Baking Style: Art, Craft, Recipes

The 2012 James Beard Foundation Book Awards winner in the Baking and Dessert category, Baking Style is a dazzling celebration of the art and craft of baking. Lisa Yockelson, the award-winning author of Baking by Flavor and ChocolateChocolate, presents what has fascinated her during a lifetime of baking. With 100 essays and more than 200 recipes, along with 166 full-color images, Baking Style is infused with discoveries, inspirations, and exacting-but-simple recipes for capturing the art and craft of baking at home. Yockelson’s articles, essays, and recipes have appeared in national publications such as the Boston Globe, the Washington Post, and Gastronomica: The Journal of Food and Culture. At her interactive website and blog (bakingstylediary.com), she continues her art of essay-writing and recipe development for a welcoming community of bakers.

Looking for another recipe from this cookbook?  A Snazzy Bittersweet Chocolate Tea Bread

Cooks&Books&Recipes Featured Cook Donna:

I have a special love for baking books, so I was very interested in Baking Style by Lisa Yockekson. The first thing I noticed was how pink the book was. The cover is a dark magenta, and all the photos have pink elements, and the edges of the pages are pink. But that’s okay it’s not an obnoxious color scheme, it’s just something you notice. On the plus side, when you’re picking a book off the shelf, the pink one will stand out.

The way the recipes are arranged in the book is quirky, to say the least. Instead of grouping the recipes by type of product, the book lists the recipes according to concepts like Pure Flavor, Past Perfect, or Dreamy Regal. That quirky arrangement made the book interesting to browse through but a little less convenient for finding and comparing similar recipes. In a single chapter, you might find cake followed by cookies, then muffins, then more cake, and finally, bread. This wasn’t a deal-breaker, but it was a puzzle. On the other hand, the more I looked at the book, the more the arrangement made sense from a writer’s perspective, but it still made it hard to figure out where I’d be most likely to find oatmeal cookies, for example. (They were in the Comfy Cozy section.)

I’m not sold on the way the book is organized, but it does add to the personality of the recipes, and the index makes navigating the quirkiness much easier. There are several more recipes I’m itching to try, and based on the success of the cake, I’m pretty sure I’ll be happy with the results.

One Response to “Baking Style: Art, Craft, Recipes”

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   1

   City Select — June 14, 2012 @ 11:02 pm

   excellent!! loved the cake…

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