Eileen Gray - Easy Baking From Scratch: Quick Tutorials Time-Saving Tips Extraordinary Sweet and Savory Classics

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Designers: Alyssa Nassner (), Liz Cosgrove and Katy Brown (interior)
Editor: Kim Suarez
Production Editor: Andrew Yackira

Photography Marjia Vidal, Food styling by Cregg Green. courtesy of Campli Photo (campliphoto.com)

ISBN: Print 978-1-64152-105-5 | eBook 978-1-64152-106-2

For Michl, my rock and the worlds greatest husband, for always supporting me as I follow my dreams. For my mom, for all the bragging you do.

Contents

J ust about everyone loves baked goods. But even better than eating homemade cookies still warm from the oven is sharing them with grateful family and friends. Whenever my now-grown children come to visit, I bake their favorite treats to welcome them home.

Baking isnt just about the food; its also a way to create bonds with those around you. Everyone appreciates something you baked especially for them, even if its not perfect. For sure, food is much more than a way to fill the belly. Food is culture, food is love, and food is the stuff of childhood memories. Bring your child into the kitchen to bake with you, and those memories become even sweeter.

I know a lot of people who think they cant bake because they arent used to following a recipe, or theyre worried about carefully measuring every ingredient. It is true that for successful baking, you will need to follow a recipe. If the recipe isnt accurate, it doesnt matter how careful you areit wont work.

Take cooking, for example. You can throw pretty much anything in a pot with water or broth, and it will be soup. It might taste terrible, but you can still call it soup. On the other hand, you cant just toss together a random amount of flour, a little sugar, and a couple of eggs and assume youll come out with a cake. You might end up with a giant cracker, or a puddle of greasy goo. Maybe thats why some folks, even many who are excellent cooks, are a little afraid of baking. But Ive got some reassurance for you: Baking is easier than it might seem, and Im here to give you the know-how!

Although baking requires a bit of measuring and recipe following, the best way to become a better baker is to keep practicing. Baking is a skill and a science, but its not rocket science. If you have a good, reliable recipe to start with, you are halfway to baking success. Follow the instructions, and youll be amazed at your results. Over time, you can learn how to get away with some hacks and shortcutsand Ill even teach you some.

To get you started, or even to help you advance your baking, Im happy to share these quick tutorials, time-saving tips, culinary tricks, and well-tested recipes Ive developed over my 30 years of professional baking. But believe me, you dont need the skills of a pastry chef to create these recipes.

. There youll find more than 100 easy-to-follow recipes Ive created for baked goods, which are sure to impress your friends and family. Many of the basics are covered in this book, including things like blueberry muffins, brownies, snickerdoodles, sandwich bread, and good old apple pie.

And then there are the cakes. For 10 years, I owned and operated an award-winning custom cake business. Ive adapted my best recipes from this business for the home baker with easy-to-find ingredients and simple instructions. Youll learn how to make my super-tender ever. Ill even teach you a special mixing method for creating melt-in-your-mouth cakes.

After that, Ill help you broaden your baking horizons. Think you cant make homemade croissants or puff pastry? You can totally do it with my step-by-step instructions!

If you dont have a sweet tooth, check out the entire chapter called .

Finally, this book sails beyond US shores for inspiration. In these pages youll find , which is British momapproved and has been one of my most popular recipes for more than 20 years.

Beyond this cookbook, I have a blog called Baking Sense, and do you know what that name means to me? Well, I have found that if you bake often enough, you begin to get a sense for things, like how a good dough should feel and when something is precisely ready to come out of the oven. Make that cookie recipe a few times and youll just know when the butter and sugar are getting fluffy, and smell when the almonds are perfectly toasted.

I am certain that baking is not an innate talent, like something you either have or you dont. Baking is a skill that you can develop by trial and, yes, some errors. The good news is that the best way to develop a baking sense is simply by baking.

So, lets get started!