Baking in America: Traditional and Contemporary Favorites from the Past 200 Years [AUDIOBOOK] (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "Breads, glorious breads-crusty, chewy, many made with whole grains-were the foundation of a housewife's baking repertoire during the early European settlement of our country..." (more)
Key Phrases: lower third position, room temperature until the centers, adjust two oven racks, Eliza Leslie, Miss Leslie, Grand Marnier (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Greg Patent, recognizing that many of America's worthiest breads, cakes, and other sweets have disappeared over time, retrieves them in perfected, easy-to-follow form, while also providing a selection of contemporary favorites, in his book Baking in America. From the first American cookbook, American Cookery, published in 1776, to and beyond the works of influential American cookbook writers including Eliza Leslie, Amelia Simmons, and Fannie Farmer, the book serves up such temptations as Mrs. Goodfellow's Dover Cake (a fine-grained, rice flour-based pound cake); Cornell White Bread (an exemplary sandwich loaf developed at Cornell University); and Chocolate and Gold Ribbon Cake (a Pillsbury Bake-Off prize winner). Among the newer delights are Ricotta Cheesecake with Blueberry Sauce, Spicy Icebox Oatmeal Crisps, and Rhubarb Raspberry Crunch Bars. Building upon often-sketchy formulas, Patent has seamlessly bridged past and present to produce a unique collection.

The book's organization--chapters cover topics from savory yeast breads and sweet yeast breads and doughnuts to pound cakes, layer cakes, cheesecakes, fruit desserts, and more--gives some idea of the arc of American baking, which has changed as kitchen technology has advanced. (The arrival of yeast-displacing chemical leaveners, for example, made the layer cake possible.) But American bakers have always been avid experimenters, Patent maintains, and have produced singular delights like Jalapeño, Cornmeal, and Cheddar Bread; Golden Pumpkin Loaf; Persimmon Cream Cheese Cupcakes; and, of course, brownies, for which the book gives variations including White Chocolate Chunk. With amusing advice from old cookbooks and other historical asides, profiles of cooking teachers, and useful glossaries of ingredients and equipment, the photo-illustrated book makes the re-creation of our charmingly homey baking past practical for modern cooks. --Arthur Boehm

From Publishers Weekly

In this wonderful collection of baking recipes, Patent (A Is for Apple) takes classics from old American cookbooks and makes them work with modern-day ingredients, encompassing all aspects of baking from Savory Yeast Breads through Pound Cakes to Pies and Tarts. After explaining the ingredients and equipment, he moves on to the recipes, which include timeless treasures of America's baking tradition such as Parker House Rolls, Lindy's Cheesecake and Lady Baltimore Cake. Most recipes have a brief history or description along with full, simply stated instructions that make them suitable for all skill levels. Interspersed are extracts from historical books and pamphlets that add color and create windows into bygone ages. These panels also convey additional information, which, combined with step-by-step pointers at the start of each chapter, enable the cook to produce treats like the subtly flavored Spice Pound Cake or the moist but light Orange Sponge Cake. Some recipes are more modern e.g., Cashew and Golden Raisin Biscotti with White Chocolate Glaze but all have been popular at some point with the American public. By including recipes from so many areas of baking, Patent has produced a volume that will provide a full repertoire for any cook as well as providing superb insight to the traditions and influences that have made American baking so varied and rich.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 560 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (November 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0618048316
• ISBN-13: 978-0618048311
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 8.4 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #344,055 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Faking in America, March 7, 2004

By	jerry i h (Berkeley, CA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

This baking book was disappointing. It represents itself as a survey of 200 years of baking in American kitchens. In the end, the result is a rather ordinary collection of baking and pastry recipes. This collection is supposed to be a collage of 200 years of baking recipes. The book has numerous references to old, out of print recipe books. Then, the author takes these recipes and updates it for the modern kitchen and grocery store.

In the bread chapter, for example, all of the dough make-up procedures are virtually identical. This is suspicious, as the sources, hydration percentages, and ingredients for the bread recipes go all over the place. I suspect that the author here has cheated a bit. Also, the procedures do not have very extensive descriptions of how to form the doughs into loaves. Some of the instructions for preparing the various fruits are either incomplete or wrong, as are procedures for cooking sugar into syrups, caramels, etc.

I like the fact that the procedures (for the most part) are very detailed, and many of the little steps that are often overlooked are thorough described here. The recipes often have as many as a dozen steps. The beginning of each chapter has some baking tips and hints, although they are far from complete. At the head of each chapter is a list of recipes, which is very convenient when you are looking for something specific. The most valuable part of this book is the bibliography, which lists many historic cookbooks, many of which are still available in facsimile editions. Very valuable, and hard to find, are the dozen or so recipes for doughnuts; these alone are almost worth the price of admission.

On the other hand, many chapters are collections of fairly standard recipes that you can find in almost any all purpose cookbook. The one about pies, for example, is very ordinary and commonplace, most of them currently popular ones, and not historic nor heritage in any sense of the word. It is a very decent collection of baking recipes that covers most of the major areas of baking, but it is not as advertised.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I love this book., August 17, 2003

By	Sunflower Summer (Massachusetts) - See all my reviews

I really enjoyed reading this cookbook. I learned so much about the history of American baking, the ingredients that were and are used in baking, and about the origins of some of the foods that I bake for my family. I read it cover to cover, like a history book, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Then I started baking from it. The first thing I tried was the honey apple torte, and it was one of the best baked goods I have ever made or tasted. It disappeared in a day--my family couldn't stop eating it. And it is a beautiful cake, too. I am looking forward to baking it for company. Next I tried the lemon sour cream pound cake, and that too was exquisite. I can't wait to try some of the other recipes. I found the recipes very original, and there were many that I haven't seen in other cookbooks. I also enjoyed reading the introductions to each recipe, which give history of the recipe or the ingredients contained in it. After reading (and baking from) this book, I feel like I have a better understanding of American culinary history. This was a very enjoyable cookbook. Thank you, Greg Patent.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Attractive and all-round practical, November 19, 2002

By	Lynn Harnett (Marathon, FL USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Patent sifted 200 years of cookbooks, journals and newspapers to select these 250 recipes, tested and adapted for the modern kitchen. Organized by type, from yeast breads to quick breads to doughnuts, pound cakes, layer cakes, pies and tarts, cheesecakes and more, this is a solid all-round baking book, with clear directions. Sidebars sprinkled throughout offer quotes from old cookbooks and advertisements and brief prefaces give the provenance of the original recipe, serving suggestions and a few words about its character. Patent also offers tips on choosing and handling ingredients, and cooking techniques, such as deep-frying doughnuts, pound cake pointers and step-by-step layer cakes.

A section of full-color pictures (Coconut Layer Cake, Lemon Genoise with White Chocolate Buttercream and Raspberries, Rhubarb Strawberry Pie) should be kept away from dieters. From Martha Washington's Currant Cake to Jalapeno, Cornmeal and Cheddar Bread, Patent does justice to the American baking scene.