Warm Bread and Honey Cake: Home Baking from Around the World [Hardcover]

Gaitri Pagrach-Chandra (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 24, 2009

Containing a mix of familiar family favorites and unusual, exotic delicacies, this comprehensive collection of recipes for breads, cakes, biscuits and pastries is also a well-researched exploration of home-baking techniques and global ethnic history. Inspired by her multicultural background the author has drawn inspiration from all over the world, including Europe, the Middle East, Asia, the Caribbean and Latin America.

All the recipes are simple to follow and beautifully photographed, with any unusual techniques illustrated step-by-step for ease. Try your hand at Azorean honey cake or Jamaican hard dough bread. Let your family's taste buds thrill to Azerbaijani cream cheese baklava or Dutch brown sugar coils.

The combination of delicious recipes and fascinating historical and anecdotal text make this book a fantastic read--a must for any home cook looking to truly broaden their repertoire or with an interest in the culture of food.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Netherlands-based food writer Pagrach-Chandra (Windmills in My Kitchen) returns with a global collection of home-baked favorites. This elegant volume is dominated by expected regional classics like Mexican Tres Leches Cake, Chinese bean cakes, Baklava, strudel, Dutch apple tarts and Spekkoek, as well as riffs on American classics like sticky rolls (filled here with chocolate and hazelnuts instead of caramel and pecans). Welcome surprises for jaded bakers include Caribbean Black Cake, a rich and sugary cake studded with dried, rum-soaked fruit; the petit-four-like Lamington Slices; and her rich Deluxe Chocolate Cranberry Cake. Novices will appreciate that Pagrach-Chandra explains not just the hows of dishes like Paratha, a flaky Indian flatbread, but the whys (all the better to ensure home that cooks' finished product resembles its photo counterpart). Those with a love of cardamom, allspice, cinnamon, nutmeg, walnuts and cloves will get the most out of the book; they're all staples of Pagrach-Chandra's Dutch heritage. Besides that, the book promises plenty of culinary trips to awaken tired palates and inspire bored bakers of any nation.
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Review

One passionate baklava-lover is Gaitri Pagrach-Chandra, who has just published a wonderful and unusual baking book, Warm Bread and Honey Cake (Pavilion, ?25). This is the book to hunker down with at the kitchen table on a winter?s day, only to emerge hours later smelling of nutmeg and honey. Sunday Telegraph --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Interlink Pub Group (August 24, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1566567920
• ISBN-13: 978-1566567923
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 7.7 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #452,834 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful, interesting - now one of my favorites January 18, 2010

By Andrew'sMom

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I received this book on Saturday and was first taken with the beauty of the book - the illustrations, the photographs.

I went through it three times page by page. I was amazed at the uniqueness of the different recipes - for example: paratha, roti, lamingtons, nut and coconut cakes, cheesecakes, strudel - just to name a few but not variations of these types of recipes are included.

The measurements are in US customary measurements in both weight and volume which I like.

The details she provides in the instructions struck me as well...hints as to don't worry about filling the pan to the top - it won't overflow - etc. She took great care in writing this book.

Today, I made the drunken layered apple cake - my house smells incredible. I ended up doubling the recipe - making two eight inch cakes and several smaller cakes (reducing the baking time accordingly). I just sampled one of the smaller cupcake sized cakes...incredible and I'm not a girl who likes fruit in her cakes!

I will try many of the recipes in this book - and it has become one of my top ten favorites.

I would highly recommend buying this book as a gift for bakers - they will love it! I just ordered the author's previous cookbook as well. If it is half as interesting, I'll be satisfied.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Lovely, unique, and practical December 18, 2009

By susan lee

Format:Hardcover

The layout and photography are beautiful, and the tempting recipes come in all styles from all over the world. No other collection is quite like it. Includes savory and sweet, easy and ambitious, homey and impressive, familiar and exotic. Wonderful for the armchair reader as well as the hands-on baker. This is a real treasure.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Warm Bread and Honey Cake: Home Baking from Around the World September 25, 2009

By VIDYA RAMSAROOP

Format:Hardcover

Authentic recipes and filled with old fashioned goodness.
Very beautifully laid out with amazing photography.
The author obviously loves cooking.