Like its cousin, Essentials of Grilling, Williams-Sonoma Essentials of Baking is the ultimate sourcebook for the modern home baker.Whether creating easy muffins and quickbreads, artisan-style yeast loaves, or special occasion cakes and pastries, the reader will find what they need within the pages of the book.Over 130 recipes for contemporary baked goods will be supplemented with thorough discussions of basic baking equipment, ingredients, fundamental baking techniques, and instructions for preparing dessert sauces, fillings, frostings, glazes and other adornments.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From the Inside Flap
Hot cinnamon rolls sticky with caramelized sugar and spice. A tart-sweet strawberry-rhubarb crisp, it's juices nearly bubbling over the sides of the pan. A platter of chewy, fragrant gingersnaps alongside a pitcher of ice-cold milk. A warm apple pie cooling on the windowsill. A loaf of olive bread in the oven, filling the kitchen with its enticing aroma. A featherlight chocolate souffle towering above the rim of its dish. The secrets behind making these irresistible sweet and savory baked goods and dozens more can be found in Williams-Sonoma Essentials of Baking.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
36 of 42 people found the following review helpful
By Eric Altson
Format:Hardcover
When I saw this cookbook I just couldn't resist. It was William Sonoma after all, and looked like just what I needed to get started as a beginning baker. As far as presentation goes, this book is beautiful. The photography will have you drooling over many of the pages in no time at all.
Like most beginning cookbooks, this one has very nice sections at the beginning covering equipment and ingredients as well as basic techniques for things like measuring and preparing pans. But the real test of a cookbook is the recipes themselves.
There's a wonderful selection of classic as well as specialty recipes in all the basic categories, and the book included some of my favorites like Challah and Pumpernickel bread. And although delicious when successfully baked, the book suffers terribly from what appears to be errors in quantity. In the dozen or so recipes that I have attempted so far, about three quarters had significant trouble caused by issues that could only be attributed to the quantity of goods. Being new to baking, I assumed at first that this was just something to do with me or the way that I measured things. But after a while, and with the purchase of a very nice cooking scale, I had to admit that I was indeed measuring correctly. I am a guy and all, which makes me anal about such things to begin with. But I'm also a graphic designer who was raised by a mechanical engineer. Attention to detail, was my personal mantra growing up. It wasn't me.
After a few frustrating attempts with breads, I thought that much of the problem had to do with their tendency to simply be vague about certain key things. They called for 2-3 `extra' cups of flour in their Sourdough bread to get a "soft dough", and "the juice from one lemon" in their Apple Pie filling. Have they been to the store lately? You can get lemons any size from "golf ball" to "softball." And yes, it makes a very big difference.
I suspect that many of these errors are based on publishing, and not with the original recipes themselves. It would be very easy to introduce problems into things if you needed to have weight measurements tagged onto all the ingredients in every recipe throughout the book. If the original baker used only volume measurements, then they would have to find equivalents someplace. Stuff like sugar is pretty consistent whether it's by volume or weight, but not things like flour.
But if these mistakes weren't problem enough, I have already encountered instances of out and out errors to the basic recipe itself. For Apple Turnovers for example, they started with four large Granny Smith apples for eight small turnovers. That's half an apple per! No way. Somebody goofed.
So, does it mean the book is a flop? No. I have been able to adjust the recipes in most cases to produce an acceptable end product, and certain sections do not seem as prone to the measurement trouble (such as Cookies). But given that this IS a book for beginners (thus, `essentials of baking'), this is pretty unacceptable. A more experienced cook might see a problem coming and correct before it's too late, but not someone just starting into the art. It's also pretty appalling given that this is William-Sonoma as well as an expensive high-class publication and not some rough, first-time published baker trying to break into the market.
Like most beginning cookbooks, this one has very nice sections at the beginning covering equipment and ingredients as well as basic techniques for things like measuring and preparing pans. But the real test of a cookbook is the recipes themselves.
There's a wonderful selection of classic as well as specialty recipes in all the basic categories, and the book included some of my favorites like Challah and Pumpernickel bread. And although delicious when successfully baked, the book suffers terribly from what appears to be errors in quantity. In the dozen or so recipes that I have attempted so far, about three quarters had significant trouble caused by issues that could only be attributed to the quantity of goods. Being new to baking, I assumed at first that this was just something to do with me or the way that I measured things. But after a while, and with the purchase of a very nice cooking scale, I had to admit that I was indeed measuring correctly. I am a guy and all, which makes me anal about such things to begin with. But I'm also a graphic designer who was raised by a mechanical engineer. Attention to detail, was my personal mantra growing up. It wasn't me.
After a few frustrating attempts with breads, I thought that much of the problem had to do with their tendency to simply be vague about certain key things. They called for 2-3 `extra' cups of flour in their Sourdough bread to get a "soft dough", and "the juice from one lemon" in their Apple Pie filling. Have they been to the store lately? You can get lemons any size from "golf ball" to "softball." And yes, it makes a very big difference.
I suspect that many of these errors are based on publishing, and not with the original recipes themselves. It would be very easy to introduce problems into things if you needed to have weight measurements tagged onto all the ingredients in every recipe throughout the book. If the original baker used only volume measurements, then they would have to find equivalents someplace. Stuff like sugar is pretty consistent whether it's by volume or weight, but not things like flour.
But if these mistakes weren't problem enough, I have already encountered instances of out and out errors to the basic recipe itself. For Apple Turnovers for example, they started with four large Granny Smith apples for eight small turnovers. That's half an apple per! No way. Somebody goofed.
So, does it mean the book is a flop? No. I have been able to adjust the recipes in most cases to produce an acceptable end product, and certain sections do not seem as prone to the measurement trouble (such as Cookies). But given that this IS a book for beginners (thus, `essentials of baking'), this is pretty unacceptable. A more experienced cook might see a problem coming and correct before it's too late, but not someone just starting into the art. It's also pretty appalling given that this is William-Sonoma as well as an expensive high-class publication and not some rough, first-time published baker trying to break into the market.
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
To put this review into perspective for you, it is written by a serious student of cooking that has been actively studying food on their own for 25 years. I have been focusing on Italian food for the last 10 years. My favorite cookbook is "The Professional Chef" by the Culinary Institute of America.
If you are a frustrated baker who can't make your bread turn out right this is an excellent starting point for that purpose. The book contains all the bakery standards that you would expect and some that might be a new experience for you.
The Lavender-Polenta Coffee Cake is a very nice recipe. The Carrot Cake Recipe is also very good. Try adding a little maple syrup to the cream cheese frosting on the carrot cake. To quote my husband, Yum Yum.
The book does a nice job of outlining the various stages of the baking process in good detail with pictures. I think it would be very easy for a beginner to follow and make a nice loaf of bread the first time out.
I have shared the French Baquette recipe with a few novice bakers and they claim to have had good results.
If you are looking for a decent baking primer this is a good place to begin. The directions and the pictures are well done for those that need the guidance.
If you are a frustrated baker who can't make your bread turn out right this is an excellent starting point for that purpose. The book contains all the bakery standards that you would expect and some that might be a new experience for you.
The Lavender-Polenta Coffee Cake is a very nice recipe. The Carrot Cake Recipe is also very good. Try adding a little maple syrup to the cream cheese frosting on the carrot cake. To quote my husband, Yum Yum.
The book does a nice job of outlining the various stages of the baking process in good detail with pictures. I think it would be very easy for a beginner to follow and make a nice loaf of bread the first time out.
I have shared the French Baquette recipe with a few novice bakers and they claim to have had good results.
If you are looking for a decent baking primer this is a good place to begin. The directions and the pictures are well done for those that need the guidance.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
By J. Jackson
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I got the first edition of this book from the library and rushed to buy it...only to find that WS had revised it. The addition of the Chocolate chapter won me over instantly. I have made at least five recipes from each chapter.
They work. And not only that: they work well.
For example, I made the Classic Pumpkin Pie recipe for Thanksgiving a few weeks ago and people actually asked me where they could buy one (the pie, not the book). If I hadn't already proven myself to be a *fantastic* baker, no one would have believed I had made it. Yes, it was that good.
The Brioche is unbelievable (and believe them when they say you will be Huffing and Puffing if you do it by hand).
The Chocolate Meringues melt in your mouth. As does the Chocolate Shortbread.
As if that wasn't enough, the photographs (a must in my opinion; who wants a cookbook without photos) are sublime. The only thing better than this book is the WS website (where they have tons of free recipes).
But for me, what does it is the information. How much does a cookbook tell about the recipes? ingredients? equipment? WS starts every chapter with a brief backstory, including photographs of techniques and "This Is How It Looks When You've Done It Wrong". I love the way they give you instructions for hand-mixing, mixer-mixing (hand or stand) and/or food processor (where appropriate). The recipes are in volume and weight (if this matters to you) and the ingredients are neither wildly expensive (like Barefoot Contessa) nor WS "exclusives" (like sometimes happens with King Arthur Flour).
The only book on my shelf that ranks above this one is: The Easy-To-Use Beginner's First Cook Book: The Cook's Guide to Frying, Baking, Poaching, Casseroling, Steaming and Roasting a Fabulous Range of 140 T
**I accidentally submitted the same review below as a Kid's review**
They work. And not only that: they work well.
For example, I made the Classic Pumpkin Pie recipe for Thanksgiving a few weeks ago and people actually asked me where they could buy one (the pie, not the book). If I hadn't already proven myself to be a *fantastic* baker, no one would have believed I had made it. Yes, it was that good.
The Brioche is unbelievable (and believe them when they say you will be Huffing and Puffing if you do it by hand).
The Chocolate Meringues melt in your mouth. As does the Chocolate Shortbread.
As if that wasn't enough, the photographs (a must in my opinion; who wants a cookbook without photos) are sublime. The only thing better than this book is the WS website (where they have tons of free recipes).
But for me, what does it is the information. How much does a cookbook tell about the recipes? ingredients? equipment? WS starts every chapter with a brief backstory, including photographs of techniques and "This Is How It Looks When You've Done It Wrong". I love the way they give you instructions for hand-mixing, mixer-mixing (hand or stand) and/or food processor (where appropriate). The recipes are in volume and weight (if this matters to you) and the ingredients are neither wildly expensive (like Barefoot Contessa) nor WS "exclusives" (like sometimes happens with King Arthur Flour).
The only book on my shelf that ranks above this one is: The Easy-To-Use Beginner's First Cook Book: The Cook's Guide to Frying, Baking, Poaching, Casseroling, Steaming and Roasting a Fabulous Range of 140 T
**I accidentally submitted the same review below as a Kid's review**
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Love it
Well set out recipies. Easy to read and follow instructions. Good recipies, interesting and a good variety. My friends will adore it.
Published 3 months ago by Samuel Zweig
4.0 out of 5 stars
Thick book
You know, I wish I had the time to delve into this cookbook more. This is a great book with very serious recipes, like how to make pretty much any fancy dough from scratch, with... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Trimama
5.0 out of 5 stars
Essentials of Baking
Just as I thought it would be. I bought it in "good" condition... so it had a little bend in the spine... but I couldn't be happier. It was a steal!
Published 5 months ago by Sinta Borland
5.0 out of 5 stars
This is more than a cookbook.
This is an encyclopedia of baking that no one can live without. The tips and methods are very useful, and there are plenty of pictures.
Published 7 months ago by Kitty Lewis
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful book!
I own many cook/baking books, but this one is by far one of my favorites. The book looks and feels fantastic and is filled with many wonderful photos. Read more
Published 12 months ago by geekworld
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best baking cookbook
I have purchased many cookbooks on baking and found this one by far the best of the lot. All of the recipes I have tried so far produced wonderful results. Read more
Published 17 months ago by bellscamp
5.0 out of 5 stars
great book for 101 bakers, nice photos and simple explenations,
great book for 101 bakers, nice photos and simple explenations, Very helpful in bread making and crust making, very clear on instructions to guide you along
Published 18 months ago by Albert Schweitzer
4.0 out of 5 stars
Book is best ever! but vender comment about quality is ddifference.
I recommend you to buy this book because every receipe was so delicious and all photos looks beautiful too!! Read more
Published 22 months ago by sala
5.0 out of 5 stars
Williams-Sonoma Essentials of Baking
The book is in nearly perfect condition. Have made two recipes and both were very successful. I love the book. Thanks
Published on July 24, 2010 by Palm Street
5.0 out of 5 stars
Baking Cookbook from Williams-Sonoma
You can almost taate the recipe from their picture of the finished recipe. Wow!
Published on May 12, 2010 by Rose Marie Martino
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