeling the need for intense training or bizarre ingredients. The book itself is a grand adventure, as is its size; big and sturdy and printed just right with smooth pages holding glossy photographs and temptng treats of what will be; they are large and detailed so you know what to expect. Her book is broken into: Introduction Breakfast Treats A Cache of Cookies Cakes of All Kinds (this was by far the BEST chapter; these are awesome with the "Celebration Cakes" called Devils Food White-out, Perfect Party Cake, Big Carrot Cake, Cocoa Buttermilk Birthday Cake, Black and White Chocolate Cake, Tirmisu Cake, Berry Surprise, Chestnut Cake, Amaretti Torte, Chocolate Armagnac Cake, Ice Cream Torte, Peppermint Cream Puff Ring, Coconut Roasated Pineapple Dacquoise, etc) Pies and Tarts Spoon Desserts Indispensables (basic recipes) A Dessert Makers Glossary of Ingredients, Tools, and Techniques I would love to print every recipe in this book but the index alone is over 17 pages of luscious and decadent desserts!! So for an example, I give you "The Perfect Party Cake" on page 250. Holy cow!! Wow!! More adjectives please!! It turned out EXACTLY as she promised and when you are first hit with the visual impact of this cake, you realize how important the right photography style is to any cookbook author. To feel that something that gorgeous can come from your kitchen and to actually be able to make it, does wonders for your zeal for baking. Every luscious layer of fluffy white cake that is followed by a delicate, thin layer of raspberry filling followed by fluffy frosting, you see it begin to take shape and height. You wonder if it really will be as good as it looks. But as you get to the end of the layers and you put on that last layer of frosting, then cover it in snow-flaked fresh coconut, you realize that you are one awesome baker and Dorie will be your new best baking buddy too!! It was a hit for its beauty and taste because when you cut into that first piece and see it in its red and white party glory.....wow!! Yes, I know............it's just a recipe but is Michelangelo's "David" just a piece of clay to art lovers? Baking makes you want to please the eyes as well as the palate and if you want to do it right, you want to learn from those who are the masters. Dorie is just that, but without all the pretensions and fanfare. She just loves to bake and this book is the epitome of her passion. Dorie, Julia will always be the Queen Mother of the kitchen, but your pedestal is right by hers!! Thanks!!