Table Of ContentIlluSTraTEd STEP-BY-STEP
Baking
easy-to-follow recipes with more than 1,500 photographs
Caroline Bretherton
ILLUSTRATED STEP-BY-STEP
Baking
ILLUSTRATED STEP-BY-STEP
Baking
Caroline Bretherton
LONDON, NEW YORK,
MUNICH, MELBOURNE, DELHI
Senior Editor Alastair Laing
Project Art Editor Kathryn Wilding
US Editor Rebecca Warren
Managing Editor Dawn Henderson
Managing Art Editor Christine Keilty
Senior Jacket Creative Nicola Powling
Senior Production Editor Maria Elia
Senior Production Controller Alice Holloway
Creative Technical Support Sonia Charbonnier
Photographers Howard Shooter, Michael Hart
DK INDIA
Project Editor Charis Bhagianathan
Senior Art Editor Neha Ahuja
Project Designer Divya PR
Assistant Art Editor Mansi Nagdev
Managing Editor Glenda Fernandes
Managing Art Editor Navidita Thapa
DTP Manager Sunil Sharma
Production Manager Pankaj Sharma
DTP Operators Neeraj Bhatia,
Sourabh Challariya, Arjinder Singh
First American Edition, 2011
Published in the United States by
DK Publishing, 375 Hudson Street
New York, New York 10014
11 12 13 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
001 – 181842 – Sept/2011
Copyright © 2011 Dorling Kindersley Limited.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted
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photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the
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ISBN 978-0-7566-8679-6
Color reproduction by Alta Image
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Contents
introduction 8
recipe choosers 10
everyday cakes 26
celebration cakes 80
small cakes 112
patisserie 148
cookies & slices 186
meringues & soufflés 240
cheesecakes 268
sweet tarts & pies 284
savory tarts & pies 356
classic & artisan breads 396
flat breads 470
quick breads & batters 494
index 534
acknowledgments 544
Introduction
My first introduction to baking was at my first birthday
party, when family history has it that I launched myself
into a cream-laden gâteau head first, a moment carefully
preserved forever by my mother’s polaroid camera. Years
later I have a similarly enthusiastic response to baked
goods, albeit tempered by a lifetime of experience.
Getting It Right: Be Patient, Be Precise
Baking is something most people approach with caution, speaking of fallen sponges,
soggy bottoms, and crumbling pastry. Yet it is, above all, a science. With a tried-and-
tested recipe (as all the recipes in this book are) and careful application to quantities,
timing, and temperature, there is little that cannot be achieved by the home baker.
The key to competent baking is patience and precision. Read the recipe carefully,
follow it unwaveringly, and you will rarely fail.
Must-have Equipment
Having said that, there are a few items of equipment that will help you along the
way. Digital scales are an absolute must. Weighing ingredients carefully is vital to most
baking. Unlike everyday cooking, where we can rely on taste and personal preference,
the correct balance of fat to flour to eggs is always required to make a cake rise.
Beyond the scales a simple set of baking equipment should include: a set of quality,
non-stick cake and tart pans, and baking sheets. A large mixing bowl, a set of
measuring spoons, a spatula, a balloon whisk, electric mixer, and some wooden
spoons. Many of the recipes in this book can be achieved with little else, but if you
love to bake and would like to attempt the more complex recipes, I would recommend
a standing mixer with dough hook. This takes a lot of the hard work out of bread
making, for example, and well kneaded dough will always produce better bread.
Finally, an oven thermometer. It may seem strange when your oven has a
temperature display on it, but the temperature inside some ovens differs significantly
from the dial setting. For a small outlay you can buy a simple thermometer that
hangs from the oven shelf and accurately reads the temperature inside your oven.
My Essential Tips
Once you have your equipment in place the best thing to do is practice. Carefully
follow a new recipe the first couple of times you attempt it and you will soon find your
confidence growing. You will start to understand how ingredients respond and work
together so that, with time, you will be able to create your own alternative versions.
Cakes should mostly be light and airy. Barring the heavier fruit varieties, most cakes
rely on air being whisked into the mixture then carefully preserved by a light touch
when folding in the flour, before cooking. Although butter gives a richer taste to the
finished cake, baking margarine will produce a lovely, light result too.
Meringues need a scrupulously clean bowl and not a trace of yolk in the egg whites,
or they will not whisk well. A long, slow cook always helps. My oven is always too
hot to produce a pure white meringue, so I counteract this by propping the door
open slightly with the handle of a wooden spoon to allow the temperature to drop.
Meringues that are cooled in the oven tend to crack less, too.
