Baked: New Frontiers in Baking (Hardcover)

by Matt Lewis (Author), Renato Poliafito (Author), Tina Rupp (Photographer)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

As featured on The Martha Stewart Show and The Today Show and in People Magazine!

 

Hip. Cool. Fashion-forward. These aren’t adjectives you’d ordinarily think of applying to baked goods.

 

Think again. Not every baker wants to re-create Grandma’s pound cake or cherry pie. Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito certainly didn’t, when they left their advertising careers behind, pooled their life savings, and opened their dream bakery, Baked, in Brooklyn, New York, a few years back. The visions that danced in their heads were of other, brand-new kinds of confections . . .

 

Things like a Malt Ball Cake with Milk Chocolate Frosting, which captures the flavor of their favorite Whoppers candies (and ups the ante with a malted milk ball garnish). Things like spicy Chipotle Cheddar Biscuits that really wake up your taste buds at breakfast time. Things like a Sweet and Salty Cake created expressly for adults who are as salt-craving ?as they are sweet-toothed.

 

Which is not to say that Lewis and Poliafito sidestep tradition absolutely. Their Chocolate Pie (whose filling uses Ovaltine) pays loving homage to the classic roadside-diner dessert. Their Baked Brownies will wow even the most discriminating brownie connoisseur. And their Chocolate Chip Cookies? Words cannot describe. Whether trendsetting or tried-and-true, every idea in this book is freshly Baked.

About the Author

After years in the advertising business, Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito decided to leave their day jobs and open a bakery in Red Hook, Brooklyn. Baked opened in January 2005 to instant rave reviews. The authors have been featured on Oprah, the Food Network, Martha Stewart’s daytime show, and the Today show. The bakery has been reviewed in countless magazines, both local and nationwide. Lewis and Poliafito live in New York City.

 

Tina Rupp is a New York–based photographer who specializes in photographing food and children. Her work can be found regularly in Food & Wine, Everyday with Rachael Ray, and Parenting magazines.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Stewart, Tabori & Chang (October 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1584797215
• ISBN-13: 978-1584797210
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 9.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #16,205 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's a beautiful thing indeed to be "Baked.", October 24, 2008

By	Veggiechiliqueen - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)

I first saw Baked: New Frontiers in Baking while on vacation. My willpower not to buy any more baking books lasted for exactly one week until I swooped into my local bookstore, drooled, purchased, raced home, and whipped up a killer batch of the Baked Brownie. The balance of chocolate (11 ounces), butter (two sticks), a dash of espresso powder, a mix of granulated and brown sugar, and a hefty dose of eggs (five) give this brownie the ideal texture: the perfect marriage of fudgy and cakey without being runny or dense.

The next recipe I tried was the pumpkin chocolate chip loaf (the recipe makes two loaves). A seemingly straightforward blend of canned pumpkin puree, spices (allspice, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg), and chocolate, the complex flavors of spice and pumpkin were complementary without overwhelming. Although the recipe calls for one cup of vegetable oil, you also dilute it with 2/3-cup tap water, so the bread is pleasantly moist without being greasy or oily (I've had that happen all too many times in many quick breads).

Next on my list was the Brewer's Blondie, a hopped-up blend of of malt powder, malt balls, semisweet chocolate, and walnuts. Bars are one of Baked's strengths, including a decadent grown-up Rice Krispy bar, the elegant Honeycomb Bar (sweet tart dough topped with dried fruit, honey, and a shot of booze), S'more nut bars, and the Baked bar. There are also more complicated layer cakes (chocolate malt, chocolate/caramel/sea salt, Whiteout, Red Velvet), cookies, and breakfast treats such as scones, granola (yay, finally a low-oil granola full of fruit!), and quick breads. Pies and tarts? Feast on Bourbon Chocolate Pecan Pie, Tuscaloosa Tollhouse Pie, Peanut Butter Pie with Cookie Crust and Easy Fudge Sauce, and Classic Diner-Style Chocolate Pie.

Baked has been featured on Martha Stewart, Oprah (their Baked Brownie had a centerfold spread in O), and on several high-profile shows, but does Baked live up to its claims of being revolutionary? That's a more difficult cookie to crumble. Sure, there are gourmet additions such as matcha, chipotle, and fleur de sel, but most of the Baked repertoire is firmly descended from comfort cooking, such as the Root Beer Cake, a modern update on the Southern staple Coca-Cola (or Dr. Pepper) cake, or the red velvet spiced up with Red Hots. Ditto on the divine Bourbon Chocolate Pecan Pie. It's still amazing, whether or not it's smashing any new culinary boundaries.

Even if you never cook a single recipe from Baked, the clever graphics (garden gnomes, plastic deer perched on a mound of fluffy coconut snow), useful sidebars (including variations), and notes make this a great investment. This is my favorite cookbook of 2008, and I hope that it will become yours as well.

95 of 122 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Nice book, but not quite revolutionary, October 9, 2008

By	fair_deal_guy "BB" (Prior Lake, MN USA) - See all my reviews

I'm suspicious when most of the other reviews for a book are from first-time reviewers and read like marketing copy from an inexperienced publicist.

Having said that, this title is generally an interesting read but, frankly, it doesn't cover nearly as much new ground as you might be led to believe by the marketing hype.

The concept/conceit of naming your book "New Frontiers in Baking" puts the burden of impressive creativity on the authors and I'm not sure they delivered. Yes, the baked goods are nice to look at, but the book has a self-congratulatory tone I didn't care for.

The overall book design is pleasant, and the typography is especially well conceived. One thing that's noteworthy about the design is that the recipes are easy to read from the counter top (you would think that's a no-brainer, yet many designers fail to grasp how people actually use cookbooks...but that's another discussion). The photos are very pretty, but I'm dismayed to see more of the same cliched Martha-Stewart-short-depth-of-field style, whose look is getting tired. And no, this is not--as one reviewer put it--a "coffee table" quality book. That's just more hyperbole.

The recipes? A little gimmicky, and mostly overwrought. The concepts are mildly inventive, but they simply don't represent "new frontiers" in baking. Many of the authors' "new ideas" come in the form of extra steps that might make the finished product look good in a retail environment but, in the end, just add work, complexity, and expense for the home baker. It's gilding the lily.

On the whole this is a nice book but it falls somewhere in the middle of the pack of recent baking titles. Compared to newly released classics like "The Modern Baker" by Nick Malgieri and "The Art and Soul of Baking" by Cindy Mushet, this title seems superficial and unsubstantial.

To give "Baked: New Frontiers in Baking" five stars just serves to further render meaningless the rating system.

29 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Book , October 1, 2008

By	Alicia Giambrone "Cheesecake Petey" (Brooklyn, NY) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

So far, I have made 4 items from this book and all have been top notch. Instructions are extremely clear and easy and this book would work well for those who are very experienced and also for those who are just begining working with pastry/baking. I am an ex-pastry chef and now just bake for fun. I have many favorite books, this is on its way to joining that list! Absolutely Delicious.