Product Description

For more than 200 years, King Arthur Flour has been in the business of making the highest quality ingredient in all of baking: flour. They have done decades of experimentation and research in their famous test kitchens on how the various ingredients in baked goods behave and why. This title brings you more than 350 recipes that teach which ingredients work together, as well as what doesn't, and why. It is this knowledge that should allow you to unleash your own creativity and to experiment in the kitchen. From leavening, mixing, proofing and kneading, through shaping and baking, the experts at King Arthur Flour lead you through hundreds of easy and foolproof recipes - from tricky yeast breads and sourdoughs, to trendy flatbreads and crackers, to family favourites such as pancakes and waffles. They also present fried doughs, quick breads, batter breads, biscuits, quiches, cobblers and crisps, cookies, cakes, brownies, pies, tarts and pastries. The volume provides a complete overview of ingredients in chapters on flours, sweeteners, leavens, fats and more. You'll find information on substitutions and variations, as well as troubleshooting advice from the professionals at King Arthur. Recipes are enhanced with sidebars that share baking secrets and provide clear step-by-step instructions and each recipe is accompanied by a detailed nutritional analysis. Techniques are further explained with easy-to-follow illustrations.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #120622 in Books
• Published on: 2003-08-26
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: 2.13" h x 8.24" w x 10.34" l, 3.64 pounds
• Binding: Hardcover
• 512 pages

From Publishers Weekly
The company that makes one of the pantry's most recognized baking ingredients-flour-presents this practical and comprehensive baking cookbook. The book begins, of course, with a no-nonsense discussion of measuring flour, a step in the baking process that thwarts many would-be pastry chefs (the authors urge homecooks to use a scale). Recipes are divided into category-based chapters-from breakfasts (with dozens of derivatives of pancakes and waffles), fried doughs, and quickbreads to yeasted breads, cookies and bars, and cakes. Carb-haters, beware: there's not much protein in these pages. Many recipes are tried-and-true formulas for favorite dishes, such as the Simple But Perfect Pancake, Simple Sugar Cookies, and Classic Blueberry Muffins; others are more daring variations on a theme, such as White Chocolate Hazelnut Cheesecake, and Potato, Dill and Onion Crackers. Detailed and logical explanations of how baking works, plus an in-depth discussion of baking ingredients make this a valuable guide for beginning bakers and an informative addition for pastry aficionados. 16 pages of color photos. 200 line drawings.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Experienced home bakers now have a new resource, and beginning bakers find constructive encouragement in The King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion. Long a supplier of professional-quality ingredients and equipment, the Vermont-based company has now produced a comprehensive guide for amateur bakers. The book's no-nonsense approach appears in the very first pages of its introduction, where practical tables of measurements and weight-volume equivalencies provide data that bakers are sure to consult repeatedly. Recipes outline breakfast traditions including pancakes, waffles, and French toast, followed by other quick breads such as crepes, coffee cakes, muffins, biscuits, and scones. A further chapter covers items rarely made at home, such as crackers. Recipes for yeast breads, cookies, cakes, pies, and pastries survey the high points of the baker's art and technique. Helpful hints scattered among the recipes include the advice to freeze biscuits just prior to baking to increase their flakiness. This encyclopedic work concludes with chapters covering utensils and ingredients. Detailed nutritional analyses for each recipe enhance the book's utility. The King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion's provenance grants this book authority, and its comprehensiveness makes it a necessary purchase for every culinary collection. Mark Knoblauch
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
"Home bakers are incredibly lucky to have the King Arthur Flour Company. King Arthur does much more than mill the best flour in the U.S.; they truly care about home bakers and hold our hands every step of the way."