Vallery Lomas - Life Is What You Bake It: Recipes, Stories, and Inspiration to Bake Your Way to the Top

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Mom, six years ago, when I came to you with the idea of starting the @FoodieInNewYork Instagram account, you told me to do it. It felt scary and impossible, but your belief in me sparked this entire journey. And you are still the person I go to every time I want to hear an emphatic Yes!

Dad, your steadfast support is invigorating, and your superb storytelling enabled many of these stories to write themselves. Thank you for believing that Im worthy and deserving of everything good in the world.

To my grandmother, Leona Marcena Clay Johnson: May this book be a testament to your legacy. Your example of sisterhood and dedication to family is my blueprint. Thank you for exhibiting unconditional love.

To my grandmother, Willie Mae Dukes Johnson: Your gentle fortitude and magnanimity showcase your humility. Your green thumb, limitless love, and big heart have made you an impressive shepherd to our family and steward of the land our ancestors entrusted to you.

To my great-great-grandmother and namesake, Lucy Weams Vallery: Thank you for instilling the importance of education and academic achievement in my father. To my grandfather, David Lee Johnson, Sr.: Thank you for instilling that same spirit of excellence in academics in my mother.

Lucy Lomas, Im so blessed to have a big sister who will fly to London on a moments notice. Youre my biggest cheerleader. Thank you for baking every recipe I publish and for being a superhero mom to my sweet niece and nephew. To my sister Danielle Lomas: Thank you for your support and editing wisdom. To my sister Dawnielle Lomas: Thank you for your emotional support, and compassionate spirit. To my sister Auryona Lomas: Thank you for recipe testing so that I can truthfully say that a thirteen-year-old can make these recipes. To my brother-in-law Evan: Thank you for believing in me. Athena, you are the best cookbook model a girl can ask for. Your insatiable curiosity and love for baking with Auntie Va-Wee warms my heart and encourages me.

Raquel Pelzel, you have championed this book throughout the entire editorial process, and it would not be what it is without your wisdom. Judy Linden, your insight as an agent has made me a more confident author. To my photographer Linda Xiao, food stylist (and sometimes hand model!) Micah Morton, and prop stylist Maeve Sheridan, you ladies are my photo shoot dream team. Thank you for bringing my recipes to lifeI felt completely supported. Laura Arnold, Lisa Nicklin, and Catherine Yoo, your recipe testing has made this book immeasurably better. Mia Johnson, Erica Gelbard, Windy Dorrestyn, and the rest of the Clarkson Potter team, thank you for your thoughtfulness and commitment to this project.

Jamila Robinson, your mentorship and friendship make my life richer and easier. Adrian Miller, Kat Kinsman, Julia Turshen, Dana Cowin, and Nancy Hopkins, thank you for your guidance and support. Shauna Ahern, thank you for your editing wisdom. Joy Moeller-Donnell, you are the woman who got the PR ball rolling. Samin Nosrat, your generosity was wholly unexpected and completely changed my trajectory.

Angela Flournoy, thank you for reviewing anything I send your wayfrom proposal drafts to essays. Laurie Heller, thank you for designing my proposal and recruiting Blake to help with wordsmithing. Roderick Scott, thank you for sharing your publicity expertise. Zoe Zeigler, youre the best roomie, neighbor, and travel bud. Thank you for sharing your marketing insight. Madia Hill Scott, Babara Bridges, Sophia Kapten, Jasmine Ellis, and Casey Sommersthank you for your steadfast friendship and unwavering support. To my law school besties Nancy Ladner, Jillian Irvin, and Faustina Lee; my Somerville family; SHF; CSO; and Trojan family, your support means the world to me. Thank you. To Diane Evans and Jason Mellad, who invested in my seemingly impossible foodie dreams over a decade ago. Karan Lomas and Tayler DavisI love you and thank you!

Thank you to the Ford Foundation for its incredibly generous support that gave me the space and flexibility to tell this story. To the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts, Wildacres Retreat, and Writers Colony at Dairy Hollow: Thank you for giving me a quiet, peaceful retreat to put words onto paper. Thank you to my Patreon supporters: Lorna Woodside, Mary Miller, Climentene Jones, and Erika Najarian. To the Ginjan Bros: thank you for the warmth of Ginjan Cafe, my Harlem writing refuge. Thank you to every teacher, professor, coach, pastor, and girl scout leader who poured so much into my spirit and who believed in me.

And most important, thank you to all of you, the readers. You cook my recipes and share the love with your friends and familyboth in real life and on social media. To my @FoodieInNewYork followers, email subscribers, and fansyou all inspire me beyond measure. This book is for you.

Vallery Lomas is the winner of The Great American Baking Show, and the first Black winner of the Great British Bake Off franchise. She hosts the show Vallery Bakes Your Questions on Foodnetwork.com and the Food Network Kitchen app. She has also appeared on CNN, the Today show, Live with Kelly and Ryan, the History channel, and the Hallmark Channel. Originally from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Vallery attended college and law school in Los Angeles, practiced law in Washington, D.C., and spent a gap year in Pariswhere she perfected both her French and pastry skillsbefore settling in Harlem. She is a frequent columnist and recipe contributor to the New York Times.

RESOURCES

Bobs Red Mill (bobsredmill.com)

Nut flours and specialty baking ingredients

Burlap and Barrel (burlapandbarrel.com)

The most fragrant, equitably sourced spices

Guittard Chocolate Company (guittard.com)

American-based artisanal chocolate

King Arthur Baking Company (shop.kingarthurbaking.com)

Flours and specialty baking ingredients

Nordicware (nordicware.com)

Decorative Bundt pans

Silplat (us.silpat.com)

Reusable silicone baking mats

Sur la Table (surlatable.com)

Bakeware, countertop appliances, and kitchen tools

Williams Sonoma (williams-sonoma.com)

Serveware, baking equipment, and kitchen appliances

Wilton (wilton.com)

Candy melts, pastry bags and tips, and baking equipment

MORNING TREATS

What gets you out of bed in the morning? Is it the smell of buttery biscuits (see ), I guarantee you wont be hitting the snooze button on these recipes!

Great-Grandma Lillies Biscuit Legacy

My dad grew up eating his weight in biscuits slathered with homemade preserves. He spent afternoons taking his red wagon out to the familys orchard, where hed climb pear trees and shake the branches to loosen the fruit. Hed take his bounty of tree-ripened fruit home to his mother, whod make preserves.

My dads grandmother, Lillie, stopped by their Prairieville, Louisiana, home every Sunday when she left church. Ima cook yall some biscuits!, shed croon. Lillie was a professional cook, and she had worked in restaurants in Texas for more than a decade, starting around World War II. She saved money to move back to Louisiana and bought a house in Baton Rouge. Though her relatives were prolific farmers, she preferred the city.

Shed make a batch of biscuits and serve them to her eight adolescent grandsons. Yall eat all you want, shed say before asking, Yall want some more?

Yeah! the chorus of brothers sang.

Shed make up more biscuit dough and keep baking. They ate heartily, piling preserved blackberries and figs on the biscuits, washing it down with cold milk made from milk powder and water pumped from the backyard well, served over ice. Mmm-mmm! Yall sure can eat a lot! their grandmother observed.