Reviewed by annieb123 on
Baking with Dorie: Sweet, Salty Simple is a very well written no-nonsense cookbook for baked treats with recipes developed and curated by Dorie Greenspan. Due out 19th Oct 2021 from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt on their Mariner imprint, it's 400 pages and will be available in hardcover and ebook formats.
This is a definitive, comprehensive work full of well made unfussy recipes which work consistently and well, every time. The emphasis is on simple high quality ingredients and reliable methods which anyone can recreate.
The introduction includes basic tips and background info along with a good overview over kitchen practice, measuring, and do's and don'ts. The following chapters contain the recipes, grouped thematically: breakfast, cake, cookies, pastries (cream-puffs & meringues), pies tarts cobblers & crisps (some decadently glorious deliciousness here!), salty/savory, and partial recipes basics & extras.
Recipes include a description, ingredients in a sidebar bullet list, followed by specific step by step directions. The ingredient measures are given in American standard, metric, and ounce measurements (yay!). The tips and alternatives are posted in small text sidebars with the recipes. I *really* like that the author gives good descriptions of what doughs and ingredients will look like at different steps in the process. I am not an advanced cook and those tips are really reassuring.
The photography is superlative throughout. Many of the recipes also include tutorial photos showing the different steps of folding, braiding, or manipulating ingredients and pastries/doughs.
Five stars. This would be a good choice for public library acquisition, home use, or culinary classroom. I will definitely acquire a physical print copy of my own.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
Reading updates
- Started reading
- 6 September, 2021: Finished reading
- 6 September, 2021: Reviewed