A Good Bake: The Art and Science of Making Perfect Pastries, Cakes, Cookies, Pies, and Breads at Home; A Cookbook

One of the most impressively thorough and extensive books on baking, this new book is chock-full of recipes that span from sourdough breads and pizzas. This essential collection by Weller, owner and founder of New York bakery Sadelle’s, and James Beard award–winning author Carreño (Bowls of Plenty) includes a list of recommended ingredients, baking tools, and instructions on how to care for and prepare a sourdough starter, crucial in preparing many of the bread recipes throughout. Also included are beautiful photographs of many recipes, especially the chocolate babka with its rich glaze on top. In addition to classic pies and tarts, there are also recipes devoted to muffins, cookies, dough, and more. Each recipe offers thoughtful, careful instruction, well-written and executed, with metric and standard measurements, which helps guide bakers in re-creating treats such as perfect yellow cake with chocolate buttercream, date walnut cake with dulce de leche, and oatmeal raisin cookies.