Baking

Dorie Greenspan has written recipes for the most eminent chefs in the world: Pierre Herme, Daniel Boulud, and arguably the greatest of them all, Julia Child, who once told Dorie, ';You write recipes just the way I do.' Her recipe writing has won widespread praise for its literate curiosity and ';patient but exuberant style.' (One hard-boiled critic called it ';a joy forever.') In Baking: From My Home to Yours, her masterwork, Dorie applies the lessons from three decades of experience to her first and real love: home baking. The 300 recipes will seduce a new generation of bakers, whether their favorite kitchen tools are a bowl and a whisk or a stand mixer and a baker's torch.

Even the most homey of the recipes are very special. Dorie's favorite raisin swirl bread. Big spicy muffins from her stint as a baker in a famous New York City restaurant. French chocolate brownies (a Parisian pastry chef begged for the recipe). A dramatic black and white cake for a ';wow' occasion. Pierre Herme's extraordinary lemon tart.
The generous helpings of background information, abundant stories, and hundreds of professional hints set Baking apart as a one-of-a-kind cookbook. And as if all of this weren't more than enough, Dorie has appended a fascinating minibook, A Dessertmaker's Glossary, with more than 100 entries, from why using one's fingers is often best, to how to buy the finest butter, to how the bundt pan got its name.