The Fearless Baker

If you are intimidated by the thought of rolling your own pie dough or baking a cake from scratch, you probably run to your local bakery or grocery-store freezer for dessert rather than make your own. Baking--even for proficient home cooks--can be scary, but there is a delicious satisfaction in presenting family and friends with fresh-out-of-the-oven desserts and breakfast breads that you have made yourself. In THE FEARLESS BAKER, renowned pastry chef Emily Luchetti offers 175 delectable and easy-to-follow recipes along with straightforward, lasting advice specifically geared toward beginners.

Luchetti and co-author Lisa Weiss arranged kitchen sessions with a group of novice bakers, ordinary folks who enjoy cooking but have always felt nervous about the precise measuring, rolling, folding, and mixing that many baking projects require. They learned what questions arise for the beginner and came up with reassuring practical advice that turned their apprentices into fearless bakers.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS:

Emily Luchetti has developed a nationwide following for her innovative yet approachable dessert creations. She is executive pastry chef at Farallon and Waterbar in the San Francisco Bay Area. She has authored five successful cookbooks, and contributed to The New Joy of Cooking and The Farallon Cookbook. She won a 2004 James Beard Award for Outstanding Pastry Chef.

Lisa Weiss is a food writer and stylist whose work has appeared in such publications as Cook's Illustrated and Cooking Light. She has co-authored six cookbooks, including The Farallon Cookbook, the James Beard Award-nominated The Seventh Daughter: My Culinary Journey from Beijing to San Francisco with Cecilia Chiang, and the bestselling Complete Meat Cookbook with Bruce Aidells.