BakeWise : the hows and whys of successful baking with over 200 magnificent recipes

Great day in the morning, BakeWise is out! You are holding the book that everyone has been waiting for. Sure enough, Shirley did not hold back -- its all here. Lively and fascinating, BakeWise reads like a mystery novel as we follow sleuth Shirley while she solves everything from why cakes and muffins can be dry to génoise deflation and why the cookie crumbles. With her years of experience from big-pot cooking for 140 teenage boys and her classic French culinary training to her work as a research biochemist at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Shirley manages to put two and two together in unique and exciting ways. Some information is straight out of Shirleys wildly connecting brain cells. She describes useful techniques, such as brushing puff pastry with ice water -- not just brushing off the flour -- making the puff pastry easier to roll. The result? Higher, lighter, and flakier pastry. And you wont find these recipes anywhere else, not even on the Internet. She can help you make moist cakes flaky pie crusts shrink-proof perfect meringues that wont leak but still cut like a dream big, crisp cream puffs amazing French pastries light génoise and crusty, incredibly flavorful, open-textured French breads, such as baguettes and fougasses. There is simply no one like Shirley Corriher. People everywhere recognize her from her TV appearances on the Food Network and ABCs Jimmy Kimmel Live!, with Snoop Dogg as her fry chef. Restaurant chefs and culinary students know her from their grease-splattered copies of CookWise, an encyclopedic work that has saved them from many a cooking disaster. With numerous «At-a-Glance» charts, BakeWise gives busy people information for quick problem solving. BakeWise also includes Shirleys «What This Recipe Shows» in every recipe. This section is science and culinary information that can apply to hundreds of recipes, not just the one in which it appears. For years, food editors and writers have kept CookWise, Shirleys previous book, right by their computers. Now that spot theyve been holding for BakeWise can be filled. BakeWise does not have just a single source of knowledge Shirley loves reading the works of chefs and other good cooks and shares their information with you, too. She applies not only her expertise but that of the many artisans she admires, such as famous French pastry chefs Gaston Lenôtre and Chef Roland Mesnier, the White House executive pastry chef for twenty-five years Bruce Healy, author of Mastering the Art of French Pastry and Bonnie Wagner, Shirleys daughter-inlaws mother. Shirley also retrieves «lost arts» from experts of the past such as Monroe Boston Strause, the pie master of 1930s America. For one dish, she may give you techniques from three or four different chefs plus her own touch ofscience -- «better baking through chemistry.» She adds facts about the right temperature, the right mixing speed, and the right mixing time for the absolutely most stable egg foam, so you can create a light-as-air génoise every time. BakeWise is for everyone. Some will read it for the adventure of problem solving with Shirley. Beginners can cook from it and know exactly what they are doing and why. Experienced bakers find out why the techniques they use work and also uncover amazing French pastries out of the past, such as Pont Neuf (a creation of puff pastry, pâte à choux, and pastry cream in honor of the Paris bridge) and Religieuses, adorable «little nuns» made of puff pastry filled with a satiny chocolate pastry cream and drizzled with mocha icing to form a nuns habit. Some will want it simply for the recipes -- incredibly moist whipped cream pound cake made with heavy cream whipped slightly beyond the soft-peak stage and folded into the batter flourless fruit soufflés (puréed fruit and Italian meringue) Chocolate Crinkle Cookies, rolled first in granulated sugar and then in confectioners sugar for a crunchy black-and-snow-white surface with a gooey, fudgy center. And Shirleys popovers are huge The James Beard Award–winning, bestselling author of CookWise and KitchenWise delivers a lively and fascinating guide to better baking through food science. Follow kitchen sleuth Shirley Corriher as she solves everything about why the cookie crumbles. With her years of experience from big-pot cooking at a boarding school and her classic French culinary training to her work as a research biochemist at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Shirley looks at all aspects of baking in a unique and exciting way. She describes useful techniques, such as brushing your puff pastry with ice water—not just brushing off the flour—to make the pastry higher, lighter, and flakier. She can help you make moist cakes; shrink-proof perfect meringues; big, crisp cream puffs; amazing pastries; and crusty, incredibly flavorful, open-textured French breads, such as baguettes. Restaurant chefs and culinary students know Shirley from their grease-splattered copies of CookWise , an encyclopedic work that has saved them from many a cooking disaster. With numerous "At-a-Glance" charts, BakeWise gives busy people information for quick problem solving. BakeWise also includes Shirley's signature "What This Recipe Shows" in every recipe. This scientific and culinary information can apply to hundreds of recipes, not just the one in which it appears. BakeWise does not have just a single source of knowledge; Shirley loves reading the works of chefs and other good cooks and shares their tips with you, too. She applies not only her expertise but that of the many artisans she admires, such as famous French pastry chefs Gaston Lenôtre and Chef Roland Mesnier, the White House pastry chef for twenty-five years; and Bruce Healy, author of Mastering the Art of French Pastry . Shirley also retrieves "lost arts" from experts of the past such as Monroe Boston Strause, the pie master of 1930s America. For one dish, she may give you techniques from three or four different chefs plus her own touch of science—"better baking through chemistry." She adds facts such as the right temperature, the right mixing speed, and the right mixing time for the absolutely most stable egg foam, so you can create a light-as-air génoise every time. Beginners can cook from BakeWise to learn exactly what they are doing and why. Experienced bakers find out why the techniques they use work and also uncover amazing pastries from the past, such as Pont Neuf (a creation of puff pastry, pâte à choux, and pastry cream) and Religieuses, adorable "little nuns" made of puff pastry filled with a satiny chocolate pastry cream and drizzled with mocha icing. Some will want it simply for the recipes—incredibly moist whipped cream pound cake made with heavy cream; flourless fruit soufflés; chocolate crinkle cookies with gooey, fudgy centers; huge popovers; famed biscuits. But this book belongs on every baker's shelf. A compendium of baking recipes combines food science with practical kitchen techniques to explain how to obtain ideal results, in a comprehensive volume that is complemented by 250 recipes