Real Baking with Rose Levy Beranbaum

why i believe in real baking, i.e. baking from scratch as opposed to a mix

i suspect that the two main reasons people bake from a mix is 1) that they think it’s faster and easier and 2) it’s practically foolproof. there may even be some who grew up with the flavor of a mix and actually prefer it.

i grew up without a cake baking tradition, in fact, my grandmother used the oven only to store pots and pans. there was NEVER anything baked in that oven until I went to the university of vermont, took a course in basic food, and came home thanksgiving vacation with the intention of making my father’s favorite—a cherry pie. it was a disaster of melting bubbling soap that I hadn’t realized was stored in the broiler beneath. in short, i learned scratch cake baking on my own—from scratch.

it’s o.k. to prefer cake mixes if you really do prefer them. my take on the mixes is that since they contain emulsifiers which give them what is known in the industry as tolerance, i.e., the ability to keep their texture despite additions of various extra ingredients, these emulsifiers result in an unpleasantly metallic after-taste. to my palate, the flavor of a cake baked from scratch is incomparably superior. and making a cake from scratch takes maybe 10 minutes more prep time than one from a mix. but as far as the foolproof aspect, let me tell you how to achieve that in a scratch cake.

there are only two important things to know:

1) use cake flour or bleached all-purpose flour. if you use a scale, the weight is the same. if you are using cup measures, and you have all-purpose bleached flour, for every cup of cake flour use 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons of all-purpose. if you want the cake to be as tender as one with cake flour, use 3/4 cup of all-purpose and 2 tablespoons of cornstarch. the all-purpose flour i use is gold medal, but if you happen to have a southern or regional brand the protein content may be as low as cake flour so you will not want to add the cornstarch as it may weaken the cake’s structure and cause it to collapse.

the reason that it is essential to use bleached flour is that unbleached has particles that are smooth and round and the butter slips right through them and lands in a gummy layer at the bottom, causing the cake to fall in the center while cooling. the bleaching process, however, roughens these flour particles enabling them to hold the butter in even suspension.

if you measure the flour instead of weighing it, use a measuring cup with unbroken rim. place it on a counter and use a sifter or strainer to fill it with flour, allowing it to mound over the top. use a long metal spatula or knife to run it over the rim, thus removing any excess flour. never lift the cup or shake it during measuring as this packs more flour into the cup which would result in a denser drier cake.

that’s all you need to know about flour for cakes and it’s really quite simple.

2) have the butter softened but cool, i.e. it feels cool to the touch but when you press it with your finger it will flatten. this is a wide range of temperature, between 65 and 75 degrees. most kitchens are warmer than 75 degrees so to be on the safe side you can let the butter soften in a cooler room. if the butter is too cold or too warm the cake’s texture (crumb) will not be even.

here is my favorite of all my yellow cake recipes. it’s the right amount for a standard 9 inch by 2 1/2 inch springform pan but if you have only a 9 x 2 inch pan, just be sure to fill it only half full and bake the remaining batter as 2 cup cakes. (15 to 20 minutes)

if you still prefer your favorite mix, you have my full permission to use it, but not if the only reason is that you don’t trust a "real" cake!

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JENNIFER MACDONALD AND THE WINNING CAKE

I’ve always thought that september should be the beginning of the year instead of january. january is the quietist month after all the holiday hubbub, but in september new york wakes up from summer hibernation and is at its most event-full!

the top two baking related events for me this september were the beginning of an extensive celebration of ben franklin’s 300th birthday in philly and the d.c. launch of my dear friend and colleague lisa yockelson's long awaited, exquisitely written, and magnificently published cookbook: “ChocolateChocolate." it seemed perfectly appropriate that lisa’s event came on the heels of the ben franklin one as ben franklin is the muse of writers of all books. after all, where would be without his invention--the printing press!

the benjamin franklin event was held in the franklin institute science museum where many of the city’s top bakers prepared desserts that will be featured on their menus during the year long celebration, with themes designed to honor him. only five of them, however, actually entered the official birthday cake contest. the winner was assistant pastry chef jennifer macdonald from the fountain restaurant at the four seasons hotel philadelphia who prepared a cake modeled after benjamin franklin’s desk with realistically tinted wood-grained rolled fondant as the wood and feather pen, and green blown sugar apples so perfectly executed that two of the judges (dorie greenspan and i) thought they were real apples. the third judge, roland mesnier, former white house pastry chef, wasn’t fooled for an instant as he himself is master of the rare art of blown sugar.

the following week was a longer car trip to d.c. for lisa yockelson's book launch. as a fellow baker, cookbook writer, and kindred spirit, lisa and I are in lively competition over who can do the most helpful and lovely things for the other! while many cookbook authors, especially those in the same field, are possessive of their editors, lisa , in an act of extreme generosity introduced me to her beloved editor—pam chirls of wiley. lisa knew of my dream to do a beautiful four color comprehensive cake book published with the quality of her chocolate book (few publisher do this kind of book), and she also suspected that we would work wonderfully together.

to surprise her, and support her new book, I joined pam chirls for a weekend of celebration, beginning friday night with a quiet late dinner in a neighborhood restaurant near georgetown where we had a gab-fest of bake and book-talk, and culminating with a grand party thrown by her friend and designer, Frank Babb Randolph, in his beautiful townhouse. saturday night’s celebration dinner was at the mini bar of jose andres’s café atlantico where we were presented with a seemingly endless array of mini courses each more stunning to the senses than the next.

another highlight of the weekend was a saturday afternoon book signing at the french linen store yves delorme in bethesda, md. as lisa has incorporated many of their exquisite linens into the photographs of her new book. recipes from the book were prepared for the guests but hidden behind the back of the store was a special stash of brownies lisa herself had prepared for her special friends visiting from out of town. these brownies will explain better than words why she is called “diva of deep dark and fudgy."

here's the recipe for bittersweet chocolate brownies.

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i can’t imagine life without a counter-top scale to weigh ingredients!. if i wrote books or recipes just for myself i wouldn’t even include cup measurements. while I’m going out on a limb i might as well admit that given my druthers i would use only the metric system. it’s so much easier, faster, and more reliable. can you imagine how crazy-making it is to create and proof all those charts in my books that list each ingredient in volume, ounces and grams! but i’ve got to cater to those resistant to weighing because as far as i’m concerned, it’s better to bake by volume than not to bake at all. and baking makes me happy so i want to share it with everyone.

bakers are born, not made. we are exacting people who delight in submitting ourselves to rules and formulas if it means achieving repeatable perfection. the rewards of this discipline go beyond providing absolute sensory pleasure. there is also a feeling of magic and alchemy that comes from starting with ingredients that don’t remotely resemble the delicious magnificence of the final result.

i’ve been championing the use of scales for baking for years but now i have a new and persuasive argument that just might tip the balance! two of the most important ingredients used in baking have changed in their packaging over the past few years, impairing accuracy of baking results. at first i thought it was a fluke but when i mentioned it to other bakers and chefs they also were puzzled and aware of it.

i’ve been finding more and more often that when i unwrap a stick of butter and weigh it, instead of getting the 4 ounces listed on the label, it weighs only around 3.87 ounces. I just don’t get it. there used to be laws and fines that encouraged manufacturers to go a little over the mark rather than risk going under (in more ways than one)!

the unnatural change in egg yolks, however, presents a real mystery of nature. i first noticed something weird when i was baking at a friend’s house in the french countryside. i was making a lemon custard tart and instead of the 6 yolks i would normally use i had to use about 10 to equal the same weight. each “large‿ egg in the shell weighed the standard 2 ounces or 56 grams but the yolk inside was tiny. happily most french households have kitchen scales so it was no problem. several years later i noticed the same thing happening in the u.s.! now as you know, the yolk is the living embryonic organism and the white is it’s food. could this new imbalance be a metaphor for the trend toward excessive food starting even this early in the development of life? I remember thinking at the time “poor little yolk—what happened to you?‿ and then yolk after yolk appeared in the same sad size.

another curious thing i’ve learned about eggs is that the law dictates that a dozen large eggs weigh in at a total of 24 ounces, but there can be significant variance in the weight of each individual egg as long as the total adds up.

before you start thinking that the problem is me, i should add that my three scales (are very high caliber laboratory scales that i calibrate on a regular basis.

recipes may not suffer greatly if the variations are minor but they won’t be perfect either. of course not everyone’s goal is to be a perfect baker but if you’re on this blog site i’ll bet you’re interested in investigating the possibilities of perfecting your baking. so here are some more of my pro-scale arguments:

any lover of baking ultimately will adore using scales once past the fear of what sometimes, at first, is perceived as a foreign object. weighing ingredients is not only reassuring, it is much faster than measuring and results in far less cleanup. consider how much easier it is to scoop cocoa or powdered sugar, with the inevitable lumps, into a bowl for weighing, rather than to try to measure out a level cup, lightly spooned. and i wouldn’t dream of trying to figure out how tightly to pack brown sugar into a cup when i can weigh it in a flash. also think how much more pleasant it is to weigh a greasy substance like vegetable shortening, rather than to smear it into a measuring cup or to weigh sticky corn syrup or honey. and if a recipe calls for a number of ounces of bittersweet chocolate that is not the exact weight of a chocolate bar, isn’t it nice let the scale determine the exact amount.

scales that have the ability to eliminate (tare) the weight of the bowl also make it possible to add the dry ingredients to the mixing bowl, one after the other, rather than having to use separate bowls for each. they can then be mixed together, eliminating the need either to sift the flour or to sift the dry ingredients together.

another benefit of weighing is the ease of decreasing or increasing recipes. and once in a great while, i have completed a batter or dough and suddenly wondered if i remembered to add an ingredient. when there is the slightest doubt, all i need to do is weigh the final unbaked product. if it is less than the total weight of the recipe, my suspicions are confirmed and i can add the missing ingredient.

not convinced yet? then think about all the money you’ll save on postage by not having to add more than necessary!

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we should be across the street having dinner. a colleague of my husband's actually invited us. (it is a rare event that anyone is willing to cook for me.)

i brought a cake i'm working on though he said he was making a galette. we arrived on time to find his galette sitting in a warm oven. apparently after living in ny for 3 years he had never used the oven and it only seemed to have a light, i.e. the heat was coming from a light bulb. so i insisted on bringing the galette back across the street to bake in my oven. with an american type flaky crust it would have been pointless as the warmth would have caused the butter to leak out of the dough and loose all its flakiness. but the cookie crust of a galette is not flaky to begin with so I thought it was worth the effort.

to find out how i rescued this soft pie crust set on a pan that didn't fit into my quick preheat carousel microwave/convection oven (the soft crust loaded with fresh fruit that he was threatening to stew on the stovetop), read on!

by the way, the rest of the dinner wasn't ready anyway so now i can spend the rest of the time packing for my trip to d.c. tomorrow while the galette bakes in its new home. i left the cake as hostage. (but not my special serrated knife--one can never be too careful!)

o.k. here’s what I did: giggling all the way across the street at this unorthodox baking adventure, the moment we entered our apartment, i preheated the convection oven to 400 °F. while it was preheating, with my husband elliott’s help—we needed four hands for this hair-brained endeavor-- we shoved the galette onto a round black steel pan. the side that my less experienced husband was pushing caved in slightly (radiology is one thing—pies and tarts are another) but I smooched it back into place, noticing that the fruit was piercing through it slightly. I made a foil barricade with a long piece of heavy duty foil folded over several times and secured in a circle around the outer edges of the galette with a metal paper clip. just as it was in place the preheat buzzer sounded. I placed the galette in the oven and finished packing. 40 minutes later I smelled fruit burning and rushed over to cover the top loosely with foil. 5 minutes later the fruit was perfectly baked and the crust golden. hot out of the oven, holding the galette with pot holders, we returned to our new friend’s apt. across the street. we got a few longing glances from passerbys—little did they know the true circumstances. our friend’s dinner was ready and he was more relaxed and ready to receive us as guests.

the evening, the dinner, and the galette turned out to be a total delight.

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sometimes i wish i could be a pie crust missionary—going around the country showing how fun and easy it is to make one of the most feared of baked goods: a delicious, flaky and tender pie crust--one that rolls out easily, is as malleable as clay, doesn’t tear when transferring it to the pie plate, and doesn’t shrink when baking.

the main secret to this perfect pie crust is the flour. I learned the perils of choosing the wrong flour when I was on my press tour for “the pie and pastry bible" 7 years ago.

I was on a live morning t.v. show, demonstrating this favorite crust and when I unfolded it into the pie plate my heart dropped because it cracked into pieces! I knew immediately that the prep person had not used a national brand all-purpose bleached flour. regional flours often have a lower protein content, thereby lacking the elasticity to hold together adequately in a pie crust. I just relearned this lesson when I was taping some segments at the food network’s shop at home studio in nashville tennessee. the prep person was terrific at turning out all manner of cakes and pies but I noticed that she had to patch the pie crusts which kept tearing apart. sure enough, she was using all-purpose flour but it was a popular southern brand which I knew to have lower protein. the head of the test kitchen ran to the supermarket and came back with some gold medal bleached and I whipped up my favorite pie crust in the food process in under a minute. it was a dream. and the prep person said she would never use a Southern flour for pie crust again.

the high point of my visit to shop at home was when LaQuita Scaife, the fashion consultant happened to tell me that when she was in high school in nashville she was the recipient of the betty crocker home maker of tomorrow award. when I told her that I was given the same award in my high school in ny, she screamed with delight, saying she had never met another betty crocker award winner. we went into the prep kitchen and told the director, carl conway, about our delightful discovery and to our utter amazement he announced that he also was the “betty crocker home maker of tomorrow" in his high school in 1972. after we stopped laughing and screaming with disbelief, he explained that the early 70’s was the height of the women’s lib movement and he wanted to show the girls that he had rights too, so he and 3 other guys enrolled in the home ec. glass. this gave him the right to take the test so he took it and won. he then went on to culinary school and was a cook in the army before becoming head of the test kitchen for shop at home. there must be something to the predictions of this award!

Back to the pie crust, since writing the pie and pastry bible, I did an article on pies with lattice crusts for fine cooking magazine, july 2004, and decided to tweak my favorite pie crust recipe to make it a bit more tender. I replaced the few tablespoons of water with heavy cream and not only did it make the crust more tender, it also made it more flavorful. and it is still sturdy enough to use for a lattice crust.

Here’s my new revised favorite pie crust. (Note: Wondra flour or pastry flour is also terrific and makes a slighty more tender crust.)

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I’m pleased to announce my association with Harold Import Company. Harold Import is distributing my new line called Rose Levy Bakeware™.

Rose Levy Bakeware™ represents my vision for the ideal bakeware that has been brewing in my imagination for years. I’m proud to offer these new design concepts for you to enjoy in your home.
Rose’s Perfect Pie Plate is the first product to be developed and I am very proud of it. It has my favorite pie crust recipe permanently decorated into the plate, and has a deeply scalloped border which effortlessly creates a beautiful crimped crust. Also available is Rose's Sweetheart Crème Brûlée Set. Both are packaged with my recipe booklets.

If you are a member of the trade, please contact Harold Import. If you are a consumer, look for Rose Levy Bakeware™ at fine kitchen and gourmet food stores near you. It is also available on line at CyberPantry.com, Fantes.com, and LaPrimaShops.com

I am also delighted to announce my association with Lékué Silicone pans and bakeware from Spain, also distributed by Harold Import Company.

Please click to download a PDF booklet about silicone bakeware. It's about 2.5 MB.

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Here are a list of Rose's Books:

The Cake Bible

The Bread Bible

Rose's Christmas Cookies

The Pie and Pastry Bible

There are many more: See the rest of Rose's books. You will be taken to Amazon where you can search for and buy any of Rose's books.

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Rose has been called the “Diva of Desserts" and “the most meticulous cook who ever lived." And add this recent accolade — “If ever there was a cookbook author who could place her hands on top of yours, putting you through the proper motions, helping you arrive at just the right touch, Beranbaum is the one."

Rose’s first book, The Cake Bible, was the 1988 winner of the IACP/Seagram Book of the Year and the NASFT Showcase Award for the cookbook that has contributed most to educating the consumer about specialty foods. A culinary best-seller, The Cake Bible is currently in its 42nd printing.

Rose’s Christmas Cookies, was the 1990 winner of the James Beard Best Book in the Dessert and Baking Category. The Pie and Pastry Bible, published in 1998, received many kudos including: Food & Wine Books “Best of the Best: The Best Recipes from the Best Cookbooks of the Year" and Coffee & Cuisine “Best Cookbook" award.

Rose's newest and most comprehensive book, The Bread Bible, was the 2003 winner of the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards in the Best Bread Book Category. It was listed by Publisher's Weekly and Food & Wine as one of the top ten books of 2003, and by Fine Cooking as one of the top 12. From quick breads, such as muffins, biscuits, and scones, to yeast breads, such as seeded wheat breads, Jewish rye, baguette, and brioche, this is a collection of her favorites, with innovative techniques that will guarantee making a successful bread baker of anyone who so desires.

Rose is currently writing a comprehensive four color book on cakes for Pam Chirls, Senior Editor at Wiley, to be called Rose's Heavenly Cakes. She has also recently launched a new product line, Rose Levy Bakeware, and has produced Rose's Heavenly Cake Strip, a silicone halo that produces more even layer cakes, both distributed by Harold Imports.

A luminary in the world of food writing, Rose is a Contributing Editor to Food Arts Magazine where “Rose’s Sugar Bible" (April 2000) received two prestigious awards: The Association of Food Journalists Award for the Best Food Feature in a Magazine and The Jacob’s Creek World Food Award for Best Food Article. She is also a contributor to The Washington Post, Fine Cooking, Bride's, Reader's Digest, and Hemispheres. Rose has been inducted into the James Beard Foundation/D'Artagnon Who's Who of Food and Beverage in America.

An internationally known food expert, Rose also has been a featured presenter in the highly regarded Melbourne Food & Wine Festival and the Oxford Food Symposium.

Rose is a popular guest on major television shows (The Today Show, The Early Show, Martha Stewart, Charlie Rose, The Food Network, and PBS: Master Classes of Johnson & Wales, and Seasonings with Dede Wilson). Rose has taped 13 episodes for a public television cooking series called Baking Magic with Rose Levy Beranbaum. The series started in 2004 on PBS stations across the country and will continue for three years.

Here are some photos of Rose for your use. Click on each to download a high resolution JPG file (these files are quite large!).

Please credit all photos to Ben Fink.

Rose Levy Beranbaum’s eight books include:

The Bread Bible (2003)
The Pie and Pastry Bible (1998)
Rose’s Melting Pot (1993)
Rose’s Celebrations (1992)
Rose’s Christmas Cookies (1990)
A Passion for Chocolate (1989)
The Cake Bible (1988)
Romantic & Classic Cakes (1981)

Rose’s culinary web-sites are roselevyberanbaum.com and thecakebible.com

QUOTES
There has been lots of publicity about Rose Levy Beranbaum and her books, her techniques and her approach to food. The following is just a sampling.

THE BREAD BIBLE:

"...the one definitive bread book you'll ever need."
-the Good Cook

"For Lovers of Bread, Here's a Slice of Heaven"
-USA Today

Baking Books: "Whenever she's in the running, Rose Levy Beranbaum leads the pack. The Bread Bible offers due diligence for many things that bakers take for granted... "
-The Boston Globe

"A more information-rich recipe book is hard to imagine."
-Minneapolis Star Tribune

"Beranbaum leaves absolutely nothing to guesswork. If that kind of inclusiveness doesn't take the fear out of baking, nothing will."
-San Francisco Chronicle

"The Bread Bible is a tremendous treatise on bread...No stone is unturned, no bread is unaddressed, no baker's secret withheld - this is indeed a perfectly grand and thoroughly beautiful book on our favorite subject by a dear and diligent baker and daughter of science...One of the most comprehensive cookbooks out there."
-BetterBaking.Com

"...if you only bake one thing in your life, make it the potato flatbread pizza. It's a revelation...at once crispy, chewy, flavorful, and perfect."
-Seattle Weekly

"Beranbaum's bibles are resilient. In her signature style, she breaks down the mysteries of baking breads so cooks understand the building blocks."
-Seattle Post-Intelligencer

"Like her others, the bread book will take you as far as you want to go. If you really just want to follow a recipe, you'll get no better or more detailed instructions. Follow them and you'll have success."
-The Atlanta Journal Constitution

"Well-organized information, instructions illustrated in line drawings, varied recipes and handsome color photos of finished breads make this a solid, easy-to-use reference and cook's companion."
-Indianapolis Star

HER OTHER BOOKS:

“Rose Levy Beranbaum is a worshiped woman. The author of the best-selling The Cake Bible is revered by serious cooks and part-timers who turn to her in moments of desperation."
-USA TODAY

“If ever there was a cookbook author who could place her hands on top of yours, putting you through the proper motions, helping you arrive at just the right touch, Beranbaum is the one."
-The New York Times

"Another masterpiece from America's most obsessive cook-book writer."
-Los Angeles Times

"One of the great bakers of our time provides master class instruction on practical baking-a lot more than recipes."
-Manhattan Users Guide

"Baking pies is hard work, but the hardest job here is deciding which amazing pie to bake first. Rose Levy Beranbaum, who previously wrote The Cake. Bible, brings missionary zeal to her task of revealing the secrets of great pies."
-People Magazine

""She's obsessed. There's really no other way to describe cookbook author Rose Levy Beranbaum and her fixation with the minutiae of baking. If God is in the details, as the aphorism goes, then Beranbaum must have one foot in heaven. For Rose Levy Beranbaum, no detail escapes the pursuit of perfection. She's the Diva of Desserts."
-The Washington Post

"'Rose Levy Beranbaum is a national culinary treasure."
-The Star-Ledger

"I have been visited by a pie priestess-Rose Levy Beranbaum, author of the newly released "Pie and Pastry Bible". And I have seen the light, or rather tasted the light and flaky pie crust made by my very own hands following Beranbaum's commandments."
-The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

"Ms. Beranbaum may be the most meticulous cook who ever lived."
-The New York Times "

"0 Heavenly Pie: Rose Beranbaum-aka The Queen of Tarts-explores pies, tarts, and every other pastry under the sun, savory as well as sweet."
-Traditional Home

"The knead for love: Rose Levy Beranbaum gets a warm and floury feeling from pastry in all its guises, and judging by her book sales, so do many of the rest of us."
-Toronto National Post

"...One cannot help but be impressed by Beranbaum's thoroughness and depth of knowledge. ...anyone who takes baking seriously ought to buy this book."
- Cook's Illustrated

"My mom routinely makes excellent pies in a few short hours. I'm not my mom, though. So assuming I've got several hours to spare I am willing to study directions carefully and really want to impress someone with a dessert, I'd turn to The Pie and Pastry Bible. "
-Time Out New York

“DEAR ROSE"
Fans of Rose range from rank beginners to famous names. Fans rejoice in her accomplishments, and their own, in a very special way. Here’s a sampling:

"I cannot believe how great the recipes from your book are. I am baking bread with the flavor and texture I didn't think was possible to create at home. I feel like I have wasted years of my life settling for second-rate bread.
-Adam C., e-mail

I just couldn't resist sharing the success experience I had today with the "Butter Dipped Dinner Rolls" recipe in The Bread Bible. I'm almost a little sorry to have learned how simple it is to make such fabulous rolls. They're irresistible! (I'd say 'better than store-bought' but somehow that just doesn't aim quite high enough.)
Anna L., e-mail

“Thanks for making a fun hobby truly rewarding. You are a delight for all of us ‘passionate amateurs’ who are rewarded by your insights."
-Mark C., Chicago

Congratulations on the publication of your book, The Cake Bible. After tasting your cake, I’m proud to have it named the Chocolate Domingo Cake. Bravo!
-Placido D., New York

“Sincere congratulations on your ‘understanding’ sections. A real plus over other books---particularly for beginners like me."
-Ray F., Northumberland

“Your Cake Bible is so well written with all the details to make it valuable which is absolutely necessary now. You have made your exciting Cake Bible as we, Julia Child and myself have made 27 years ago. With much enthusiasm and many congratulations."
-Simca B., France

“Thanks to you I’ve become a confirmed ‘fancy’ baker. I’ve become accustomed to the style in which you write recipes (I think a high school fear of chemistry class is what got to me at first) and actually find it a great help having both the detailed instructions and the theory behind the chemistry and physics of it all."
-Mary B.L., Rhode Island

“In my experience, truly great teachers are great because of their sensitivity to and love for others. Your warmth and openness comes through in your books. Thank you so much for the gift of your books and for the new world they have opened for me."
-Rosary I., New York

“To paraphrase a famous saying---you can have my Pie and Pastry Bible when you pry it from my cold dead fingers!"
-Al P., Idaho

“I made my first pie ever and it turned out perfect! I didn’t expect it to turn out at all since I’m an inexperienced baker. It’s definitely a book worth having in your cookbook collection."
-Mindy M.W., Oregon

“The aptly named bible was a revelation, and the cream cheese crust that you call the soul of your book was alone worth the price of the book."
-Anne D., Maryland

“I could go on and on about the merits of The Pie and Pastry Bible. Although I wish no one else would read it so that I could be the only person in the world (besides yourself) who can make marvelous crusts. I cannot help thinking this is a book that should not be kept a secret."
-Stephanie J., Indiana

“I have devoured this book. I have truly enjoyed reading it. If you enjoy the ‘Why?’ behind baking you will love this book."
-Susan M., Tennessee

“The Cake Bible is the most reliable cookbook I have ever encountered. When you are baking a cake it is so important to be able to trust the recipe. Rose’s recipes are clear and easy to follow. The methods are fun and innovative and the results are consistently delicious."
-Katie J., Michigan

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