Quick Loaves: 150 Breads and Cakes, Meat and Meatless Loaves

We got a copy of Quick Loaves and my wife started a list of required recipe items: very interesting. Then I got to watch the preparation process: mysterious and intriguing. Finally, I was able to enjoy the results of the process, starting with the Little Thai Turkey Loaves (excellent) and finishing with Dense Dark Chocolate Loaf (superb). The entire process was entertaining and the end result well worth the wait. And we still have plenty of made-ahead dough for future meal installments from Quick Loaves. We have many of Jean Anderson's cookbooks, and she never disappoints.

This cookbook is a fabulous new tool in my quest to add interesting, delicious and healthful meals to my repertoire. The best part is that it is so easy. Every recipe I have made, from the Little Thai Turkey loaves to the Dense Dark Chocolate Loaf has been a breeze and resulted in rave reviews. The additive-free mixes are a bonus. In this busy world, this is a must-have cookbook for anyone who loves to cook, eat well and never has enough time. It is on the top of my gift-giving list for those I love.

`Quick Loaves' is by Jean Anderson, one of our foremost authors of cookbooks who has achieved a high distinction by high volume on better than average books, especially with `The Food of Portugal' and `The American Century Cookbook'. This book, like `Process This!' and `Micro Ways' addresses one aspect of fast and easy cooking by the amateur home cook who wants just a little more depth than what you can get from Rachael Ray's excellent collections of recipes. For starters, I think this book is superior to `Process This!' if only because I think that while the food processor is a major investment in a high maintenance appliance, this book requires investing in no special equipment. And, even if you do not yet have some basic baking pans, some inexpensive equipment can be had for less than twenty dollars ($20). And yet, Ms. Anderson may have painted herself into a corner with this book by limiting her audience to those who like to bake things often at home but who do not want to spend a lot of effort doing it. Ms. Anderson's primary theme in this book is in the preparation of home brewed mixes for making baking a wide range of both sweet and savory breads, cakes, meatloaves, and veggie loaves and puddings. In doing this, she has offered advice on good baking technique that agrees with simply everything I have ever read about baking. She has even offered the first advice I have read on the new lines of silicone plastic bakeware, with advice on how to work with them and on the most widely respected brands. I have not even seen any word about these things in `Cooks Illustrated' yet. I bake fairly often compared to most men, yet I do not bake more than once every two weeks, and, over half of what I bake involves yeast breads or pastry, but Ms. Anderson's book does not address yeast bread baking in detail (there are some quick yeast breads, but I subscribe to the well established doctrine popularized by Peter Reinhart that the best yeast risen breads are those which rise slowly) and she does not deal with classic French pastry crust doughs. One of the greatest ironies is that while Ms. Anderson's first mix is remarkably similar to the dough used to make buttermilk biscuits, she strongly recommends a standard all purpose flour such as Pillsbury or King Arthur rather than a soft southern flour such as White Lily. And yet, White Lily is my preferred flour for making buttermilk biscuits, which takes up about 20% of all my baking activity. So what is a fella to do with this book? This excellently priced trade paperback has five chapters beginning with a short chapter on `Basics' which agree in every way with everything I have ever read about good baking technique. This should be no surprise whatsoever from someone who has written over 20 cookbooks. This book presents the eight basic `make ahead' ingredients, two of which are the cornerstones of all baking in Chapters 2 and 3. One of the most important facts about the flour mixes is their shelf life. Both

We love loaves in our house, both for family and guests. This is the best collection of meat loaves and dazzling variations we have ever seen.And they 're easy, some very exotic, even dessert and bread loaves. We must have about 10 of Jean Anderson's cookbooks in our kitchen. (She is not related!) After a good many years, we never even bother to look at anyone else's.

I received a copy of Quick Loaves as a gift from a friend who knows I like to bake, and got so hungry just looking through it that I baked the Whole-Wheat Banana-Raisin Bread right away. There are loaves of every sort--meat loaves, salads, vegetarian loaves, and cakes as well as lots of breads. I have tried several cakes using the homemade cake mix that is in the first chapter of the book. They were delicious, very quick, and--best of all--chemical free. I have just ordered copies for my daughters who are newly married. It would make a great Mother's Day gift or wedding shower present.