Book Review - Baking By Hand: Make the Best Artisanal Breads and Pastries Better Without a Mixer

About the Book
A and J King’s humble storefront and artistically quirky interiors belie their status as top bread makers in the Northeast carried by some of the best restaurants and gourmet stores in the country – including Whole Foods. Now home chefs can learn their easy and remarkable 30-minute Four Fold kneading technique to make bread better without using a mixer.

BAKING BY HAND by Andy and Jackie King [Page Street Publishing, August 2013, $22.99 US/$24.99 CAN] features their best one hundred recipes including their regionally famous sourdough, a perfectly chewy and crusty olive packed ciabatta, and an earthy, healthy and wonderful multigrain loaf. The Kings also offer up recipes for their other show-stopping pastries including the not-to-be-missed sticky buns and extremely popular array of pies and tarts including the to-die-for Rhubarb Ginger treat. Inside home bakers will find:

• A step-by-step guide to optimizing the kitchen workspace
• The essentials of bread dough
• Sections devoted to morning baking and evening baking divided by breads and pastries
• Recipes for everything from baguettes to sourdough breads and savory and sweet pastries to crusts
• Winners of two “Best of Boston” awards by Boston Magazine and featured in a recent Food and Wine article, the Kings share a host of innovative methods and time-tested recipes in BAKING BY HAND that will turn readers from novice to pro in no-time.

My Take on the Book
This was a great book that had an amazing number of recipes that I loved making in my home. I am not a big bread and tart maker, but this book makes it seem very easy! What was great about this book was not only that the recipes were easy to follow, but even beyond that the images were amazing and you get hungry just looking at each of the images in the book. The book is written in such a way that it truly inspires you to try more and to expand your own cooking repertoire (or at least it did for me). This book also allowed me to look like a professional baker even though I am not. I brought a number of my creations into work and got many kudos for what I made which is always a good sign.


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