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BakeWise: The Hows and Whys of Successful Baking with Over 200 Magnificent Recipes
The James Beard Award–winning, bestselling author of CookWise and KitchenWise delivers a lively and fascinating guide to better baking through food science.
Follow kitchen sleuth Shirley Corriher as she solves everything about why the cookie crumbles. With her years of experience from big-pot cooking at a boarding school and her classic French culinary training to her work as a research biochemist at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Shirley looks at all aspects of baking in a unique and exciting way. She describes useful techniques, such as brushing your puff pastry with ice water—not just brushing off the flour—to make the pastry higher, lighter, and flakier. She can help you make moist cakes; shrink-proof perfect meringues; big, crisp cream puffs; amazing pastries; and crusty, incredibly flavorful, open-textured French breads, such as baguettes.
Restaurant chefs and culinary students know Shirley from their grease-splattered copies of CookWise , an encyclopedic work that has saved them from many a cooking disaster. With numerous “At-a-Glance” charts, BakeWise gives busy people information for quick problem solving. BakeWise also includes Shirley's signature “What This Recipe Shows” in every recipe. This scientific and culinary information can apply to hundreds of recipes, not just the one in which it appears.
BakeWise does not have just a single source of knowledge; Shirley loves reading the works of chefs and other good cooks and shares their tips with you, too. She applies not only her expertise but that of the many artisans she admires, such as famous French pastry chefs Gaston Lenôtre and Chef Roland Mesnier, the White House pastry chef for twenty-five years; and Bruce Healy, author of Mastering the Art of French Pastry . Shirley also retrieves "lost arts" from experts of the past such as Monroe Boston Strause, the pie master of 1930s America. For one dish, she may give you techniques from three or four different chefs plus her own touch of science—“better baking through chemistry.” She adds facts such as the right temperature, the right mixing speed, and the right mixing time for the absolutely most stable egg foam, so you can create a light-as-air génoise every time.
Beginners can cook from BakeWise to learn exactly what they are doing and why. Experienced bakers find out why the techniques they use work and also uncover amazing pastries from the past, such as Pont Neuf (a creation of puff pastry, pâte à choux, and pastry cream) and Religieuses, adorable “little nuns” made of puff pastry filled with a satiny chocolate pastry cream and drizzled with mocha icing.
Some will want it simply for the recipes—incredibly moist whipped cream pound cake made with heavy cream; flourless fruit soufflés; chocolate crinkle cookies with gooey, fudgy centers; huge popovers; famed biscuits. But this book belongs on every baker's shelf.
Follow kitchen sleuth Shirley Corriher as she solves everything about why the cookie crumbles. With her years of experience from big-pot cooking at a boarding school and her classic French culinary training to her work as a research biochemist at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Shirley looks at all aspects of baking in a unique and exciting way. She describes useful techniques, such as brushing your puff pastry with ice water—not just brushing off the flour—to make the pastry higher, lighter, and flakier. She can help you make moist cakes; shrink-proof perfect meringues; big, crisp cream puffs; amazing pastries; and crusty, incredibly flavorful, open-textured French breads, such as baguettes.
Restaurant chefs and culinary students know Shirley from their grease-splattered copies of CookWise , an encyclopedic work that has saved them from many a cooking disaster. With numerous “At-a-Glance” charts, BakeWise gives busy people information for quick problem solving. BakeWise also includes Shirley's signature “What This Recipe Shows” in every recipe. This scientific and culinary information can apply to hundreds of recipes, not just the one in which it appears.
BakeWise does not have just a single source of knowledge; Shirley loves reading the works of chefs and other good cooks and shares their tips with you, too. She applies not only her expertise but that of the many artisans she admires, such as famous French pastry chefs Gaston Lenôtre and Chef Roland Mesnier, the White House pastry chef for twenty-five years; and Bruce Healy, author of Mastering the Art of French Pastry . Shirley also retrieves "lost arts" from experts of the past such as Monroe Boston Strause, the pie master of 1930s America. For one dish, she may give you techniques from three or four different chefs plus her own touch of science—“better baking through chemistry.” She adds facts such as the right temperature, the right mixing speed, and the right mixing time for the absolutely most stable egg foam, so you can create a light-as-air génoise every time.
Beginners can cook from BakeWise to learn exactly what they are doing and why. Experienced bakers find out why the techniques they use work and also uncover amazing pastries from the past, such as Pont Neuf (a creation of puff pastry, pâte à choux, and pastry cream) and Religieuses, adorable “little nuns” made of puff pastry filled with a satiny chocolate pastry cream and drizzled with mocha icing.
Some will want it simply for the recipes—incredibly moist whipped cream pound cake made with heavy cream; flourless fruit soufflés; chocolate crinkle cookies with gooey, fudgy centers; huge popovers; famed biscuits. But this book belongs on every baker's shelf.
544 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2003
242 people are currently reading
2724 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 71 reviews
March 21, 2011
This book gets infinity stars from me.
Here's my review for this book over at 101 Cookbooks Library, which has a bit more detail:
Written by a biochemist, this book is *essential* for anyone that is serious about baking, especially if they are a recipe developer or make a lot of modifications/substitutions. Every possible variation and combination of all essential baking components - flour, egg whites, yolks, baking soda, baking powder, acids, sweeteners, fats, Dutch processed vs. natural cocoa, to name a few - is scrutinized, broken down and explained.
Throwing in some applesauce to replace oil, mashed banana to replace eggs, or subbing whatever non-dairy milk or margarine you have on hand might be okay in a pinch when cooking for yourself or family, but if you intend to serve something that is as good as it can possibly be and you need to change out even one ingredient, this book will explain how the original ingredient worked in the first place, how it interacts with the other ingredients in a recipe, and how things such as temperature (both ambient and of the ingredients) and time will affect the outcome of a recipe.
Even when I'm not developing/testing/modifying recipes, I often turn to this book to make simple improvements on recipes that just seem a little too underwhelming.
Also, if you don't bake with eggs or dairy, this book is still a veritable wealth of information. As a vegan, I've found more answers in this book than all of my other books combined. The ratio and interplay of acid and alkaline, temperature, viscosity, protein level of flours, etc etc can be broken down and reassembled in countless ways, as long as you know what you're doing. It's pure and simple science (and makes Cook's Illustrated seem like child's play).
Here's my review for this book over at 101 Cookbooks Library, which has a bit more detail:
Written by a biochemist, this book is *essential* for anyone that is serious about baking, especially if they are a recipe developer or make a lot of modifications/substitutions. Every possible variation and combination of all essential baking components - flour, egg whites, yolks, baking soda, baking powder, acids, sweeteners, fats, Dutch processed vs. natural cocoa, to name a few - is scrutinized, broken down and explained.
Throwing in some applesauce to replace oil, mashed banana to replace eggs, or subbing whatever non-dairy milk or margarine you have on hand might be okay in a pinch when cooking for yourself or family, but if you intend to serve something that is as good as it can possibly be and you need to change out even one ingredient, this book will explain how the original ingredient worked in the first place, how it interacts with the other ingredients in a recipe, and how things such as temperature (both ambient and of the ingredients) and time will affect the outcome of a recipe.
Even when I'm not developing/testing/modifying recipes, I often turn to this book to make simple improvements on recipes that just seem a little too underwhelming.
Also, if you don't bake with eggs or dairy, this book is still a veritable wealth of information. As a vegan, I've found more answers in this book than all of my other books combined. The ratio and interplay of acid and alkaline, temperature, viscosity, protein level of flours, etc etc can be broken down and reassembled in countless ways, as long as you know what you're doing. It's pure and simple science (and makes Cook's Illustrated seem like child's play).
November 20, 2014
My New Year's resolution this year was to bake more. Eight new cakes & counting, this has been my most successful resolution yet! I always have great success using Cook's Illustrated recipes since they do all the work for you, but I am drawn to books like these because it's nice to feel smart about what you're doing in the kitchen. The section on cakes has already taught me so much, I not only feel like I could make up my own cake recipe, I was able to feel all superior watching a baking show on PBS that I dislike. "Ha," I thought, "She should've added that chocolate to the cream instead of the other way around. I bet her ganache got slightly grainy for a moment." Nothing like bringing out the smug.
Disclaimer - I haven't finished this book yet. However, I feel safe in assuming that it won't a) have a dumb cliffhanger ending or b) end in a small child's death, like all the other stuff I've been reading lately, so I'd like to talk about a book I've actually enjoyed reading this month. So, baking! Hurray! The only bummer is that my house & the oven don't get along very well in the summer months, so all these tasty recipes will have to wait until fall before I can test them. I'm betting it will be well worth it.
Disclaimer - I haven't finished this book yet. However, I feel safe in assuming that it won't a) have a dumb cliffhanger ending or b) end in a small child's death, like all the other stuff I've been reading lately, so I'd like to talk about a book I've actually enjoyed reading this month. So, baking! Hurray! The only bummer is that my house & the oven don't get along very well in the summer months, so all these tasty recipes will have to wait until fall before I can test them. I'm betting it will be well worth it.
September 12, 2022
I'm conflicted.
There is a lot of good baking information in this book, but for my use, this is more a reference book for looking up the "why" than a book I use for recipes.
One thing that became evident quickly is that Ms. Corriher likes her baked goods FAR sweeter and FAR moister - I'd go so far as to say "saturated"-- than I do. So I understand what she was trying to do here with showing the changes in recipes and processes. I appreciate the explanation of the chemistry and other factors involved. But we definitely have different ideas of what tastes "good."
There is a lot of good baking information in this book, but for my use, this is more a reference book for looking up the "why" than a book I use for recipes.
One thing that became evident quickly is that Ms. Corriher likes her baked goods FAR sweeter and FAR moister - I'd go so far as to say "saturated"-- than I do. So I understand what she was trying to do here with showing the changes in recipes and processes. I appreciate the explanation of the chemistry and other factors involved. But we definitely have different ideas of what tastes "good."
November 14, 2009
I read through this book, and there were a lot of amazing sounding recipes. So, I tried two of them and was underwhelmed. The science behind the recipes was interesting, and why she chose the amounts of ingredients that she chose. We tried the Apple Walnut Muffins, and agreed that there were just too many flavors in them. I also made the Lemon-White Chocolate cookies, and they were okay. For some reason they left a weird aftertaste in my mouth. So, if you like to read about the science of baking, this one is for you.
June 7, 2010
I admit that I bought this book mainly for the science and had no strong intention of ever making any of the recipes. But now I've read the book and am feeling tempted by a few. Which is why I really wish there were more photos. I'm not familiar with many of the baked goods the author includes, and pictures of the final products would help immensely. When she talks about her Double-Icing Technique for ganache, I want a photo to see just how smooth she can get it—are the results worth the effort? I also could've done with a diagram or two at key points, such as when she's describing how to slash baguettes.
That said, the science part promises to be really useful for future reference. Corriher talks about the various ingredients in each chapter, even if it means repeating herself, so that the reader will have the information they need near the recipe they're using. I found that a bit annoying as I read the book from cover to cover, but in the future, when I'm actually using the book, I'm sure I'll appreciate that part. And she has discussed the ingredients so thoroughly that I think I'll be able to use this to fix other recipes in my collection, not just make hers.
That said, the science part promises to be really useful for future reference. Corriher talks about the various ingredients in each chapter, even if it means repeating herself, so that the reader will have the information they need near the recipe they're using. I found that a bit annoying as I read the book from cover to cover, but in the future, when I'm actually using the book, I'm sure I'll appreciate that part. And she has discussed the ingredients so thoroughly that I think I'll be able to use this to fix other recipes in my collection, not just make hers.
October 10, 2022
Finally, a book that tells how to fix baking mistakes and even why they happen. There are recipes to demonstrate how to get a soft chocolate chip cookie versus a crunchy one. And lots more. Gotta get a copy and keep for reference.
March 14, 2021
This book is AMAZING.
If you've ever wondered about the science behind baking, from why chocolate seizes - and the best way to prevent it - to the action of egg whites in a meringue, this book is for you. Corriher is thorough, precise and clear in her writing. A few of her techniques seem overly fiddly, but there are many simple tricks to try that you've never considered before.
If I have any complaint, it's that the recipes aren't setup well for reference. I like to photocopy so I can hang up the recipe over my workspace as I work, but many of these run multiple pages, and even have the title on one page, the recipe on the next. Corriher's thoroughness means some of the recipes are quite long. It would be wonderful to have a cheat-sheet version of each recipe to use in the kitchen.
If you've ever wondered about the science behind baking, from why chocolate seizes - and the best way to prevent it - to the action of egg whites in a meringue, this book is for you. Corriher is thorough, precise and clear in her writing. A few of her techniques seem overly fiddly, but there are many simple tricks to try that you've never considered before.
If I have any complaint, it's that the recipes aren't setup well for reference. I like to photocopy so I can hang up the recipe over my workspace as I work, but many of these run multiple pages, and even have the title on one page, the recipe on the next. Corriher's thoroughness means some of the recipes are quite long. It would be wonderful to have a cheat-sheet version of each recipe to use in the kitchen.
January 4, 2021
I haven’t actually tried very many of the recipes, although the ones I have tried have turned out DELICIOUSLY. (Magnificent moist golden cake and chocolate chip pecan cookies come to mind. Oh my yum.) But as a “science of baking,” “why baking works this way,” “how to fix particular baking problems” handbook, it is amazingly insightful, and gets right to the questions I tend to ask, and answers them satisfactorily. I read the whole thing cover to cover years ago (borrowed from the library) and finally asked for my own copy for my birthday this year, because I have found myself wanting Corriher’s answers to my baking questions over and over.
June 27, 2021
I don't yet own this book but I will. You should own it too. Not only does this cookbook (If you could call it that. It's not specifically a cookbook in the classic sense) have great recipes, but it has wonderful asides about baking and cooking that are just essential for the novice cook. (Which I consider myself despite years of cooking.)
Shirley O' Corriher is the cookbook author to measure others against, and she's simply the authority on recipes and technique based on her experience as a food scientist.
Worth you time, buy it, check it out from the library, borrow it from a friend. You won't be sorry.
Shirley O' Corriher is the cookbook author to measure others against, and she's simply the authority on recipes and technique based on her experience as a food scientist.
Worth you time, buy it, check it out from the library, borrow it from a friend. You won't be sorry.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 23, 2024
At the turn of the millennium, I moved back to Austin, Texas, to care for my dying mother. Baking was one of the things I did not to go stress-crackers. This book is so exactly and entirely aimed at my sweet spot that I worked my way through it. Wonderfully informative, intensely satisfying to my information-absorbing character.
I've given copies to beginner cooks and heard good reports from them, too.
I've given copies to beginner cooks and heard good reports from them, too.
October 28, 2018
This book is a must for anyone who loves to bake. There are so many strategies, some which can be used with little to no extra effort, to help your baked goods rise (pun intended!) to the next level. There are lots of recipes to try as well, which illustrate the concepts taught.
The 3 main sections are:
Cakes
Cookies
Pies
Breads
The 3 main sections are:
Cakes
Cookies
Pies
Breads
May 8, 2019
A nice combination of recipes and science, if you're a baker, this is definitely worth reading. It did, inevitably, confirm my belief that I am more of a cook as the science within was a little less interesting to me, but again, that's just me. If nothing, there are some good recipes within here!
November 28, 2020
More than recipes, we are taught techniques from the author's experience and why we get the results we seek.
We learn all there is to know about baking powder, yeast, flour, butter, chocolate, oven temperature, etc.
We learn all there is to know about baking powder, yeast, flour, butter, chocolate, oven temperature, etc.
July 23, 2025
Excellent tips on how to. I have found more recipes that I like better than some that are in the book but the book really helped form the basics on how to bake better from a more scientific standpoint.
January 15, 2018
If you are not very good at baking, like me, this book is a revelation. It gives you the knowledge to begin to understand what baking is all about. BakeWise is highly recommended!
February 17, 2019
No Photos
March 30, 2019
Great for baking!
April 3, 2019
Nice to have a baker explain the whys and hows of baking.
September 19, 2020
Excellent
July 26, 2021
This is a book that makes you want to make while making you feel that you know how. Everyone who loves to bake should read it.
December 2, 2021
This is for the experienced baker as it involves techniques that are above and beyond the normal. Only thing lacking are photographs of the cakes etc.
Want to read
January 15, 2022I tried this but my brain isn’t ready at the moment. Looks like an excellent text though
September 15, 2022
I love this book but i find the selection of recipes a little underwhelming
September 24, 2022
want this for christmas!
July 17, 2024
Loved that this author explained the science, provided different versions and reasons why a recipe works or doesn’t.. this will be my bible..
September 22, 2025
This book is fabulous. A scientific approach to baking with all the explanations of why and how to prepare ingredients differently for different recipes. A super How-To.
March 17, 2011
I wanted to love this, I really did. After seeing the author's numerous appearances on Good Eats, I was excited to dive into her work and learn all about the science of baking. But in reality it was rather disappointing. The book is packed full of useful reference information - baker's formulas, scientific explanations, discussions of ingredients. I instantly learned why the sheet cakes I had tried to make for my son's birthday didn't rise and wished I had read the book beforehand. However, as I made my way through it I constantly found myself wondering who on Earth edited the thing. The entire volume was rife with typos, insufficient information, nonstop copy-and-paste of whole paragraphs, and disastrous organization. I desperately wanted to attack it with a red pen and send it back. Pictures are few and only of the finished product, and diagrams are completely absent. My eyes (and brain) swam while trying to decipher paragraphs of instructions for folding and shaping bread dough, when a few stepwise pictures or simple illustrations a la Joy of Cooking would have made the process crystal clear.
Organizationally, at the chapter level everything's more or less fine - cakes, steam (pastries & meringues), pies, cookies, and breads. Within the chapters, though, one must constantly flip around to find recipes within the text. More frustratingly, many times recipes grouped together consistently reference a technique that has yet to be discussed, and while there is a pointer to the appropriate page, it would have made much more sense to put that information ahead of where it is needed rather than after.
I found the writing style itself to quite irritating. So many recipes have long, cutesy names: "All-Time Favorite E-Z, Dee-licious Sour Cream Cornbread." Really? Ugh. The text is quite personable and conversational, but heavy use of copy and paste is employed, so the same passage repeats over and over. Not such a big deal (quite useful, in fact) in recipes, but when it happens in the reference text - and it does, MANY times - it gets old, fast. Very fast.
Finally, there are the recipes themselves. I can't fault Corriher for researching her recipes and combining techniques from the masters to create the "ultimate" recipe. I do it myself when creating something new or trying to improve a less than ideal dish, although as a home cook my sources are obviously less renowned. Further, I have no doubt that her research produces fantastic results. But the fact is that the end recipe winds up being so complicated that it just completely turns me off of trying it at all. Sure, I'll take and extra one or two steps if it will improve the product, but not 5 or 6. I'd venture to say that most home cooks agree.
Overall, I'm happy to own the book despite its faults. The text is something I'll refer to again and again, even with its deficiencies and the annoyance of the near-constant restating of information. I may even try some of the recipes. Most of them, however, I won't.
Organizationally, at the chapter level everything's more or less fine - cakes, steam (pastries & meringues), pies, cookies, and breads. Within the chapters, though, one must constantly flip around to find recipes within the text. More frustratingly, many times recipes grouped together consistently reference a technique that has yet to be discussed, and while there is a pointer to the appropriate page, it would have made much more sense to put that information ahead of where it is needed rather than after.
I found the writing style itself to quite irritating. So many recipes have long, cutesy names: "All-Time Favorite E-Z, Dee-licious Sour Cream Cornbread." Really? Ugh. The text is quite personable and conversational, but heavy use of copy and paste is employed, so the same passage repeats over and over. Not such a big deal (quite useful, in fact) in recipes, but when it happens in the reference text - and it does, MANY times - it gets old, fast. Very fast.
Finally, there are the recipes themselves. I can't fault Corriher for researching her recipes and combining techniques from the masters to create the "ultimate" recipe. I do it myself when creating something new or trying to improve a less than ideal dish, although as a home cook my sources are obviously less renowned. Further, I have no doubt that her research produces fantastic results. But the fact is that the end recipe winds up being so complicated that it just completely turns me off of trying it at all. Sure, I'll take and extra one or two steps if it will improve the product, but not 5 or 6. I'd venture to say that most home cooks agree.
Overall, I'm happy to own the book despite its faults. The text is something I'll refer to again and again, even with its deficiencies and the annoyance of the near-constant restating of information. I may even try some of the recipes. Most of them, however, I won't.
December 3, 2012
The science and secrets of baking revealed. The eternal question of why does my chocolate always seize is answered at last. Here is a woman who not only understands the exacting standards of baking, she embraces the hard science behind them. No pinch of this, a dash of that typical cookbook garbage here. She details the recipes with step by step technique rich descriptions; if she calls for a cup of flour, she specifiesy exactly what type and brand she means and reminds you how a cup is to be measured.
My only complaints are that 1. no recipe can ever have an equal number of egg yolks as egg whites (indeed she encourages you to depart from such parsimonious concerns) and 2. she insists that pie crusts must have lard (triggering an automatic gross out factor for me). I continue to only make tarts (with their lardless crusts) and to pair up recipes needing more yolks with those needing more whites.
My only complaints are that 1. no recipe can ever have an equal number of egg yolks as egg whites (indeed she encourages you to depart from such parsimonious concerns) and 2. she insists that pie crusts must have lard (triggering an automatic gross out factor for me). I continue to only make tarts (with their lardless crusts) and to pair up recipes needing more yolks with those needing more whites.
Read
July 21, 2010Fans of Cooks Illustrated type cookbooks where the science and the experimenting are as important as the recipes will enjoy this book by James Beard Award winner, Shirley Corriher, the author of the classic, CookWise. The author uses her background as a chemist to explain the science of baking. Each recipe is accompanied by a section titled "What This Recipe Shows". For instance, "Cream of tartar speeds up the unwinding of the egg-white proteins and aids in forming and stablizing the meringue." If you could care less about the acidity of cake ingredients, just skip the science and move directly to the recipes for fabulous cakes, muffins, quick breads, meringues, pies, cookies and breads. --Susan
From ICPL Staff Picks Blog
From ICPL Staff Picks Blog
May 8, 2012
I received this book as a gift, and it's not one that I ever would have bought for myself. But I am thrilled to own it! I started flicking through and ended up skimming nearly the entire book. The recipes look phenomenal- I'm a baker who's confident to try a recipe the most complicated way possible, and most of these recipes have more than a few extra steps to ensure perfection in cooking.
I think while I'm cooking, I'll have to be careful following the recipes. The layout of the recipes is very basic and I have a feeling I could end up muddled if I'm not careful.
There are a few spelling and grammatical errors I would have expected to be caught, though it's still only a first edition, so hopefully they will be fixed for later editions.
Very excited for great things to come with this book!
I think while I'm cooking, I'll have to be careful following the recipes. The layout of the recipes is very basic and I have a feeling I could end up muddled if I'm not careful.
There are a few spelling and grammatical errors I would have expected to be caught, though it's still only a first edition, so hopefully they will be fixed for later editions.
Very excited for great things to come with this book!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 71 reviews