Alton Brown's I'm Just Here for More Food: Food x Mixing + Heat = Baking should be required reading for those who truly want to learn how to become great bakers. In his own off-beat style Alton explains the science behind the process simply and in a manner you will not only remember, but subconsciously apply to all your baking endeavors. What is salt's role in the baking process? Why use eggs? Why is the way you mix important to overall success? Stylized and presented like his first book and popular Food Network show Good Eats, Baking is more like a goofy textbook rather then a pretty, photographed book with a bunch of recipes. If you are looking for a couple of quick, simple recipes to make cookies or bread, keep looking. If it's an education about the "Whats," "Whys," and "Hows" of baking with the intent to lift your skills to a new level: welcome!

Baking is a precise science that needs to be followed to the letter if you want success. It is highly recommended to read the introduction and "The Parts Department" section before attempting any of the recipes in this book. The essence of Alton Brown's book is not to simply follow recipes, but to get a deep understanding of what is going on during the baking process. The introduction goes over the layout of the book and how it should be used (the ingenious "method flaps" for instance), the low down on how to read recipes, the importance of measuring by weight vs. volume, and baking's five core steps. The "Parts" section explains just that: ingredients. What is the chemical make up of proteins, carbs, and fats? Why is their interrelationship so important to success? How well do you know flour, eggs, sugar, and baking soda? Once you have the basics down and your parts measured it's time to get mixing. The rest of the book is smartly broken up by the six major mixing methods (Muffin, Biscuit, Creaming, Straight Dough, Egg Foam, and Custards). Each technique is explored in detail with recipes to follow. You won't find any ultra fancy recipes in Baking. The focus here is on the basics and getting the basics down right. Rediscover some old favorites like chocolate cookies and muffins, buttermilk pancakes, biscuits, shortcake, multigrain loaf bread, and good old fashioned cheesecake. There is no denying it, follow Alton's advice and you will be a better baker. Guaranteed. --Rob Bracco

From Publishers Weekly
Less a cookbook than a course book on baking, this entertaining and certainly educational follow-up to Brown’s I’m Just Here for the Food offers up formulas for basic cakes, muffins, pies, custards and breads, as well as information on the components of each. Like a quirky, affable professor with a mad scientist’s flare for facts and figures, Brown takes readers through the "Molecular Pantry," examining the properties and functions of proteins, carbohydrates and fats. Those familiar with his Food Network show, Good Eats, will be well-versed on these building blocks, and those who aren’t will find his explanations and diagrams easy to comprehend. Unlike other baking books, this one is organized by "mixing method" rather than by food type, which means that recipes like Banana Bread, Pineapple Upside-Down Cake and Buttermilk Pancakes are clustered together under the same umbrella—the Muffin Method of mixing. According to Brown, this is because "mixing is more important than ingredients and even cooking method." While some bakers would be quick to counter this claim, Brown supports it well, using diagrams to illustrate how mixing and over-mixing the same ingredients can yield different results (i.e., by over-mixing muffin ingredients, one can end up with cupcakes). As Brown states early on, this isn’t a recipe book. Rather, it’s an instruction manual for people who want to be better bakers. Those looking for appetizing photos of sumptuous dishes won’t find any here, but they will find plenty of practical tips (use a food processor instead of a traditional flour sifter) and sidebars that can be both informational and anecdotal (Brown’s story of his struggle with a 50-pound blob of dough bent on expansion is particularly amusing). Anyone who has a yen to learn the science and methodology behind good food will find this a fascinating read.Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Book Description
In his best-selling first book, Food Network star Alton Brown described what happens when food meets heat. Now Brown is back and ready to revolutionize the world of baking-and more. Breads, cakes, cookies, pies, custards, ice creams: The popular host of Good Eats explores the science behind our favorite sweets-and savories-explaining it all in his own inimitable style.The book opens with a complete encyclopedia of the core ingredients or "the molecular pantry"-what they are, what they do, and how they play together (or don't). The main part of the book is divided by mixing method: Biscuit, Creaming, Muffin, Straight Dough, Modified Dough, Eggfoam, Custards, and a section called As Well As . . . , which includes such specialized methods as crepes, popovers, mousse, and doughnuts. .To underscore the importance-and ease-of mastering the mixing techniques, the book features a special design that adds a half-page flap to the opening page of each mixing section. Printed on the flap is the master mixing technique to serve as a ready reference for each recipe that follows in that section.The more than 80 recipes cover all the basics any baked-good lover could covet, from pie crust to funnel cake to homemade Pop Tarts to cheese soufflé. Select master recipes feature variations that underscore the effects of altering ingredient ratios or preparation methods. The classic chocolate chip cookie, for example, can be interpreted in soft, chewy, and crispy consistencies.At 304 pages, the trivia-filled tome also contains all the fun components Brown fans have come to expect: fact-packed sidebars, intricate illustrations, glossaries, appendices, equipment lists-the works. It's everything readers have been waiting for . . . and more! AUTHOR BIO: Alton Brown is the writer, director, and host of the popular Food Network television program Good Eats. His first book, I'm Just Here For the Food, received the 2003 James Beard Foundation KitchenAid Book Award for Best Reference Book. His second book, Alton Brown's Gear For Your Kitchen, was nominated for both a James Beard and an IACP cookbook award.

About the Author
Alton Brown is the writer, director, and host of the popular Food Network television program Good Eats. His first book, I'm Just Here For the Food, received the 2003 James Beard Foundation KitchenAid Book Award for Best Reference Book. His second book, Alton Brown's Gear For Your Kitchen, was nominated for both a James Beard and an IACP cookbook award.

FROM OUR EDITORS

Food Network star Alton Brown doesn't compile recipes; he writes cookbooks, culinary primers that teach essential kitchen skills. His first book, I'm Just Here for the Food, won the 2003 James Beard Award for Best Reference Book. In this 304-page tome, he outdoes himself, exploring the science behind breads, cakes, cookies, pies, custards, ice creams, and more. Opening with a veritable encyclopedia of core ingredients, he proceeds to a comprehensive tutorial on mixing methods. Using fact-packed sidebars, detailed illustrations, and half-page flaps, he teaches recipe readers to become home chefs.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

In his best-selling first book, Food Network star Alton Brown described what happens when food meets heat. Now Brown is back and ready to revolutionize the world of baking-and more. Breads, cakes, cookies, pies, custards, ice creams: The popular host of Good Eats explores the science behind our favorite sweets-and savories-explaining it all in his own inimitable style.The book opens with a complete encyclopedia of the core ingredients or "the molecular pantry"-what they are, what they do, and how they play together (or don't). The main part of the book is divided by mixing method: Biscuit, Creaming, Muffin, Straight Dough, Modified Dough, Eggfoam, Custards, and a section called As Well As . . . , which includes such specialized methods as crepes, popovers, mousse, and doughnuts. .To underscore the importance-and ease-of mastering the mixing techniques, the book features a special design that adds a half-page flap to the opening page of each mixing section. Printed on the flap is the master mixing technique to serve as a ready reference for each recipe that follows in that section.The more than 80 recipes cover all the basics any baked-good lover could covet, from pie crust to funnel cake to homemade Pop Tarts to cheese soufflé. Select master recipes feature variations that underscore the effects of altering ingredient ratios or preparation methods. The classic chocolate chip cookie, for example, can be interpreted in soft, chewy, and crispy consistencies.At 304 pages, the trivia-filled tome also contains all the fun components Brown fans have come to expect: fact-packed sidebars, intricate illustrations, glossaries,appendices, equipment lists-the works. It's everything readers have been waiting for . . . and more!