Product Description

For those in the know, The Simple Art of Perfect Baking is a must-have cookbook, a kitchen classic. Now back in print with a durable hardcover - it's a book that gets turned to again and again - this handsome edition with all-new color photographs is ready to advise the next generation of bakers. Flo Braker's meticulously tested recipes give home cooks the confidence they need to create light-as-air cakes, fluffy frostings, creamy fillings, and flaky pie crusts. In addition to her step-by-step instructions, the author shares culinary know-how such as the most reliable doneness test and decorating tips. From basic Puff Pastry and Classic Sponge Cake to elegant Dutch Souffle Torte and Cranberry Pecan Tart, perfect desserts are at hand now that Flo Braker is back on the scene.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #444088 in Books
• Published on: 2003-03
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 488 pages

Review
"With Flo Braker by your side, your deserts will recieve curtain calls." (The New York Times )

"A must for bakers." (USA Today )

About the Author
Flo Braker is a nationally recognized baking expert and former president of the International Association of Culinary Professionals. She is a frequent contributor to the San Francisco Chronicle's food section and lives in the Bay Area.

Dana Gallagher is a New York based photographer.

Customer Reviews

Precise Guide to Cooking
This cookbook is wonderful. I have always had cake "issues", but I would go back to baking every now and again because I was determined to get it right somehow. This book is the key! My husband thought I was studying from a textbook because I broke out my highlighter and read all of the introductory information first. Then I went out and got some kitchen scales, a triple sifter, and a few other tools. When I made my cake I weighed all of my ingredients and followed the directions EXACTLY and I got a great result. I have made 2 different cakes and 2 different frostings and they have all been good. I made the Devil's Fudge Cake and it was awesome! I am so pleased to have a book that spells out all of the details of good baking, not just the basic ingredients. A great resource for the baking disabled.

Best baking book on the planet
Flo Braker, I love you to bits. Oh, and I simply adore this book. I bought it (in the mid eighties) for my father but appropriated it for myself. I have made absolutely the most divine cakes from Flo's recipes, especially her classic devils food cake with the chocolate sabayon frosting. It's so much fun when people ask how I make the cake and their eyes glaze over as I explain each step, especially when I describe bringing the egg and sugar mixture for the frosting to 165 degrees over a double boiler. (Hey, I have to maintain my baking mystique.) Last Christmas, my darling husband bought me an electronic scale (hmmm, did he have an agenda?) and the cakes are even more fabulous.
Flo explains cake making in easy to understand terms. There are all sorts of recipes in here and many are quite straight forward once you understand some basic principles. I will never be intimidated by baking again. oh, and do get an electronic scale. What a difference.

Flo Braker is the foremost baker in the Unite States..

what is there to say. Flo's recipes simply work. i have always lamented that cookbook authors do not recommend that first all important recipe that you attempt when first using their book. and, for that
matter, numbers two and three, also. if the first thing i attempt is not successful i am pretty much finished with the book. but, if the first one was a 'go' then i am more lenient in rating the entire volume. one very, VERY important thing in any baking book is instruction on how the flour in the book's recipes was measured. there are several different methods but if you don't know EXACTLY how the author measured her flour the chances of success are slim. Flo, and before her, Maida Heatter, are two of the very few who give this information. YEA, FLO !