Idiot's Guides: Baking

Baking can be an enjoyable and rewarding experience - but takes precision and some skill in order for your desserts to come out well. This is what makes baking for the novice intimidating. Most cookbooks assume you already know the basic techniques of baking, which increases a beginner's fear of even trying the most basic cake or pie. But help is on the way!

Idiot's Guides: Baking is geared for the absolute beginner to baking, taking you through the most basic techniques that all of those other books assume you already know - from separating an egg to kneading bread and making a pie crust - with step-by-step color photo tutorials that walk you through every part of the process. With Idiot's Guides: Baking you'll learn to make all kinds of baked goods, from the easiest - cookies, pies, muffins, and custards - to the more challenging, like pies, tarts, cakes, and bread. You'll even learn how to make the perfect meringue and how to decorate a cake. Once you know these techniques, you can apply them to any recipe - and you'll be on your way to becoming a master baker! In addition, the book covers:

- Detailed sections on utensils and ingredients

- Tutorials on general cooking basics, such as dry and liquid measuring, and working with chocolate

- "Save the Wreck" sidebars which give handy advice for saving or repurposing a failed project

- Conversion information for substitutions and making your recipes gluten-free

- Dozens of recipes, to help you practice your techniques.

- Detailed explanations of why you're doing what you're doing, so that you understand the whole process.