SWEET & SALTY!

Fun and practical recipes for both beginning and experienced young bakers.

This comprehensive baking guide offers clear, step-by-step instructions grounded in baking science, many of them accompanied by photographs, to help young people create magic with their stovetops and ovens. Divided into two major sections—“Sweet Recipes” and “Salty Recipes”—the book covers a broad range of types of treats, including cakes, cookies, scones, muffins, pies, and sweet toppings as well as savory breads, crackers, and biscuits. The recipes include some foods from global culinary traditions, like Latin American pupusas, Korean jeon, and Indian naan. The book opens with essential tips, an annotated list of tools and types of pans (with photos), and 10 tips for success, one of which is choosing a recipe of the right difficulty level. The recipes are helpfully labeled “easy” (meringues), “medium” (monkey bread), or “project” (profiteroles). Racially diverse young bakers appear beside the bright photographs of appetizing bakes. Readers will benefit from the informative two-page spreads explaining techniques that are interspersed throughout, such as “Cake Gymnastics,” which shows, in a sequence of five photos, how to remove a cake from a pan. The authors seamlessly integrate scientific tidbits into sidebars, such as one that explains the role of acidic ingredients like vinegar in cake-making or the importance of cold ingredients for flaky pie crusts. The colorful, eye-catching design enhances the reading experience.

Accessible, mouth-watering bakes both encourage and instruct emerging bakers.