The Fearless Baker

I admit I hesitated buying this baking book because I am a baking cookbook junkie with a zillion titles who has been baking since the dinosaurs roamed the planet. Would this book teach me anything new? The answer is: “Hallelujah! Baking Bejeesus! Yes, yes, yes!” I learned new tips just in the introduction...yeah, how is it even possible??! The tone of the author is friendly and she is a thorough and well-informed teacher who explains why baking techniques work, gives the difficulty level for each recipe, throws in pro tips for those who want to take a recipe to the next level and at times suggests variations. All well and good. What about the recipes? Erin’s got that covered too. She provides creative twists on classics, giving you the comfort of familiar treats but adding that extra something special that makes your baked goods stand out and steal the show. For example, I just randomly opened my copy and there is a recipe “ Five-Spice Pumpkin Pie” followed by “Grapefruit Meringue Pie”. And even if you don’t want to stretch your culinary horizons in that new direction, I promise you will learn so much from her about baking that you will end up making better pie even when using your own favorite recipe. Not every recipe has a photo but the ones included are great. The layout of the cookbook is very user-friendly and visually appealing. I love how the quantity, the difficulty level and tips on making a baked good ahead and storing are given in red at the top right of the page for the start of every recipe. If you want to read about other bakers’ experiences using this cookbook, Food52 Baking Cookbook Club on Facebook baked their way through “Fearless Baking” in March 2018. Let’s just say these bakers had amazing photos and high praise for this special cookbook. Categories of recipes include: Cookies & Bars; Cakes; Pies & Tarts; Pastries; Custards & Creams; along with Resources. There is plenty to love. I thought “Sweet” by Ottolenghi would be my top favorite 2018 baking book but “The Fearless Baker” wins hands down❣️

Sometimes a cookbook comes along and completely surprises you. I confess, I had low expectations for this cookbook. Not because I don't love Food52 or Erin's writing, but because it's difficult to do this kind of "instructive baking for the home cook" well. I've purchased a lot of duds that skewed towards too simple/dumbed down and/or too boring (the world needs only so many recipes for the basic sugar cookie, brownie, yellow cake, etc). Erin's cookbook is everything an informative cookbook needs to be for the home baker. Inside this squat but many-paged tome, Erin has included recipes for a few basics, along with explanations for why they work (like the high ratio cake - aka why commercial bakeries use shortening in their cakes and why you might want to too). Beyond explanations of recipes themselves, this book is stuffed with tips for keeping your brown sugar soft, fixing a broken buttercream, etc as well as lengthy explanations and detailed photos for different pie crust styles, lattice weaves, weighing out crumb crusts for your pan size, etc. The vast majority of Erin's recipes are either a spin on well loved classics or something you're unlikely to find in most/any other baking cookbook. I'm not sure I'll ever try her lemon-licorice meringue pie, but only because I'm not sure I like licorice that much. Her peppermint fluff cupcakes and butterscotch blondies however are going to become a part of my baking rotation. What I like: Clear recipe writing Interesting recipes Beautiful pictures of everything Great advice and explanations about why things are done a certain way What I don't like: I wish the book were a little taller, so more of the recipe fit on a single page What I've made: Butterscotch blondies Apricot cream cake Peppermint devil's food high hat cupcakes Verdict: If I had to pick only three dessert cookbooks, this one would make the cut

I love this book. It’s the perfect size with easy to follow recipes. Beautiful pictures throughout the book. There i is not a recipe in it I would not want to make. It all looks delicious.

I love her cookbooks. She is not only a fantastic chef, but writer and teacher as well. I own all three of her cookbooks and count myself lucky that I do.

I made these petits fours for a tea party I was having. Could not fine rose water so I used orange juice. I over cooked the cake because I couldn’t get the middle done. I blame my oven. They were a little hard to make but my family loved them. The flavor was delicious. The instructions were easy to follow. She definitely tells you everything to do, which I like. I will be making more of her cakes because the flavor is outstanding.

Love that she tells you how difficult the recipe is. I was a bit hesitant about the crust recipe, because I stay in the tropics (think hot and humid), but using a dough blender worked perfectly! And the pie crust recipe really works for those who love a more flaky crust.

Enjoyed all the baking tips

Conocí este libro a través del blog de una chef pastelera australiana, lo busqué en amazon y estaba disponible y en entrega inmediata. Puedo decir que sin dudas este libro vale la pena para todos los interesados (principiantes/intermedios) en la pastelería. Su autora, Erin Mc Dowell explica cada uno de los procesos resolviendo las dudas del ¿porqué? y ¿cómo?. Principiantes: no teman, con este libro cualquiera puede hornear

Muy correcto

Da avere se si ha una collezione di libri di cucina.