Corriher - BakeWise : the hows and whys of successful baking with over 200 magnificent recipes

Many talented cooks contributed to BakeWise.

Chef Marty Thompson diligently tested recipes for both CookWise and BakeWise. In spite of running his own very demanding cleaning service and catering business, and later attending a culinary academy, Marty would get up at 5 a.m. or work until very late to test my recipes with exacting precision.

Young as he was, Marty loved cooking and read every food book that he could get his hands on for years before he had the opportunity to become an outstanding student in an Atlanta culinary academy. One of his teachers would address questions to the class prefaced by, Does anyone other than Mr. Thompson know? Marty did not live long enough to complete his chefs training, but he will always be a young culinary hero and, to me, Chef Marty Thompson.

My husband, Arch, worked night and day on BakeWise. Even though sometimes I wasnt doing something the way he thought that I should, he always came through for me. A master of computer databases, Arch can retrieve information that no one else can find. And, most of all, he put up with me through the agonies and triumphs of working on a book. In his way, when I needed it the most, he was tender and supportive.

My friend Gena Berry is a food expert extraordinaire! And master organizer of food projects of any size. She manages the Taste of the NFLthe big dinner for about 3,500 the night before the Super Bowl. Gena managed both the final recipe testing and the food preparation for the photographs for BakeWise. Gena and Virginia Willis, author of Bon Apptit, Yall, directed my DVD with cooking lessons (available at kitchensecretsrevealed.com). Through thick and thin, Gena jumped right in to help solve whatever problems I faced.

Maggie, Maggie Green! This book wouldnt be here without Maggie, my excellent line editor. Not only is Maggie a master of clear, direct writingeven with Shirleys moleculesbut Maggie always knew what we should do and stayed calm through my frantic calls, Archs frantic calls, and probably frantic calls from my editor, Beth Wareham.

BakeWise was blessed to have the incredible talent of a great young photographer, Alex Koloskov, a true genius with light. I was awed by his work and thrilled to get him for the photography for BakeWise.

BakeWise has truly been a team effort. Beth Wareham at Scribner has fought for the very best for BakeWise and I am so grateful. My agent, Judith Weber, has been in there pitching, making sure that I had what I needed for the book.

Thanks to the many talented experts at Scribner who contributed to BakeWise Whitney Frick, Associate Editor; Rex Bonomelli, Art Director; Brian Belfiglio, Director of Publicity; my publicist, Kate Bittman; and my copyeditor, Suzanne Fass. What a good job she did. Alexandra Nickerson created a wonderful index.

Thanks to my friend Delores Custer, who got Lynn Miller, food stylist and former pastry chef, to do the styling for BakeWise. I really appreciate Lynns talents and her cheerful, positive personality through the long hours. You have only to look at the pictures to see what an outstanding job she did.

I had taught many of these recipes or I had tested them for articles. I had a heroic team of home-front testers who came to my rescue over and over again. I got great suggestions for things that should be included in the recipe directions from my daughter, Terry Infantino. My son-in-law, Carmelo Infantino, was the delicate-job expert (doing such things as the intricate work of cutting the snowflake cookies). My daughter-in-law, opera singer Beth McCool, with much help from four-year-old Daniel, many times managed emergency testing of a recipe in spite of the demands of very young Kevin.

Then the recipes went to Genas team of experts. I am so grateful to these outstanding bakers for all of their work both testing recipes and preparing dishes for the photography, many times under frantic time demands. Some, like Doris Koplin, have their own cookbook (Doriss is The Quick Cook ), and both Doris and Barb Pires have operated baking businesses. Gil Kulers, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution wine columnist, makes my Tunnel of Fudge Cake frequently and prepared two versions. I am truly grateful to these experienced bakers: Alison Berry, Sue Clontz, Tamie Cook, Samantha Enzmann, Jerry Johnson, Shirley Lawrence, Julie Opraseuth, Vanessa Parker, Debbie Peterson, Robert Schiffli, Judy Sellner, and Paula Skinner. Special thanks to Robert Schiffli for juggling mixers and food processors, getting us in and out of places for testing and the photography.

My thanks to Mary Taylor, who taught me so much about ovens and baking, and arranged for Arch and me to spend a day in a major oven manufacturers test kitchen.

Special thanks to my science buddies:

Dr. Harold McGee, author of On Food and Cooking, for his major supporteverything from looking after Arch and me when I got my titanium knee to the great fun of making presentations with him.

Dr. Sara Risch, international flavor chemist, who is a reliable source of information and a joy to have as a co-speaker on programs.

Dr. Rob Shewfelt, fruit and vegetable expert, and Dr. Carl Hosney, starch expert, always came to my rescue when I had questions.

Finally, my thanks and gratitude to many others who are named specifically in the text or recipes and to those who have been inadvertently omitted.

My goal in BakeWise is to give you toolsinformation that you can use to make not just successful baked goods, but outstanding baked goods.

And in BakeWise, I strive to give you the information that you need to get the product that you want. Many times in cooking there is not a right or a wrong but simply a difference. For example, some people like fudgy brownies, some want cakey brownies, some want a crust on brownies, others want minimum crust. My goal is to explain what ingredient or technique produces these characteristicsreduce the flour in the brownie recipe to make it fudgy, beat vigorously with a mixer after you add the eggs to the batter for more crust.

I come from a science background (I was a research chemist for the Vanderbilt Medical School). I think it is fascinating that many times master bakers directions follow almost exactly what the science texts say. For example, Chef Roland Mesnier, the White House executive pastry chef for twenty-five yearshis directions for beating the egg-sugar mixture for a gnoise are right on what the science texts directions are for making the most stable foam.