Book Review: The Craft of Baking by Karen DeMasco & Mindy Fox

(Full disclosure: my friend and former colleague Mindy Fox is the co-author of this book. I would not, however, review this book if I didn't like it and find it a valuable addition to my baking library. I do not shill).

Long before I received my reviewer copy of The Craft of Baking: Cakes, Cookies, and Other Sweets with Ideas for Inventing Your Own, I stumbled upon a Karen DeMasco recipe while searching the internet for tips on making semifreddo. The recipe was from Food & Wine's website, and was close to exactly what I was looking for. I made a few adjustments to it - ratios and ingredients - and my almond semifreddo with lemon curd was born. This recipe has been a big favorite with dinner guests. DeMasco's original - on page 221 of her new cookbook with Mindy Fox - is just one of the many homey, delicious, and do-able recipes in this new volume of classic sweets.

What makes this baking book a necessary addition to your cookbook collection is its attention to craft and simplicity: DeMasco, who trained under Claudia Fleming, one of my favorite pastry chefs of the 90s,  and Fox, an accomplished restaurant chef-turned-cookbook writer,  aren't about creating impossible-to-replicate showstoppers but about providing great recipes, that, with a little practice and experimentation, can become signature items for the home cook. In addition to the well-written, easy to follow recipes are side notes with instructions on "Building Your Craft". Scones, Donuts, Granola, Jellies, Meringue, Truffles, Fruit Crisps & Cobblers, Pound Cake, Custards & Puddings, and Ice Cream all receive special attention and tips for preparation and improvisation. 

One of my favorite parts of this book - and also in Fox's previous cookbook Olives and Oranges: Recipes and Flavor Secrets from Italy, Spain, Cyprus, and Beyond - is the well-written and very helpful food reference guide to the pastry chef's pantry. All major ingredients used in the cookbook get a paragraph from the authors explaining what the ingredients are and how they are used. In the case of some products, such as polenta and cornmeal and chocolate, favorite brands are mentioned, in this case Anson Mills, Sharffen Berger, Chocovic and El Rey. Not everyone knows what barley malt syrup is; DeMasco and Fox not only demystify it, they make seem like a necessity that you probably should not live without.

As I read through the cookbook I found myself marking off recipes and picking up some new tricks and tips. In one of DeMasco and Fox's recipe for a simple, very buttery brioche, they suggests using soup cans for bread molds. In the past, when I've needed miniature tart molds in a hurry, I have used metal cup measures; soup cans, once they are cleaned per the book's instructions, not only work as bread molds for brioche (as suggested by the authors), but, if trimmed by half with a saw, could be used as tart molds. I'm excited to try out their recipe for fruit jellies; for some reason, I've always been intimidated by making those fruity, chewy candies. The recipe and guidance made me wonder why I haven't been making jellies since I first learned to cook. Reading their marshmallow recipe was a revelation to me, too. For years I've been trying to understand how a marshmallow could be vegan; this recipe not only supplied the answer, but gave me some ideas about developing my own version.

This is not a gluten-free cookbook, but there are enough gluten-free recipes (sweets, ice creams, poached fruits, compotes, roasted and poached fruits, and candies) to make a gluten-free sugar fanatic like me ecstatic with possibility and provide plenty of inspiration for new gluten-free projects.

The cookbook will be available October 27th, but can be pre-ordered now.