Baking in America: Traditional and Contemporary Favorites from the Past 200 Years

I’m a Greg Patent fan, first for his main course recipes that appear in Montana newspapers, and now for this baking book. My wife and I have only tried three recipes so far, but they are outstanding! The detailed instructions are very helpful to a relatively inexperienced baker like me. I’m ordering a second copy to give to a friend (a sneaky way to taste more of these recipes)!

I really enjoyed reading this cookbook. I learned so much about the history of American baking, the ingredients that were and are used in baking, and about the origins of some of the foods that I bake for my family. I read it cover to cover, like a history book, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Then I started baking from it. The first thing I tried was the honey apple torte, and it was one of the best baked goods I have ever made or tasted. It disappeared in a day--my family couldn't stop eating it. And it is a beautiful cake, too. I am looking forward to baking it for company. Next I tried the lemon sour cream pound cake, and that too was exquisite. I can't wait to try some of the other recipes. I found the recipes very original, and there were many that I haven't seen in other cookbooks. I also enjoyed reading the introductions to each recipe, which give history of the recipe or the ingredients contained in it. After reading (and baking from) this book, I feel like I have a better understanding of American culinary history. This was a very enjoyable cookbook. Thank you, Greg Patent.

I own this book and it is without a doubt the best baking book I own and one of the top cookbooks that I have ever seen.The Introduction alone will get you hooked, with Greg Patent's intriguing preview of how thousands of years of cultures have been combined, modified, and enhanced to create the modern cooking of today.And what about the recipes? I have tried many and they are flawless. Particularly delightful are the Lemon Sponge Cloud (p. 348), the Boston Creme Cakes -- that's right -- cakes (worth the price of the book on their own -- p. 252), and the irresistable Malted Milk Chocolate Cake (p. 276).But this is much more than just a cookbook of delicious recipes. It is a culinary geneology full of rich accounts of how the cooking of today came to be. So while you are waiting for your sponge cake to bake, you can pass the time learning how it used to take 4 hours of beating to produce its predecessor back in the 17th century. And when you bite into that delicious and fluffy treat, you will thank Greg Patent, but you will also appreciate those folks along the way who were part of the evolution of American baking.

Patent sifted 200 years of cookbooks, journals and newspapers to select these 250 recipes, tested and adapted for the modern kitchen. Organized by type, from yeast breads to quick breads to doughnuts, pound cakes, layer cakes, pies and tarts, cheesecakes and more, this is a solid all-round baking book, with clear directions. Sidebars sprinkled throughout offer quotes from old cookbooks and advertisements and brief prefaces give the provenance of the original recipe, serving suggestions and a few words about its character. Patent also offers tips on choosing and handling ingredients, and cooking techniques, such as deep-frying doughnuts, pound cake pointers and step-by-step layer cakes.A section of full-color pictures (Coconut Layer Cake, Lemon Genoise with White Chocolate Buttercream and Raspberries, Rhubarb Strawberry Pie) should be kept away from dieters. From Martha Washington's Currant Cake to Jalapeno, Cornmeal and Cheddar Bread, Patent does justice to the American baking scene.

This wonderful new book will satisfy your intellectual curiosity as well as your palate. The marvelous introduction, historical notes and recipe openings all serve to inspire and enrich the baking experience. The recipes themselves are fantastic -- straightforward, simple and delicious. I rate this book as the best I have bought in more than 10 years.