The Modern Baker: Time-Saving Techniques for Breads, Tarts, Pies, Cakes and Cookies | Date: 28 April 2011, 07:08
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The Modern Baker: Time-Saving Techniques for Breads, Tarts, Pies, Cakes and Cookies
By Nick Malgieri
* Publisher: DK Publishing
* Number Of Pages: 320
* Publication Date: 2008-09-01
* ISBN-10 / ASIN: 0756639719
* ISBN-13 / EAN: 9780756639716
Product Description:
A collection of 150 simple step-by-step recipes that still have gourmet appeal, The Modern Baker strives to bring you baking success with the bulk of the preparation taking under one hour. Nick Malgieri distills years of teaching and experience into these detailed recipes for virtually every savory or sweet yeast bread, quick bread, muffin, pastry, dough, and batter. Recipes are thorough and include descriptions of how batters and doughs are supposed to appear at each stage of preparation. The Modern Baker is as necessary and essential as a good oven; Nick Malgieri leads cooks through the simple art of creating an international assortment of delicious sweet and savory baked goods, interweaving techniques and helpful sidebars.
Sample recipe from The Modern Baker: Chocolate Almond and Amaretti Cake
Once fall arrives and the flood of summer fruit and berries dwindles to a trickle, I start to think of using nuts in baking. The new crop of nuts begins to reach stores in the early fall and I love to start using them right away when they're at their peak of freshness and flavor. This chocolate almond and amaretti cake is a perfect vehicle for enjoying the lush sweetness of that newly harvested crop of almonds. Nuts and chocolate are always a great combination, and this rich and delicate cake showcases them particularly well. The presence of the ground amaretti cookies, made from exotic wild apricot kernels, provides a slight bitter almond perfume that pleasantly heightens the flavor and aroma of the almonds in the cake. One taste and you won’t miss those peaches and blueberries at all. --Nick Malgieri
One 10-inch cake, about 8 large servings
8 ounces semisweet chocolate 10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, softened 2/3 cup sugar, divided 7 large eggs, separated 1 1/2 cups whole blanched almonds, about 5 1/2 ounces 1/2 cup finely crushed amaretti cookies 1/3 cup all-purpose flour Confectioners’ sugar for finishing 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, setting a rack in the middle level. Butter a 10-inch round cake pan, 2 inches deep, and cut a piece of parchment or wax paper to fit the bottom. 2. Chop the chocolate finely and place it in a small bowl over hot water to melt, stirring occasionally. Remove the bowl from the pan and cool the chocolate slightly. 3. In a large mixer bowl, beat the butter with half the sugar until it’s soft and light. Beat in the chocolate, then the yolks, one at a time, scraping the bowl and beater(s) often. Continue beating until the mixture is smooth and light. 4. Place the almonds in the bowl of a food processor and grind them finely, pulsing the machine on and off at 1-second intervals. Be careful that they do not become pasty. Stir the almonds and amaretti crumbs, then the flour, into the batter. 5. In a clean, dry bowl, whip the egg whites until they hold a very soft peak and whip in the remaining sugar in a slow stream. Continue to whip the whites until they hold a soft, glossy peak. Stir a quarter of the whites into the batter, then fold in the rest with a rubber spatula, so that no streaks remain. 6. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with a spatula. Bake the cake about 40 minutes, until the center is firm when pressed with a fingertip. 7. Cool the cake in the pan for 5 minutes. The cake may sink slightly, though this does not affect its texture. Trim off any loose crust and invert the cake on a rack, remove the pan, and allow to cool completely. 8. Dust the cake with confectioners’ sugar and slide onto a platter.
Summary: No Weights
Rating: 4
The author doesn't provide the weight measurements for most ingredients, which blows my mind. Omitting such an easy-to-derive and useful data item just strikes me as clueless and cost the book a star. Otherwise, the book is well-produced.
Summary: Blueberry Crumble Pie Recipe Worth the Price of the Whole Book
Rating: 5
I tried the blueberry crumble pie and it is heaven on a plate. Big hit with my church group. It was the best pie I have every tasted and I am excited about cooking more recipes from this book. Many cookbook authors claim to be able to give you the benefit of professional techniques in a home kitchen. Malgieri really does. I would match my homemade pie with any professionally made product! The credit goes to Malgieri because it was such an easy recipe.
by the way, this is a very well formatted and well-designed cookbook. You can go straight to the recipes themselves or study the extra material that the author provides on ingredients and tools, it is up to you. The print size is just fine.
Summary: Incomplete recipe
Rating: 3
I took this book out from the library and quickly found many recipes that looked appealing-many tarts, muffins, waffles, etc. I picked a Banana Walnut Tart recipe and after reading it before making it I realized the recipe is incomplete. It says to bake the tart until the crust is baked through and the filling is set... but gives no indication of how long that might take. 10, 20, 30 minutes? I have no clue. Then the last step says to let it cool completely before filling... the problem is the recipe already told me to fill the tart and bake it. It makes no sense.
I have to agree with others that the Ingredients list for the recipes is in the tiniest font and is hard to read, and I am 23. The photos are great and the recipes sound wonderful but there needs to be more revision.
Summary: Horrible layout, great recipes
Rating: 3
I'm basing my review on having checked this book out from the library. I've decided NOT to buy it because the type and layout is just frustrating as heck, and I know it would be one of those cookbooks I dread using. I've decided to copy out and reformat the recipes I really enjoyed so that they'll be easier to read. I'm only forty, by the way. My eyesight's not that bad. Really, it's a poorly designed book: The typeface of the ingredient list requires me to lean in about eighteen inches from the page, the text is nearly as small. Gorgeous photos, and I like that they have one recipe per page or per two page spread, which shows some planning. It's just a shame they used such a miniscule typeface. Quite a shame, since there are several great recipes.
Summary: a great job
Rating: 5
The recipe selection is appealing, the instructions are clear, the layout and design are attractive. Nick always delivers the goods and I can't wait to bake from his latest work.
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