This book is amazing! A necessary cookbook for any collection. There is a huge variety of sweet and savory options. Easy recipes, more difficult recipes, a selection of base recipes that you can improve on and change. I never thought of bao being something I could make from home so easily, only ever buying the frozen packages from the international market or ordering them at a restaurant. There's nothing wrong with either of those things but I love the more adventurous flavors, neat shapes, and colors of the bao shown here. It's an excellent reference book, too, full of beautiful pictures and fun stories. I highly recommend this book for any chef looking to expand their culinary horizons. I'm mostly a baker so I am very familiar with dough and love this version of it. Most of my favorite foods are doughs, either stuffed with things or with different toppings.

Bao are all the rage. There are even restaurants and airport kiosks that serve them. They are delicious and come in all types and flavors – both sweet and savory. Those who want to make them at home will want to pick up an excellent cookbook, Breaking Bao: 88 Bakes and Snacks from Asia and Beyond, by award-winning pastry chef, Clarice Lam. This excellent cookbook includes sweets, snacks, buns and unusual fun foods that everyone will want to taste.

The recipes are written in the traditional manner with a list of ingredients first, followed by step-by-step instructions that are clear and concise and that are easy to follow for everyone, whether they are beginning or advanced cooks. A favorite part is that each recipe is preceded by comments from the author that explain the dish and make it easier or more interesting.

Also, every good cookbook includes photos, and this one has beautiful, professional photographs of almost every dish, making it harder to decide which dish to make next. There are also step-by-step photos for some of the more involved dishes. The offerings are mouthwatering and would make great food for parties and get-togethers.

All told, this is a unique cookbook with appealing dishes that most will want to make. It has a chapter on ingredients, and they are available at Asian grocery stores, and many at mainstream grocery stores. This is an excellent cookbook to add to a good cookbook collection.

Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying a review copy of this book.

I loved this book. Stunning visuals. Creative recipes. Don't read it on an empty stomach, or you'll be running to the store to gather your ingredients! Definitely recommend. Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for the ARC

*This cookbook comes at a time when interest in Asian baking has increased tremendously. Clarice Lam covers many of the basics but puts her own spin on them. Some of the ingredients require shopping outside of the normal grocery store, even as many grocery stores are starting to stock basic Asian ingredients.

*The cookbook should be useful for intermediate to advanced cooks who might be interested in modernized or fusionized versions of Asian baked treats. Some of the techniques may be familiar to more advanced cooks and allow reading past some of the methods listed to simplify them. I tried several of the recipes. The shokopan and the chiffon roll were delicious. The focaccia flavors were so good that one of my tasters said that he thought it was the best he’s had in a long time. On the other hand, the ramen cheese itz recipe uses uncooked ramen which was difficult to get to a powdery texture but the flavor (from the cheese and bouillon) was great and I could see using the flavors in other recipes. In the same way, the popcorn recipe that uses furikake added great flavor and is creative but did not require as much effort.

*The good thing about the book is how fun the author’s descriptions are ahead of the recipes and her presentation about why she created the recipes or why certain things work for the recipes. When the flavors come together, they are often also fun.

*If you like to bake, this can be a good challenge for which you’ll be rewarded.

This book features a unique selection of baked goods. While they aren't a family favorite here, if you like Asian you should certainly try these out.

Expertly designed and presented, unique and a pleasure to review, Breaking Bao is an exemplary cookbook for experiencing the varied treats of the culture.. A definite five-star selection!

I’ve recently started exploring baking (mostly cookies so far, but I’m excited to branch out), and I can’t wait to try some of these bao recipes! They look so straightforward, and the instructions are super clear and easy to follow not to mention the wonderful pictures help too. I’m genuinely excited to get started!

Thank you to NetGalley and Chronicle Books for an ARC of this book. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.


This is a gorgeous, and unique book filled will a wide variety of of Asian desserts and snacks. There were so many tasty things that I've never seen before, the the photos for each one were beautiful. All the recipes were clear, and easy to understand. I already have several on my list to make once the weather gets cooler.

The only reason it wasn't a 5 star book for me, is that many of the ingredients can be hard to source, and also expensive if you live in a rural area like I do. Some of the techniques could be difficult if you are inexperienced with baking too. I would recommend this for a more experienced baker in your life.

It is definitely worth flipping through, and I think it would also make a great gift!

Breaking Bao is a collection of bao and snacks from Asia. From classic buns to more unique bakes like Mango-Yaklut Tres Leches Cake, it embodies various flavors and combinations central to Asian cuisine.

These recipes all sound SO delicious. I love that there's a good mix of both savory and sweet treats, because I often find that baking books focus on sweet and I'm usually more of a savory fan. The photos are all gorgeous and make me want to make every single thing in here!

I had no idea there were so many ways to enjoy Bao!!! I loved the step by step (with pictures) instructions for the recipes!

The cookbook's 88 recipes strike an excellent balance between accessibility and ambition. From traditional mooncakes to fusion creations, each recipe is thoughtfully constructed with the home baker in mind, while still maintaining the precision and sophistication one would expect from a seasoned pastry chef. The stunning photography - over 100 images - serves not just as eye candy but as crucial visual guidance for techniques that might be unfamiliar to Western bakers.
What truly sets "Breaking Bao" apart is Lam's ability to weave together diverse culinary influences without losing authenticity. Her approach respects traditional Asian baking methods while incorporating French pastry techniques, creating something entirely new yet grounded in expertise. For anyone looking to expand their baking repertoire beyond standard Western fare, this cookbook isn't just a collection of recipes - it's a masterclass in cross-cultural culinary innovation.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me an ARC of this book for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

While I haven't yet tried any of these recipes, they all look so fun and delicious! I really love the intercultural approach Clarice Lam took to creating this cookbook. I also think this cookbook had a great balance of description/storytelling and recipe. Some cookbooks are too heavy on one or the other, either making it hard to find the actual recipe or making the recipes feel impersonal.

I also liked the terminology list at the beginning, and that it explained where to find the ingredients. The pro tips section after each recipe about storing the food and other helpful ideas was also wonderful. I wish more cookbooks did both of these things!

Publication date: 22 October 2024

Thank you so much for allowing me to review this beautiful book. There are so many delicious recipes to try in this book! I highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys cooking.

The recipes are much more adventurous foodie and fusion than I was expecting. Not a bad thing, but it means there was only a couple recipes that resembled the foods I was feeling nostalgic for, and I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone new to Asian baked goods. It also tends toward the expensive and inaccessible, with a bit too much emphasis on weighing ingredients in a home setting, or using exactly the right ingredients - substitutions are not provided, so bakers in less cosmopolitan areas may struggle. I also didn't like the formatting - there was an abundance of useless white space in areas where it wasn't needed, that could have been shifted to provide space for reader recipe notes. I did, however, appreciate that ingredients were bolded when they appeared in recipe steps, so the reader could know when it was being used at a glance. And the recipes did spell the steps out much more than other pastry books do, which was nice. These look like good recipes, but I wasn't able to test them out for myself as too many ingredients aren't available to me.

Breaking Bao is an engaging, accessible, and do-able collection of baked goodies from Asia (and beyond) by professional baker Clarice Lam. Released 22nd Oct 2024 by Chronicle Books, it's 248 pages and is available in hardcover and ebook formats.

Most people who enjoy Asian bakery offerings just buy them from their favorite vendors and leave the expert/time consuming tasks and prep to the experts. That's problematic for the majority of folks who don't live in urban areas blessed with a local Asian bakery. Pastry chef Lam has a lightly humorous and encouraging "voice" throughout the book and there's something for every taste in the collection.

The author does a great job simplifying the tasks involved and shows readers how to recreate them at home with their own tools and supplies. Most of the ingredients will be available at any well stocked grocery store in North America. Some of them will require a trip to an Asian/international market or online retailer.

The recipes are wide ranging and are arranged into sections thematically: bao, cakes & desserts, and snacks. There are 88 recipes and they're all complete and well written. Ingredients are listed in a bullet sidebar, with yields, background for the recipe, a description, yields, and step-by-step directions. Recipe ingredients are listed with both imperial (American) and metric units (yay!).

The photography and styling throughout are excellent. Photos are in color, and the food is presented appropriately and stylishly.

Five stars. This is a delicious and comprehensive collection. It would be a great choice for public or school library acquisition, home use, or gift giving purposes.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

If you like bao, you want this book. From the recipes for buns to all the fillings and then some, this book has it all. There are the usual fillings and then the unexpected ones. This is a must have in your kitchen.

Gorgeous book - perfect if you are craving a trip to the Asian bakery, but don't live near one! Highly recommend!

Gorgeous.

Simply gorgeous. This is Asian desserts, cakes, snacks and savories made with a modern sophistication. Gorgeous photos (some step by step, when needed, like for the scallion pancakes). This book is comprehensive in details. But still makes beautiful treats attainable. Just read the whole recipe with care. Makes me want to buy a blow torch to make Baked Alaska.
Recommend.

This cookbook makes me hungry. I can’t give a bigger compliment than that. The recipe seem easy and the pictures are very helpful. I would like to see this in a printed version because on my iPad it seems really small. My other observation is all the food looks fantastic and looks ready to eat. It also makes me think of my grandmother is 1960s and 70s cookbook. I don’t know why maybe it’s the shade of green that it is. Maybe it’s something else altogether I think this cookbook is fantastic, but those flipping in a bookstore might give it a pass.