Welcome to “Cookbook of the Week.” This is a series where I highlight cookbooks that are unique, easy to use, or just special to me. While finding a particular recipe online serves a quick purpose, flipping through a truly excellent cookbook has a magic all its own.
Clearly not driven by laziness, Katarina Cermelj has moved from tinkering to full-out scientific experimentation in The Elements of Baking. I’m spotlighting this book for Cookbook of the Week because, frankly, we may all be adapting, omitting, and replacing ingredients in our baking soon. It’s good to have a guide so your brownies and cookies don’t turn out like crap.
Not only is this helpful for folks like myself who are trying to avoid spending extra money at the grocery store, but this is a must-have resource for anyone with dietary restrictions themselves, or for folks who cook for others with dietary restrictions. You can stop endlessly searching the internet for a vegan and gluten-free buttermilk biscuit recipe that may or may not suck. Cermelj has put in the work of testing and documenting all of her free-from recipe successes in The Elements of Baking in informative yet accessible prose. Though, the best part of this book is getting sucked into the science.
A great cookbook for baking nerds of all levels
Cermelj doesn’t sugar coat (ha) the truth with free-from recipes. Substituting major ingredients with others can change the product—reducing flexibility, browning, or aeration depending on the swap. But slightly different baked goods can still be just that—good. I really appreciate the thorough case studies and plentiful picture comparisons. You get to see how your dessert should look depending on the version you’re making (maybe a little blonde in color or with more aeration), and cross-sections for cakes so you can check out the crumb's texture.
The different iterations of brownies in 'The Elements of Baking.' Credit: Allie Chanthorn ReinmannIf you’re more of a light-level baking nerd, Cermelj has also considered you. You could really skip the whole front section (with the beautiful flow chart and textbook-esque case studies) and jump to Chapter 5. Here the book is broken into color-coded free-from recipe chapters: Gluten-free, Dairy-free, Egg-free, Vegan, Gluten-free Vegan, and finally Frostings, Icings, Creams, and Curds. You don’t need to know how the sausage is made, just get to your chapter and start baking.
The treats I baked this week
Credit: Allie Chanthorn ReinmannI decided to adapt my regular peanut butter cookie recipe, and the chocolate chip cookie recipe on the back of a Ghirardelli bag of chocolate chips. The peanut butter cookie doesn’t spread, so that substitution is simply a swapped measurement of milk (dairy or non) for each egg. The chocolate chip cookie recipe is typically a cookie that spreads, so for that recipe I was able to use Greek yogurt as the egg replacement.
Although I haven't had a chance to try them yet, I look forward to testing out the gluten-free bread recipes in this book.
How to buy it
The Elements of Baking is available for purchase online as a hardcover or as an e-book. It’s still relatively new, so you’ll likely see it on displays in your local bookstore.
The Elements of Baking: Making any recipe gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free or vegan THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER $18.99 at Amazon Shop Now Shop Now $18.99 at Amazon Read More Details
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