The Art and Soul of Baking Reviewed by AP

The Art and Soul of Baking by Sur La Table with Cindy Mushet gets a glowing review in an Associated Press article by food editor J.M. Hirsh

+++

Crank up the oven, it's baking season
By J.M. HIRSCH
AP Food Editor

Cooler weather often is incentive enough to get people baking. But for those who need an extra push, the latest batch of baking cookbooks offers plenty of inspiration to get you in the mood. Here are the highlights:

_ "The Art & Soul of Baking" by Cindy Mushet and Sur la Table

If you buy just one new baking book this season, make it this one. Gorgeously illustrated and exhaustively comprehensive, "The Art & Soul of Baking" covers everything from essential equipment (after all, Sur la Table is a kitchen supplies retailer) and pantry staples to chapters on savory breads, quick breads, tarts, pies, cookies and cakes, to name just a few.

The recipes are exceedingly detailed and include do-ahead tips, notes on equipment needed, advice on storing the finished treats and suggestions for variations. Reading this is a pleasant and enticing baking education.

Mushet's recipes for Rustic Olive and Thyme Bread and Nine-grain Whole-wheat Harvest Bread were easy to follow and produced delicious, attractive loaves.

Tom Flynn Author of Bikeman Appearances

Tom Flynn, author of Bikeman: An Epic Poem, is scheduled to appear on The Early Show (CBS) tomorrow at 7:00 am (CST)

In addition, he is scheduled to appear on AirAmerica Radio with Ron Kuby tomorrow at 3:30 pm (CST)

Tom Flynn’s interview tomorrow on “Here & Now” will be featured on nearly 50 NPR affiliates throughout the U.S. A complete listing can be found at:

http://www.wbur.org/syndication/?program=Here-and-Now

Shelter Stories: Love. Guaranteed. On CW 11 Morning News, WPIX, in New York

MUTTS creator Patrick McDonnell, author of Shelter Stories: Love. Guaranteed. will be featured on the CW 11 Morning News, WPIX, in New York.

The segment is schedule to air this Friday, September 12th, at 5:55 am and again at 8:20 am.

Tom Flynn Author of Bikeman: An Epic Poem To Appear on NPR and CBS News' Early Show

Tom Flynn, author of Bikeman: An Epic Poem, will be featured on “Here & Now” on NPR’s Boston affiliate, WBUR, September 11.


His will also scheduled to appear on CBS News' The Early Show on September 11.

The Art and Soul of Baking Reviewed in Booklit

The Art and Soul of Baking by Sur La Table with Cindy Mushet is reviewed in the September 1 issue of Booklist:

Despite the title’s appeal to emotional and aesthetic urges, this baking guide determinedly concentrates on the scientific knowledge that underpins everything that an accomplished baker produces. That focus radiates throughout the text of this totally accessible and eminently useful introduction to breads, pastries, pies, cookies, cakes, custards, and souffles. Mushet is determined to explain in detail the whys and wherefores of baking, recommending that even tyros learn to measure flour and similar ingredients by weight rather than volume. She provides comprehensive glossaries of baking equipment and components that intelligently address just about any question a novice might raise. In addition to listing ingredients, quantities, and techniques, each recipe inventories equipment necessary to execute the recipe successfully, making it unnecessary to search the full recipe to find out what pans and appliances to use. Mushet also provides informative sidebars that share professional bakers’ secrets. Very valuable for cookery reference collections.—Mark Knoblauch

The Art and Soul of Baking Gets Starred Review 0n Publishers Weekly Website

The Art and Soul of Baking by Sur La Table with Cindy Mushet has received a starred review on publishersweekly.com:

http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6589717.html

LIFESTYLE

The Art and Soul of Baking
Cindy Mushet. Andrews McMeel, $40 (464p)
ISBN 9780740773341

Veteran pastry chef Mushet puts her decades of experience to work in this dense, informative baking guide from Seattle-based gourmet cookware retailer Sur La Table...opening with a comprehensive overview of crucial equipment and a 30 page guide to pantry stocking (butter, flour and sugar get three pages each, chocolate gets five). Covering all aspects of the baking spectrum, Mushet gives yeast-based breads, quick breads, cookies and bars, layered pastries and other specialties their turn, doing admirable work with standards like pizza dough and dinner rolls, as well as trendier riffs like pesto rolls and rustic olive and thyme bread that give cooks room to stretch in each category. Mushet’s invaluable lessons in ensuring oven accuracy, incorporating butter into dough for layered pastries (with step-by-step photos) and the causes of falling soufflés will get novices up to speed, and experts ready to tackle Mushet’s compelling cheesecake batter-in-a-food-processor technique will find her inventive hors d’oeuvre Stilton Cheesecake with Port-Braised Pears a big hit at the next cocktail party. Those already comfortable with baking will get the most out of the book’s 250 recipes, but there are plenty of dishes well within the reach of those new to Crème Brulee and lemon bar construction, making this a great volume to learn and grow with. (Sept.)

Gourmet Singles Out AMP Cookbook

Andrews McMeel Publishing is proud to announce that The Art and Soul of Baking by Sur La Table with Cindy Mushet has been chosen the October selection for the Gourmet Cookbook Club. Watch for that issue of Gourmet to hit newsstands and a feature to appear on gourmet.com in mid-September.

Gourmet started the Cookbook Club in an attempt to help its readers “cut through the clutter” of the 24,000 cookbooks published each year, according to Editor in-chief Ruth Reichl. The magazine's editors choose a book each month that offers “imaginative insight and delicious results.”

Reichl said she and her staff established the club in response to the overwhelming number of cookbooks published in the United States. “Tons of cookbooks come pouring in here all the time,” she told Publishers Weekly. “Every time we find one we really love we say, 'We ought to share this with other people.’” Reichl considered adding cookbook reviews to Gourmet but decided a book club would be more inclusive of readers and Gourmet's online community.

Books chosen for the new club, which launched in June, are marked with a Gourmet plate shaped seal to indicate they are official selections. In addition, at the book club's home page, gourmet.com/cookbookclub, visitors can find more recipes from the books and videos of the authors demonstrating recipes from their books.