Successful baking is the result of carefully mixing equal parts science and passion -- a balancing of flour and fat ratios with the sweet joy of creation.
Sadly, too few cookbook authors manage this delicate blend, producing instead either tedious textbooks or gushy remembrances of pies past. Neither does much for getting great goodies onto your table.
This year we are lucky to get two masterful takes on baking, books that deserve to be dog-eared, speckled with flour and spattered with batter.
First is Carole Bloom's "The Essential Baker" (Wiley, $40), an exhaustive (225 recipes) and intuitive book that pros and novices alike will be comfortable with. The author's simple, evocative prose makes it hard not to be drawn to the recipes.
But the brilliance of this book is its structure. The recipes are sorted according to key ingredients. The "Fruit and Vegetable" section is divided in chapters on stone fruits, dried fruits, berries and grapes, for example.
In recent years more cookbooks have adopted this approach (and even more should), which syncs so much better with how real people cook than more traditional approaches to organizing recipes.
Bloom's recipe structure also is excellent, favoring a "Joy of Cooking" style that meshes the ingredient list with the method (rather than the more common list of ingredients followed by the instructions).
Some readers may initially find the recipes visually intimidating, but Bloom's deft hand at guiding the reader through the recipe ensures success.
Proof of that is her recipe for Devilish Chocolate Layer Cake with Caramel-chocolate Buttercream, a complex five-page recipe that despite its many steps was clear and easy to follow. It also was remarkably good.
Bloom's recipe for gingerbread produced a simple, moist and delicious cake-like bread, and the cardamom and pear crisp is a great fall dish.
Cardamom and Pear Crisp
This recipe for pear crisp from Carole Bloom's "The Essential Baker" draws much of its flavor and luscious aroma from cardamom.
For the filling:
• 2 pounds ripe pears (5 to 6 medium-size)
• 1 tablespoon light brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
• Finely grated zest of 1 large lemon
For the topping:
• 1 cup walnuts
• 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cardamom
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 stick (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, chilled
Peel the pears, then cut them into quarters. Use a small sharp knife to remove the core and seeds. Slice the pears into 1/2-inch-thick slices and place them in an 8-inch square baking pan.
Sprinkle the pears with 1 tablespoon light brown sugar, 1 teaspoon cardamom and the lemon zest and toss to coat evenly.
Place an oven rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 400 degrees.
In the work bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade, combine the walnuts, flour, 1/2 cup light brown sugar, 2 teadspoons cardamom and the salt. Pulse until the walnuts are finely chopped, for about 30 seconds to 1 minute.
Cut the butter into small pieces and add it to the food processor. Pulse until the butter is cut into very small pieces, for about 30 seconds. Sprinkle the topping evenly over the fruit in the baking pan.
Bake the crisp for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the topping is light golden. Remove the pan from the oven and transfer to a rack to cool. To serve, cut squares of the crisp, scooping up the fruit.
The crisp can be stored for as long as 2 days, tightly covered with foil and refrigerated.
Makes 8-10 servings.
Gingerbread
This recipe is from Carole Bloom's "The Essential Baker." Serve it with a dollop of whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened, plus 1 stick, also softened, divided
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon ground ginger
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 cup molasses
• 1 cup boiling water
Place an oven rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8-inch square baking pan with foil, letting the foil hang about 2 inches over the sides. Use a paper towel or your fingertips to coat the inside of the foil with 1 tablespoon butter.
Sift together the flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon and cloves. Add the nutmeg and salt and toss to blend.
Place the stick of butter in the bowl of an electric stand mixer or a large bowl. Use the flat beater attachment or a hand-held mixer to beat the butter until light and fluffy, for about 2 minutes.
Add the brown sugar and granulated sugar and cream together until smooth. Stop and scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula.
In a small bowl, use a fork to lightly beat the eggs. Add the eggs and molasses to the butter mixture, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl as necessary. The mixture might look curdled as the eggs are added, but as you scrape down the bowl, the mixture will smooth out.
Add the water to the mixture and beat to blend thoroughly.
Adjust the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients in four stages, blending thoroughly after each edition. Stop often and scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and use a rubber spatula to spread it evenly. Bake for 45 minutes, or until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean.
Remove the pan from the oven and cool completely on a rack.
Use the foil to lift the gingerbread from the pan. Carefully peel the foil away from the sides. Cut the gingerbread into 4 equal-sized rows in each direction. Serve at room temperature.
The gingerbread can be wrapped in foil and stored at room temperature for as long as 4 days.
Makes 16 2-inch gingerbread squares.
Equally deserving of space in your kitchen is "Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads" (Ten Speed Press, $35), a thoroughly illustrated introduction to professional bread baking techniques adapted for the home cook.
Like "The Essential Baker," Reinhart's book interweaves method and ingredients. And as with Bloom, it works. his technique is thoroughly professional, but his style is quite personable.
Reinhart, who is a baking instructor at Johnson and Wales University, is a wonderful teacher, patiently providing the readers with the nuances and clues needed for successful baking.
While you could read the first 91 pages of the book, which focus on method and technique, you would not be lost jumping directly to the recipes. Reinhart's guidance is so sure, first-time bakers should have little trouble.
Experienced bakers will find Reinhart's approach varies from conventional bread recipes. He relies heavily on bigas and soakers, so-called pre-doughs that are made with little effort and are incorporated into the dough later.
This results in sophisticated tastes and textures otherwise difficult to achieve, especially in whole-grain baking. His recipes cover a broad swath, from sandwich loaves to challah and bagels to crackers.
Try the delicious and tender whole-wheat cinnamon buns (add even more sugar for extra decadence) or the whole-wheat sandwich bread.
Other books worth considering:
• Patty Pinner's "Sweety Pies" (The Taunton Press, $23) offers simple, appealing pies with a hearty side of "womanish observations" -- the sort of tales that often involve baking for and from the heart and people with names such as Chestermae and Miss Mattie. Her Redemption Hazelnut Pie was amazingly sweet and nutty. The book also contains many unusual pies, such as Sister Shirley Woods' Navy Bean Custard Pie and Miss Eudora's Cream of Wheat Custard Pie.
Redemption Hazelnut Pie
This simple recipe for hazelnut pie from Patty Pinner's "Sweety Pies" is a cinch to make and produces an overwhelmingly sweet and nutty treat.
• One 9-inch single pie crust, fitted into a pie plate, edge trimmed and crimped
• 3 large eggs
• 1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• 1 cup dark corn syrup
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
• 1 1/2 cups roasted hazelnuts, finely chopped
Heat the oven to 350 degrees.
In a medium-size bowl, lightly beat the eggs until just blended. Add the brown sugar, corn syrup, salt and vanilla, then stir in the melted butter and hazelnuts.
Pour the filling into the pie crust and bake until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean, for 45-50 minutes. Let cool completely on a wire rack before serving.
Makes 1 pie.
• Ron Silver and Jen Bervin's "Bubby's Homemade Pies" (Wiley, $29.95), a collection drawn from the menus of Bubby's, an almost iconic New York destination for homestyle cooking and pie. It offers excellent recipes and technique for making pie crusts, with dozens of options for filling them, including a chapter of ice cream pies. Some recipes run to the esoteric (such as the Apple-Roquefort-Bacon Pie, which was oddly delicious).
Apple Roquefort Bacon Pie
This unusual apple pie from Ron Silver and Jen Bervin's "Bubby's Homemade Pies" produces a succulent savory-sweet dessert. If the idea of roquefort cheese in a pie makes you think twice, substitute cheddar, a more common ingredient for pies such as this.
• Pastry for a 12-inch double-crust pie, chilled
• 4 ounces thick-cut hickory-smoked bacon, diced
• 2 to 2 1/4 pounds apples
• 2 tablespoons honey, plus extra for drizzling over the crust
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 ounces roquefort cheese
Roll out the pastry and line a 12-inch pie plate with the bottom crust. Roll out the remaining dough for the top crust, then refrigerate both until needed.
Heat the oven to 450 degrees.
In a large skillet over medium heat, saute the bacon until crispy. Transfer the bacon to a paper towel to drain, leaving about 3 tablespoons of the fat in the skillet.
Peel, core and slice the apples into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Add the apples to the skillet and saute in the bacon fat over low heat for several minutes, or until the outer layer of apple softens a bit.
Add the honey, flour, lemon juice, thyme, salt and pepper to the skillet and stir. Stir in the bacon.
Transfer the apple mixture into the prepared pie plate. Crumble the cheese over the apples, then cover it with the second crust. Trim and crimp the crust, then chill the pie in the freezer for 10 minutes.
Cut several small vent slits in the top crust, then drizzle the top with honey.
Bake for 15 minutes, or until the crust is just blistered and blonde. Reduce the heat to 350 degrees and bake for at least 30 minutes more, or until the crust is golden brown and visible juices are thickened and bubble slowly through the slits in the top crust. This could take as long as an hour.
Test the apples for doneness by poking a wooden skewer down through the open vent slits of the top crust. The apples should yield to the skewer with slight resistance, but not be mushy.
Cool the pie completely before cutting, for several hours. Store the pie covered in the refrigerator for as long as 5 days. Reheat the pie in a 325 degree oven for 12-15 minutes before serving.
Makes one 12-inch double-crust pie.
