December 15, 2013 Advent with SusieJ

Shirley Corriher: Bakewise

Shirley Corriher wrote what could be a textbook for a beginning food chemistry course. Corriher starts with how ingredients react with each other, and illustrates each concept with recipes that take advantage of those reactions. It's helped me to read a recipe and realize why it wouldn't work, and how I could make it work. It also helped me to realize why my buttermilk biscuits tasted of soap (once the baking soda is included for the buttermilk, there is twice as much leavening as needed).

Bakewise is Corriher's follow up to Cookwise. Many of the baking recipes in Cookwise can be found in Bakewise, but with the addition of metric measurements. Plus, Corriher writes in minute detail about the chemistry of baking: how does pH affect cake texture? why does the cake need so much sugar and fat? how much baking powder or baking soda is enough, and how much is too much? (The lack of leavening makes red velvet cake so dense.)

A number of recipes have made it into my permanent repertoire: chocolate mouse made from whipped ganache, medium ganache for icing (especially easy for cupcakes &emdash; just dip them in), pound cake, and creme Anglaise buttercream. The hazelnut-almond meringue layers with creme Anglaise coffee buttercream was the hit of my son's fourth birthday; this was before he discovered Angry Birds cakes.

The organization of All Cakes Considered is better for teaching the complete novice how to bake. Bakewise is the book that will take you from beginner to knowledgeable.

My only objection is that Corriher has the sweetest sweet tooth I've ever read of. I prefer a less sweet cake and dessert, and always feel a bit blasphemous when I reduce the sugar in her recipes on the second or third baking.