In the Sweet Kitchen: The Definitive Baker's Companion

by Regan Daley and Daley

Book Overview

Regan Daley's first encounter with a vanilla bean was an epiphany. The heady aroma was intoxicating and the bottled stuff she was used to paled in comparison. Why had she never noticed the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1579652085
• ISBN13: 9781579652081
• Release Date: September 2001
• Publisher: Artisan Publishers
• Length: 692 Pages
• Weight: 3.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 2.1" x 7.2" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

beautiful & useful book of deserts

A while back, I baked the "all in the pan chewy chocolate cake with butter-chocolate icing". It's probably the easiest & surely one of the most delicious chocolate cakes I've ever tried. I mention this because Regan Daley's book is full of delicious & inventive recipes. Recipes that are, mostly, not that difficult & that taste exceptional. One of the reasons for this is that Daley insists on excellent ingredients, & that surely is one of the basic secrets of good baking. Her book is much more than a wonderful resource for deserts: it's, mainly, a general baking resource, listing ingredients & talking about each one: how to use, what to substitute with what, what to combine with what etc. The book is full to the brim with information & tips, for the beginning & the experienced baker. As a bonus, the writing delighted me, & I think it will probably make all my other desert books redundunt!! (apart from Nigella Lawson's "Domestic Goddess" which I think has a similar style). It's always great to have a cookbook that you can use not just to throw together quick meals but also to savour, to indulge yourself with, to read & reread...

If you bake, BUY THIS BOOK!

I am a professional pastry chef and this is the book that I am now recommending when asked questions about baking desserts. Ms. Daley's information is complete and accurate and her writing style is easy to read and understand. The recipes are fresh and unique.

Best baking book on Amazon

This book explains every baking ingredient, types of sugars, fats, starches, eggs, flour, etc. Difference between flour variations, why sugar is important and what roles each ingredient performs along with their history. All other baking books give you a couple basic techniques then a ton of recipes, but this one goes a step beyond, with 368 pages packed with useful information before the recipes even start. Very smooth reading too - hard to put it down. Should be a mandatory purchase if you bake at home. You'll go from a standard baker to a spectacular one, armed with knowledge of why and how ingredients work rather than just blindly following recipes.

This is my Desert Island dessert book

If I could only own one cookbook on baking and pastries, this would be it. As a former pastry chef, I'm excited and amazed by all the information in this cookbook, as well as by the delicious and well-written recipes. Not only is it a great cook book, it's a great idea book as well. In the middle of the book she's included a wonderful section on matching flavors together (apples marry well with calvados, caramel, pecans, etc.) that's ideal for those who want to add their own ideas to the recipes. There's so much great knowledge to soak up in these pages that I find myself carrying the book between the kitchen and my night-stand table for late-night reading. In an age where the big trend in publishing seems to be "bibles" on a myriad of subjects, this is the one I'll recommend to anyone who asks me for a definitive cookbook on desserts.