The Beginning Baker

This book is designed for both beginning and experienced bakers and includes my all-time favorite recipes for the type of baked goods that friends and family beg you to bring to gatherings. There are 52 different recipes--one to keep you baking each week of the year! I think that the most basic difference between novice and skilled bakers is that those with more experience understand most baking terms while beginning bakers may need to have these terms explained. Everybody has to start from "scratch" when learning how to bake (that's a bad baking joke). This book is intended to help those of you without an experienced baker at your side who don't want to have to stop to search the internet to figure out what these baking terms mean or how to carry them out. A pet peeve I have with some baking recipes is that they assume that I know what I'm doing (always a bad idea); leave out what I later find is a key piece of information or instruction; or, worse yet, put this vital piece of information at the end of the recipe when it's too late to follow it. To remedy this, I've tried very hard to make the recipes in this book understandable, sequential, and easy to follow at all skill levels. Also, the recipes do not assume that you have all of the neat gadgets that experienced bakers might own, and so you are provided with alternative ways of accomplishing the same ends. Finally, I've included a list of common baking terms, addressed some humorous misconceptions, and thrown in some hard-earned baking tips that might ease your way. Happy baking! Read more