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Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook Hardcover – November 1, 2005

by Martha Stewart (Author)

4.7 764 ratings

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Every new book from Martha Stewart is cause for celebration, and with Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook, she returns to bring the pleasures of baking to readers at every level, from beginner to expert and beyond. A culinary compendium packed with more than 200 foolproof recipes for the best baked goods, Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook takes readers by the hand and guides them through the process of creating an irresistible variety of cakes, cookies, pies, tarts, breads, and much more.

This essential addition to every cook’s library is rich with tips, techniques, and the mouthwatering and stunning recipes for which Martha Stewart is so well known. Covering a delectable array of topics from simple to sophisticated, including biscuits, muffins, scones, cookies, layer cakes, specialty cakes, sweet and savory pies and tarts, and pastries and breads, she provides a dazzlingly delicious yet crystal-clear, vividly illustrated repertoire of recipes. There are cakes that are elegant enough for formal occasions, such as showers, weddings, and dinner parties, and basic favorites meant to be enjoyed every day and then passed down through the generations. Every chapter includes indispensable visual equipment glossaries and features vital make-ahead information and storage techniques. Organized for maximum clarity and practicality, the handbook also offers step-by-step how-to photographs that demystify even the most complex and nuanced techniques. These culinary building blocks will turn good bakers into great bakers, and make great bakers even better.

Filled with time-honored classics, such as Marble Cake with White-Chocolate Glaze, Apple Pie, Challah, Baba au Rhum, and Croissants, as well as lots of new surprises, Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook will be reached for again and again, no matter the season or occasion.

“Here, you will find the recipes and how-tos for the popovers you dream about, and for the simple crumb cake that you always want to whip up on Sunday morning, and for the double-chocolate brownie cookies that will make you a bigger hero with the after-school crowd, and for the citrus bars that you could only find in that little bakery that’s no longer under the same management. . . . Baking offers comfort and joy and something tangible to taste and savor. We all hope that these recipes provide you with years of pleasure.” —Martha Stewart

Print length

416 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Clarkson Potter
Publication date

November 1, 2005
Dimensions

8.29 x 1.35 x 10.28 inches
ISBN-10

0307236722
ISBN-13

978-0307236722
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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook presents the doyenne of the Better Way in tip-top form. Or rather, it offers the work of a dedicated team who, under Stewart's stewardship, has devised over 200 baking recipes for both savory and sweet treats, ranging from the traditional likes of buttermilk biscuits, gingersnaps, blueberry pie, bagels, and chocolate angel food cake, to the more novel pleasures of Sausage and Feta Hand Pies, Cherry Fragipane Gallete, Carrot-Ginger Cupcakes, and even the buttery-sugary to-die-for yeasted pastry called kouign amans. Also present and accounted-for are Stewartian showpieces like Mocha-Pistachio Wedding Cake.

The greatest virtue of the book, apart from the clarity of its recipes, lies in its organization: the chapters, which cover all baking stops, begin with relevant tips, followed by notes on equipment and techniques, all photo-illustrated. These set-ups supply context that maximizes the possibility of pleasurable, goof-free baking. Photo-illustrated how-to's in the formulas further the cause. A quibble is the absence in many of the recipe headnotes of descriptive material about the baked good they introduce--it's important to provide info on techniques and ingredients, as the headnotes do, but baking recipes in particular cry out for descriptions of what, for example, sfogliatelle (an Italian pastry), or lime-glazed cookies are. This said, the book is immensely appealing and will excite as well as instruct a wide range of bakers, from the would-be to the accomplished. --Arthur Boehm

From Publishers Weekly

Six years after Stewart's now classic Hors D'Oeuvres Handbook reinvented canapés, here is an end-of-the-meal sequel. General baking tips start things off, most of which are beginner focused ("Read a recipe all the way through"), along with an illustrated guide to baking equipment. Along with expertise, Stewart is also selling the fantasy of wealth; she keeps a vast collection of pots, pans and implements in her own pantry. At times, readers may wish she would offer more suggestions of substitutions for these tools and gadgets (for instance, nearly all the recipes require a stand-up mixer). All the same, this work is, as promised, an essential guide. The recipes include 42 different cookies and 30 cakes, plus pies, tarts, coffee cakes, scones, biscuits, muffins, crackers, bread, fine pastries and more. They range from Classic Apple Pie to twists on standards, like a Tarte Tatin that involves cooking the apples entirely in the oven (instead of on the stovetop) and international goodies like Torta della Nonna. Instructions and sidebars are exhaustive yet accessible. Naturally, the book is exquisitely designed, with beautiful food styling and the spare, closeup photography that's become a hallmark of Stewart publications. Additionally, Stewart includes instructions for decorative crusts, coconut shavings and pastry twists that make her creations look so appealing. (On sale Nov. 1)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

This new volume may add to global warming as cooks all over the country start up their ovens to produce the extraordinary baked goods that Stewart proposes. Few of Stewart's recipes are completely original. Martha's genius rests in her uncanny ability to see a recipe in a novel way. Thus, her roulade has a filling of blackberry fool. Pineapple upside-down cake replaces the pineapple's core with mango. Caramel sticks cover the multiple chocolate layers of Dobos Torte. Rather than the little slices of banana customary inside ordinary banana cream pie, Stewart employs dramatic lengthwise slices. In addition to quick breads, Stewart offers yeast-raised loaves and buns, including focaccia, English muffins, croissants, and Danish pastries. Stewart's cookie recipes yield products suitable for gift giving. Illustrations throughout offer some guidance to the perplexed baker, but some recipes, such as the sfogliatelle, almost demand personal, step-by-step treatment. This is not an in-depth treatise on any one particular facet of the baker's art, but what Stewart chooses to deal with, she unfolds with care, grace, aplomb, and total mastery. Mark Knoblauch
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author

Martha Stewart is the author of dozens of books on cooking, decorating, gardening, weddings, and other domestic arts, and the founder of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc. She lives in Bedford, New York.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Apricot-Cherry Upside-down Cake

Makes one 8-inch cake

In traditional upside-down cake recipes, the fruit is first caramelized in a skillet. In our simplified version, the butter and sugar are creamed and spread into the cake pan; then the fruit is layered over the mixture and topped with cake batter.

• 1 stick (1/2 [.5] cup) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan
• 1-1/4 (1.25) cups sugar
• 5 to 6 medium fresh apricots (about 1 pound), halved and pitted
• 12 ounces fresh sweet cherries (such as Bing), stemmed, pitted, and halved
• 3/4 (.75)cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons fine yellow cornmeal
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 (.5) teaspoon salt
• 1/4 (.25) cup almond paste (not marzipan), crumbled
• 3 large eggs, separated
• 1/4 (.25) teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 (.5) teaspoon pure almond extract
• 1/2 (.5) cup milk

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter an 8-by-3-inch round cake pan, and line bottom with parchment paper. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat 2 tablespoons butter with 1/4 cup sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Spread evenly over bottom of prepared pan. Arrange apricot halves, cut sides down, in pan. Fit cherries into any gaps between apricots. Pack down the fruit slightly with your hands; set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat remaining 6 tablespoons butter until smooth, about 1 minute. Add almond paste and æ cup sugar, and beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the egg yolks, and beat until well combined. Beat in vanilla and almond extracts. Add the flour mixture in two parts, alternating with the milk and beginning and ending with the flour; beat until combined, and set aside.

In the clean bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat egg whites on medium speed until foamy. Gradually sprinkle in the remaining 1/4 cup sugar, and beat until soft peaks form. Fold a third of egg-white mixture into the batter with a spatula. Gently fold in remaining egg whites.

Spread batter over fruit, smoothing with an offset spatula. Bake, rotating pan halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 1 hour to 1 hour 10 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack to cool slightly, about 15 minutes. Run a knife or small offset spatula around the edges to loosen, and invert cake onto a serving plate to cool completely. Cake can be kept at room temperature, loosely covered with foil, for up to 3 days.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Clarkson Potter; First Edition (November 1, 2005)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 416 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0307236722
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0307236722
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 3.65 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 8.29 x 1.35 x 10.28 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #82,638 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #39 in Pastry Baking (Books)
- #173 in Cooking Encyclopedias
- #177 in Cooking, Food & Wine Reference (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.7 764 ratings

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Martha Stewart

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Martha Stewart is the author of dozens of bestselling books on cooking, entertaining, homekeeping, gardening, weddings, and decorating. She is the host of The Martha Stewart Show, the Emmy-winning daily syndicated television program, and founder of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, which publishes several magazines, including Martha Stewart Living; produces Martha Stewart Living Radio; and provides a wealth of ideas and information on her website.

Brand Store: https://www.amazon.com/marthastewart

Customer reviews

764 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the recipes in the book easy to follow and simple enough. They appreciate the thorough presentation of fundamentals and great tips. Readers also love the gorgeous full-color pictures and the beautiful, well-thought-out design. In addition, they say the banana bread recipe is worth the price of the book.

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Recipes Information quality Pictures quality Book design Value for money

100 customers mention "Recipes"95 positive5 negative

Customers find the recipes in the book easy to follow and simple enough. They say it covers virtually all essential baking techniques without going into any long explanations. Readers also mention the instructions are clear and concise.

"...There is even a recipe for a three-tiered wedding cake! Some recipes are quick and easy, while others tend to be very complex and involved, offering..." Read more

"...a `how to' book on all the basics, this volume covers virtually all the essential baking techniques, without going into any long explanations on why..." Read more

"...The procedures are easy to follow, the recipes are simple enough so you don't have to go crazy finding weird ingredients..." Read more

"...All of the recipes are very well written with clear concise language. The finished dishes are shown in photographs of the highest caliber...." Read more

50 customers mention "Information quality"48 positive2 negative

Customers find the book thorough in presenting fundamentals by using photos and text. They appreciate the great tips and thoughtful instructions. Readers also mention it provides important details and is clear and concise in its directions.

"...Some recipes are quick and easy, while others tend to be very complex and involved, offering options for both the novice and advanced home baker,..." Read more

"...I think this attitude and the great skill in both describing and picturing techniques means this book is a superb introduction for the beginner, and..." Read more

"...It is also a very educational book in the sense that it talks about why these ingredients work, or how these ingredients react with each other, or..." Read more

"...Every single photo is so large, crisp, and so detailed, that you can actually see each delicate layer of puff pastry, when you are looking at the..." Read more

31 customers mention "Pictures quality"31 positive0 negative

Customers find the pictures in the book gorgeous, clear, and full-color. They also appreciate the step-by-step pictures of techniques. Readers mention the book lists and shows all the baking tools you'll need.

"...In addition, there are beautiful photos on nearly every page (and most pages have more than one!),..." Read more

"...It's hard cover, printed on very fancy feeling paper. There's pictures for everything, which I truly appreciate in a cooking book...." Read more

"...Each of these above sections come with crystal clear photos that accompany each instruction point made within that area so you know of which pan,..." Read more

"...Each recipe has a gorgeous picture. I cannot stop panting and gushing about how great this book looks...." Read more

22 customers mention "Book design"22 positive0 negative

Customers find the book design beautiful, beautifully illustrated, and well-thought-out. They appreciate the clear instructions and the wonderful condition of the book. Readers also mention it's filled with traditional and classic recipes.

"...The Marble Cake with White Chocolate Glaze (p. 65) is super easy yet impressive - the perfect thing to have with coffee when a friend stops..." Read more

"...True story.The edition itself is gorgeous. It's hard cover, printed on very fancy feeling paper...." Read more

"This book is beautifully done. Great pictures for reference." Read more

"...the layout of this book is great the instructions are clear and everything you need might already be in your cupboards or pantry!..." Read more

13 customers mention "Value for money"13 positive0 negative

Customers find the banana bread recipe in the book worth the price and well worth the effort. They say it looks just like the pictures in the book.

"...It's a great price on here too! Before I bought this book I looked at Martha Stewart's cooking school at Barnes and Noble and I got sticker shock!..." Read more

"...Next up was the parmesan-Rosemary crackers. Both were well worth the effort and looked just like the pictures in the book...." Read more

"...I can tell you, the banana bread recipe is worth the price of the book!..." Read more

"...The quality of the paper is very good and great pics too." Read more

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Riona F. O'Malley

Invaluable All-Purpose Baking Resource

Reviewed in the United States on September 29, 2009

Verified Purchase

I've owned this book for a bit over a year, and it has quickly become one of my favorite baking books (Believe me, I own quite a few). The recipes run the gamut from simple breakfast muffins to rustic cobblers to elegant napoleons. There is even a recipe for a three-tiered wedding cake! Some recipes are quick and easy, while others tend to be very complex and involved, offering options for both the novice and advanced home baker, and allowing the user to grow with the book, trying more difficult recipes as one's skills expand. However, even the most complex of the recipes are laid out and explained clearly. In addition, there are beautiful photos on nearly every page (and most pages have more than one!), showing both finished baked goods and illustrating techniques.

I've made quite a few of the recipes in this book and thought I'd share a few of my favorites. There are four cupcake recipes in this book, of which I've tried three. The Maple-Walnut Cupcakes with Maple Buttercream (p. 164) are really excellent. Make more candied walnuts than cupcakes - you'll just want to grab a handful and munch on them while you're garnishing. The Carrot-Ginger Cupcakes (p. 166) were really light and fluffy, although they very mild and not all that carrot cake-y, so that may not be to everyone's taste. But the instructions for making marzipan carrots (with photos!) make them so easy. I've made the One-Bowl Chocolate Cake on p. 168 as both cupcakes and a layer cake, and it's a great go-to basic chocolate cake recipe. The Marble Cake with White Chocolate Glaze (p. 65) is super easy yet impressive - the perfect thing to have with coffee when a friend stops over.

Martha's Classic Apple Pie recipe (p. 228) is simple and excellent, and her Pate Brisee (p. 224) is my go-to recipe for pie dough - it works every time. The Tarte Tatin (p. 265) is about as easy as a "company" dessert can get, looking both rustic and fancy at the same time (and it tastes amazing - like candied apples on pie crust; how could you go wrong?) I've made the Fruit Curd Tartlets (p. 258) with both lemon and lime curd (both on p. 390), and while the tartlet molds I used were really small (about 1" - don't do it to yourself!!!) and a huge pain in my [...], everyone loved them and they were gone in a flash.

This book makes even difficult, pastry chef-caliber techniques like laminated doughs accessible. I made the from-scratch Puff Pastry on p. 359, and while it took the better part of a day and used a crapload of butter, the difference from frozen, pre-packaged puff pastry was so amazing that I don't ever want to buy it again. I also tried my hand at the Danish Dough (p. 334), and made the Prune Pinwheels and Apricot Bow Ties (p. 336 & 338, respectively). The absolute winner of the book, though, is the Chocolate Babka on p. 352. Coming from a Russian/Polish Jewish background, I've eaten a lot of babkas, but this one was PERFECT. Loaded with chocolate, covered in streusel.... you need to try it. Granted, the recipe calls for 2 rises and with several different components it takes a bit of time to complete, but it also makes three loaves and they freeze beautifully. Eat one, store the other two in the freezer, and you'll have something perfect to bring to a potluck or housewarming at a moment's notice.

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B. Marold

Excellent manual for amateurs and beginners. Buy It!

Reviewed in the United States on November 9, 2005

Verified Purchase

`Martha Stewart's Cooking Handbook' is Martha Stewart Omnimedia's first book since Miss Martha has been out of the slammer, and it is her first big book in several years. That, combined with the fact that it's name promises to be a serious manual on baking techniques gives me high expectations for this new title.

I am really happy to say the book meets or even exceeds my expectations on almost all points. Like the famous `Boy Scout Handbook' which is exclusively a `how to' book on all the basics, this volume covers virtually all the essential baking techniques, without going into any long explanations on why these are the best techniques. Thus, unlike Sherry Yard's excellent `The Secrets of Baking' or Shirley Corriher's `Cookwise' or Alton Brown's `I'm Just Here for More Food', this book spends no time dwelling on how biscuit baking is very similar to pie crust baking or that cheesecake is not really cake, but a custard pie. Instead, Martha and her very large and expert staff of magazine and book writers, editors, and photographers have assembled and excellent tutorial on most of the basic baking skills.

There is another way in which this book is different from most conventional books on baking. It is in the tone I first detected in Martha Stewart's flagship classic, `Entertaining' where she takes the stance of an amateur with good taste and good learning skills, rather than the role of a professional who is showing us amateurs how it's done. This is not to say that we amateurs can't learn a lot from all the baking professionals out there like Peter Reinhart, Rose Levy Beranbaum, Nick Malgieri, and Gayle Ortiz. It's just that Miss Martha sees things from our side of the kitchen counter. This may not explain all the good qualities of this book, but it helps. I think this attitude and the great skill in both describing and picturing techniques means this book is a superb introduction for the beginner, and even for the teen and preteen bakers among us.

Lots of books use photographs or drawings to illustrate techniques, but the presence of the pictures is not an automatic path to clarity of presentation. The technique illustrating pictures in this book are simply superb. They seem to leave nothing to the imagination, as when they provide simple pictures illustrating what packed brown sugar looks like, how to measure across the top of a baking pan, and how to prepare the bottom of baking pans with butter, parchment round, followed by more butter. All the photographic experience that has been acquired by doing a monthly magazine has been put to good use.

While a purist may object to some elements of this book's organization, it is excellent for a beginner or even an intermediate amateur. Instead of giving us a chapter on quick breads, the book starts with a chapter entitled `Simple Baked Goods' which cover biscuits (five different methods), muffins (four recipes), popovers, scones (four recipes), quick breads (five recipes, including cornbread and Irish soda bread), and cakes (seven recipes). Rather than putting all the tutorial material on techniques in the front of the book, the photo tutorials begin each relevant chapter. So, the first chapter includes lessons on cutting butter into biscuit dough, making and cutting scones, cutting biscuits, and preparing muffin tins. Other specifics appear as sidebars to individual recipes. Thus, the correct method for filling popover pans is shown together with the one popover recipe.

The next chapter is on `Cookies'. Just as with the `simple' recipes, the chapter begins with an introduction on good techniques for making cookies, a photo gallery of cookie making tools and tutorials on cookie techniques. Also like the first section, the selection of recipes is very well done. The forty-two recipes certainly don't cover all the ground you will find in a full book on cookies, but a lot of very popular recipes are here. I was particularly interested in the recipe for nut crescents and I was very pleased to find a good representation of exactly now to form the crescents before baking so that the cookies would bake evenly.

My favorite subject, yeast breads, is in the next to last chapter on `Yeasted Baked Goods'. Here again, the choice of recipes is excellent, covering virtually all the major bases with at least one or two examples of each major type of European bread, except for naturally yeasted sourdoughs. All recipes use active dry yeast. A professional baker may prefer fresh yeast and some writers are particularly fond of instant yeast, but I first learned yeast baking with active dry yeast and both of the other types have their disadvantages for the amateur.

One possible dissonance is the fact that pate brisee recipes (pies, tarts, galettes, etc) and other pastry recipes such as puff pastry and pate a choux are in two different chapters, separated by yeast breads. From a practical point of view, for a `handbook' of techniques, I consider this entirely unobjectionable.

One thing I really like about the individual recipes is that in addition to the fact that they seem to leave no important detail out, they also do not introduce a lot of tricks and gimmicks. While I have seen pate brisee recipes with all sorts of different additives to make them work better, Martha Stewart gives us the simplest recipe possible made with flour, salt, butter, and water, period, plus a really nice pictorial tutorial on how to put it all together.

Aside from the generally friendly tone and the homey introduction from Martha, there is none of the chatter in headnotes and sidebars you will find in many books. This is all business.

I strongly recommend this as a first book on baking techniques and reference for lots of common baking recipes.

262 people found this helpful

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Jesse Reviews Stuff

An amazing learning book and perfect for amateur bakers!

Reviewed in the United States on January 11, 2015

Verified Purchase

Ok, here's a cute story: I had an itch to go to pastry school. I bought this book, made several recipes (which I loooved) and I enrolled in culinary school about six months after I got it. True story.

The edition itself is gorgeous. It's hard cover, printed on very fancy feeling paper. There's pictures for everything, which I truly appreciate in a cooking book. The procedures are easy to follow, the recipes are simple enough so you don't have to go crazy finding weird ingredients (although you can find anything on amazon, right?!). It is also a very educational book in the sense that it talks about why these ingredients work, or how these ingredients react with each other, or why you should use a specific tool in order to achieve a great looking final product.

If you read the book front cover to back, you will end up being a more knowledgeable baker, for sure. The book covers the basics (and a bit more): from sponge cake, to cut out cookies, to croissants, to pies, tarts, brownies, danish, cupcakes, fillings and frostings, you name it. Sometimes I wish the recipes were a liiiittle bit more interesting, but I can honestly say that if you master the recipes in this book, you can go and make pretty much anything else.

-Ceci

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Maria

Excelente libro

Reviewed in Mexico on September 26, 2019

Verified Purchase

Martha Stewart rara vez me decepciona, y este libro no es la excepción. Excelente libro, buenisimas y muy sencillas recetas, muy faciles de seguir y en general las instrucciones son muy claras. Los postres salen excelente, me encanto el libro y si te gusta cocinar postres pero quieres buenas recetas, recomiendo ampliamente este libro. Me llego antes y en buen estado.

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Jimuel C.

good reference book

Reviewed in Australia on April 9, 2020

Verified Purchase

for reference book its good. step by step procedure.

chelsdev

excellent recipes. great variety

Reviewed in Canada on June 21, 2015

Verified Purchase

This cook book has my favorite chocolate chip recipe. And, I've tried alot of different one's. I know you can look up a lot of recipes on the internet. But, I think it's nice to have it in a book in front of you.

Josephine

Estupendo

Reviewed in Spain on February 3, 2015

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Una compra genial en todo. El formato quizás un poco grande, pero lo compensa con todo lo que trae. Incluso estando en inglés te enteras perfectamente con las fotos. Pero espero que se traduzca más a esta mujer, que es una crack.

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Alessandro

splendido

Reviewed in Italy on December 25, 2013

Verified Purchase

un bel librone, pieno di ricette ognuna correlata da una foto. lei è come sempre una garanzia:) consigliato , anche per chi non ha i misurini americani dato che alla fine del libro c'è una tabella con le convesioni

2 people found this helpful

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