Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook

Posted by Margalit

This is the last of my four cookbook reviews. I swore on my life I would never buy a Martha Stewart book. But here I am, about to tell you that Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook is absolutely fabulous. I apologize in advance! I know it isn't a new book, published way back in 2005, but it's new to me, and if you're like me, not really a Martha fan, it might be your first introduction into this tome of glorious recipes, just like it was to me a couple of weeks back when I purchased it.

I bought this book for a particular recipe: Grapefruit Sandwich Cookies. I saw her show where she made these and I swear it, I wanted to reach through the TV screen and grab the lot of them. They looked totally fabulous, and as a grapefruit lover I figured I could make this recipe and know that I'm the only one in my family that would eat them. Heh. Made with ruby red grapefruits and their juice and filled with a grapefruit cream filling, these cookies are to die for. I made them with the recipe posted on Martha's web site, but then the recipe disappeared, and the only to make them again was to buy the book. She's clever, that Martha.

This book is a home baker's dream come true. It has really unusual recipes along with some great favorites. Each recipe is beautifully illustrated with large color photos in typical Martha fashion. The recipes are sometimes complicated, but she explains each step, and for the novice baker I think there are plenty of choices.

Additionally, Martha begins the book with an entire section for the novice on general baking tips, general baking equipment you will need, and general baking techniques you will use to follow the recipes.

The recipes are divided into these categories: cookies; cakes; pies, tarts, cobblers, and crisps; pastries; simple baked goods; cakes; and yeasted baked goods.

Each chapter contains a large number of recipes in several subcategories. For example, in Simple Baked Goods there are recipes for biscuits, muffins, scones, non-yeast breads, and some easy cakes like pound cakes.

Unlike Martha's show, where everything is absolutely perfect, this book shows some anomalies that make it less intimidating to the novice baker. Her pans are old and stained. Her doughs are sometimes lumpy and not in perfect rectangles. The step by step instructions show pickures with small spills. It's much more comforting than seeing absolute perfection.

The first recipe I baked from this book were Linzer Heart cookies. I made them for my daughter's school party and they were delicious and made a big hit. Instead of using raspberry jam, I used lemon and lime curds, which made the cookies look like stained glass. Although this is a fairly complex recipe, and the steps are a bit wordy for my taste, the cookies were fabulous.

My one complaint is that the steps are too words. As a busy baker, I like short concise steps. Martha's steps are wordy and hard to follow. It reads beautifully, but I found that underlining the actual information I needed with a highlighter made the recipes much easier for me to follow.

TAGS: Baking, Cook Book, Martha Stewart
POST TOOLS: