All-Purpose Baking with The King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion
by Chris, WebAdmin.
Anyone from a beginning baker to the most experienced will get full use of The King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion. With over 600 pages of content, complete with colour photos and hand draw illustrations, it truly is a must have in any kitchen.
Written by the bakers at King Arthur Flour, and who would know better, every aspect of the baking process is described in clear easy to understand language. Solid information and 450 recipes give you everything you need to become a true baker.
Ingredients, tools measuring techniques, even altitude are covered to ensure that none of their "fool-proof" recipes can go wrong. Truly if you can do it with flour, it is covered in this book.
The recipes are varied from the standards (like Basic Scones or Fruit Pie) to unique ideas (like Portable Pizza!) and even regional favourites (like Cassata or Kringle). All come complete with detailed instructions for every step of the process and even nutritional information.
Particularly fascinating and in my humble opinion valuable, where the shaded notes throughout the book with Tips, Suggestions, Cautions or Ideas for the various recipes. Everything from making your own Vanilla Extract to ideas on how to more easily fit bread baking into your day.
Truthfully I was hard pressed to choose just the recipe to include with this review, they were all so tempting. If you like the smell of baked goods, if you were too intimidated to try baking before, if you can never have enough foolproof baking recipes, this is the book for you.
Pumpkin Cheesecake
The rich flavor of cheesecake melds beautifully with the color and sweet, hearty taste of pumpkin. To make this cake even more indulgent, we've added a spicy gingersnap crust.
Crust
- 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick, 2 ounces) butter
- 1 1/4 cups (6 3/4 ounces) gingersnap crumbs
- 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger (optional, if the snaps aren't strong flavored)
- 2 tablespoons (1 ounce) brown sugar
Cheese Filling