Zosia's Reviews
Cookbook Reviews
HomeBaking : The Artful Mix of Flour and Tradition Around the World
By Jeffrey Alford, Naomi Duguid
Random House of Canada, Limited - 2003
This cookbook is a treasure trove of wonderful recipes, each of which transports you to someone else's kitchen, often in another part of the world.
The book covers several categories of both sweet and savoury baked goods including pastry, breads, cakes and cookies and within each chapter, no matter what part of the world you’re from, you’ll find something familiar, but also something brand new that you want to try.
There’s a helpful glossary of ingredients and techniques with more detailed information provided at the start of each chapter. If I have one criticism it would be that some of the recipe instructions could have offered more details eg descriptions of dough consistency. Though everything I made was delicious, I’m not certain the finished texture/appearance was as it should be. However, since the authors stress that home baking is not about perfection of the results, but the pleasures of the process, I’ll say that they were successful!
I’m not sure why I allowed this book to languish on my shelves for so long but I’m glad I rediscovered it.