- Hardcover: 255 pages
- Publisher: Clarkson N Potter Publishers (25 Oct 2011)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0307720497
- ISBN-13: 978-0307720498
- Product Dimensions: 21 x 2.2 x 26.1 cm
- Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 283,957 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Product Description
The highly anticipated complement to the New York Times bestselling Momofuku cookbook, Momofuku Milk Bar reveals the recipes for the innovative, addictive cookies, pies, cakes, ice creams, and more from the wildly popular bakery.
A runaway success, the Momofuku cookbook suffered from just one criticism among reviewers and fans: where were Christina Tosi’s fantastic desserts? The compost cookie, a chunky chocolate-chip cookie studded with crunchy salty pretzels and coffee grounds; the crack pie, a sugary-buttery confection as craveable as the name implies; the cereal milk ice cream, made from everyone’s favorite part of a nutritious breakfast—the milk at the bottom of a bowl of cereal; the easy layer cakes that forgo fancy frosting in favor of unfinished edges that hint at the yumminess inside.
Momofuku Milk Bar finally shares the recipes for these now-legendary riffs on childhood flavors and down-home classics—all essentially derived from ten mother recipes—along with the compelling narrative of the unlikely beginnings of this quirky bakery’s success. It all started one day when Momofuku founder David Chang asked Christina to make a dessert for dinner that night. Just like that, the pastry program at Momofuku began, and Christina’s playful desserts helped the restaurants earn praise from the New York Times and the Michelin Guide and led to the opening of Milk Bar, which now draws fans from around the country and the world.
With all the recipes for the bakery’s most beloved desserts—along with ones for savory baked goods that take a page from Chang’s Asian-flavored cuisine, such as Kimchi Croissants with Blue Cheese—and 100 color photographs, Momofuku Milk Bar makes baking irresistible off-beat treats at home both foolproof and fun.
A runaway success, the Momofuku cookbook suffered from just one criticism among reviewers and fans: where were Christina Tosi’s fantastic desserts? The compost cookie, a chunky chocolate-chip cookie studded with crunchy salty pretzels and coffee grounds; the crack pie, a sugary-buttery confection as craveable as the name implies; the cereal milk ice cream, made from everyone’s favorite part of a nutritious breakfast—the milk at the bottom of a bowl of cereal; the easy layer cakes that forgo fancy frosting in favor of unfinished edges that hint at the yumminess inside.
Momofuku Milk Bar finally shares the recipes for these now-legendary riffs on childhood flavors and down-home classics—all essentially derived from ten mother recipes—along with the compelling narrative of the unlikely beginnings of this quirky bakery’s success. It all started one day when Momofuku founder David Chang asked Christina to make a dessert for dinner that night. Just like that, the pastry program at Momofuku began, and Christina’s playful desserts helped the restaurants earn praise from the New York Times and the Michelin Guide and led to the opening of Milk Bar, which now draws fans from around the country and the world.
With all the recipes for the bakery’s most beloved desserts—along with ones for savory baked goods that take a page from Chang’s Asian-flavored cuisine, such as Kimchi Croissants with Blue Cheese—and 100 color photographs, Momofuku Milk Bar makes baking irresistible off-beat treats at home both foolproof and fun.
About the Author
Christina Tosi made her name at Momofuku Milk Bar in New York. She has worked as a pastry chef in the kitchens of New York's Bouley and WD~50, and David Chang's Momofuku Noodle Bar and Ssäm Bar - where she got her big break. Tosi's baking for the staff so impressed Chang that he asked her to run his pastry shop, Momofuku Milk Bar where Tosi and her team create all of the desserts served throughout the six-restaurant Momofuku empire. What makes Tosi unique is the way she uses everyday ingredients such as pretzels, potato crisps, marshmallows, cornflakes, oats and dry milk powder in her recipes. These include creations such as cornflake-infused milk; her renowned 'Crack Pie with its buttery oatmeal cookie crust; 'Compost Cookies' spiked with pretzels, coffee grounds, crisps, among other ingredients; and tall malted chocolate layer cakes stuffed with charred marshmallows.Mad - but also delicious.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Momofuku Milk Bar cookbook is your chance to jump back to your youth when you were raised on Cap'n Crunch and Corn Flakes. In a follow-up to David Chang's best-selling Momofuku Cookbook, his pastry chef, Christina Tosi, presents her most popular recipes including the famed Compost Cookies and Crack Pie. But beware of her overly sweet recipes if you prefer your desserts a bit more subtle and understated.
Momofuku Milk Bar's fame, although relatively new, is well deserved. The story is legendary - David Chang was serving Hershey Kisses as dessert for his restaurants, and on leave from wd-50, Christina Tosi arrived to assist in dealing with the New York restaurant inspectors. A quick consult turned into a full-time job based on junk food turned nostalgia pastry. Many terms have been used to describe her creations including the New York Times' "a time capsule of arrested adolescence, an homage to American processed food," but I prefer to think of them as "gussied up stuff my mom used to make."
Momofuku Milk Bar Cookbook comes in at 256 pages with over 100 photographs. Pictures fill most pages and are sure to get your mouth watering although her desserts are not about fancy and frilly, and so they aren't necessarily the most photogenic. The book also contains sections on her preferred ingredients, equipment and techniques. What is most exciting about this book is that Tosi gives us much of her menu, and explains how the menu evolved in those early years.
The evolution of her menu makes sense. Chefs don't have much time so they need to create a handful of knock-out base recipes that can be spun into a number of other recipes. And for this reason alone, Milk Bar is a good read for any aspiring chef or prolific bake sale maven. The book centers around ten such bases - cereal milks, crumb, crunch, graham crust, fudge sauce, liquid cheesecake, nut brittle, nut crunch, ganache and mother dough - which she spins into more savory applications. And then each of those bases is used in cookies, cakes, pies and other sweets. Recipes are written clearly and ingredients are presented in grams and standard measures.
In reviewing cookbooks my pastry staff and I prepare a number of the recipes to check for flavor and success. Our response (and the response of our customers) was universal - too sweet and inconsistent outcomes. We started at the Compost Cookies and worked our way through the cornflake-chocolate-chip-marshmallow cookies, carrot layer cake, cinnamon bun pie, candy bar pie, and finally finished with the Crack Pie. Even my sugar loving pastry team was left setting the fork down to grab a cup of water. Aside from the sweetness, some of the recipes didn't have the final finished appearance that was worthy of a restaurant let alone a bake sale. But is that enough to disregard this book?
I found the narrative sections to be an enthralling and fun romp. I cook in a small rural community and while reading Tosi's accounts I felt like I was in New York. I could smell the crowded, hot kitchens. I could see her running down the street to the market to buy chips. I could feel the camaraderie of her staff. Tosi has a wonderful gift in being able to capture the passion of her kitchen and sharing it with the reader. Her recipes are fun and doable for all levels of cooks. For those who wake up to Cap'n Crunch (even in their 30s and 40s), her recipes will be cherished.
I can make your decision fairly simple. When you're done eating your cereal, do you pick up the bowl and drink the milk because you like the flavor of the cereal milk? Do you ever find yourself dumping all of your leftover junk food in a bowl and pouring chocolate sauce on top for a late afternoon snack? If you do these things then you'll love this book. If not, take a glance at it for a quick afternoon read and then share it with your sugar-loving neighbor.
Momofuku Milk Bar's fame, although relatively new, is well deserved. The story is legendary - David Chang was serving Hershey Kisses as dessert for his restaurants, and on leave from wd-50, Christina Tosi arrived to assist in dealing with the New York restaurant inspectors. A quick consult turned into a full-time job based on junk food turned nostalgia pastry. Many terms have been used to describe her creations including the New York Times' "a time capsule of arrested adolescence, an homage to American processed food," but I prefer to think of them as "gussied up stuff my mom used to make."
Momofuku Milk Bar Cookbook comes in at 256 pages with over 100 photographs. Pictures fill most pages and are sure to get your mouth watering although her desserts are not about fancy and frilly, and so they aren't necessarily the most photogenic. The book also contains sections on her preferred ingredients, equipment and techniques. What is most exciting about this book is that Tosi gives us much of her menu, and explains how the menu evolved in those early years.
The evolution of her menu makes sense. Chefs don't have much time so they need to create a handful of knock-out base recipes that can be spun into a number of other recipes. And for this reason alone, Milk Bar is a good read for any aspiring chef or prolific bake sale maven. The book centers around ten such bases - cereal milks, crumb, crunch, graham crust, fudge sauce, liquid cheesecake, nut brittle, nut crunch, ganache and mother dough - which she spins into more savory applications. And then each of those bases is used in cookies, cakes, pies and other sweets. Recipes are written clearly and ingredients are presented in grams and standard measures.
In reviewing cookbooks my pastry staff and I prepare a number of the recipes to check for flavor and success. Our response (and the response of our customers) was universal - too sweet and inconsistent outcomes. We started at the Compost Cookies and worked our way through the cornflake-chocolate-chip-marshmallow cookies, carrot layer cake, cinnamon bun pie, candy bar pie, and finally finished with the Crack Pie. Even my sugar loving pastry team was left setting the fork down to grab a cup of water. Aside from the sweetness, some of the recipes didn't have the final finished appearance that was worthy of a restaurant let alone a bake sale. But is that enough to disregard this book?
I found the narrative sections to be an enthralling and fun romp. I cook in a small rural community and while reading Tosi's accounts I felt like I was in New York. I could smell the crowded, hot kitchens. I could see her running down the street to the market to buy chips. I could feel the camaraderie of her staff. Tosi has a wonderful gift in being able to capture the passion of her kitchen and sharing it with the reader. Her recipes are fun and doable for all levels of cooks. For those who wake up to Cap'n Crunch (even in their 30s and 40s), her recipes will be cherished.
I can make your decision fairly simple. When you're done eating your cereal, do you pick up the bowl and drink the milk because you like the flavor of the cereal milk? Do you ever find yourself dumping all of your leftover junk food in a bowl and pouring chocolate sauce on top for a late afternoon snack? If you do these things then you'll love this book. If not, take a glance at it for a quick afternoon read and then share it with your sugar-loving neighbor.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
To be short and to the point this book is a little overrated and hyped. A few of the cons are
1. There are hardly any pictures of the baked goods (there are however pictures of Tossi looking at cows)
2. There is a long intro as to what kind of flour, butter, etc they use which are items most people wouldn't normally keep in their kitchen
3. Some ingredients, like freeze dried corn, I don't think are available in the UK at all (which to be fair is something that's probably not easy to find in America either).
4. I made what I thought was the easiest recipe first, their classic cornflake cookies. They didn't work at all. It calls for them to be baked for far too long and contains so much butter the dough melts in the oven becoming a cookie puddle.
Pros
1. Great unique ideas
2. All recipes have ingredients listed in grams
It is a fun and funky book at heart but it's not very adapted to the home baker. I will try baking from it again but will keep in mind the ingredient ratios and tweak where necessary. It also might be worth googling what you plan to make and see how others fared before wasting any expensive ingredients.
Torn between giving it 2 stars (for the cookie disaster) or 3 stars for it's fun nature.
1. There are hardly any pictures of the baked goods (there are however pictures of Tossi looking at cows)
2. There is a long intro as to what kind of flour, butter, etc they use which are items most people wouldn't normally keep in their kitchen
3. Some ingredients, like freeze dried corn, I don't think are available in the UK at all (which to be fair is something that's probably not easy to find in America either).
4. I made what I thought was the easiest recipe first, their classic cornflake cookies. They didn't work at all. It calls for them to be baked for far too long and contains so much butter the dough melts in the oven becoming a cookie puddle.
Pros
1. Great unique ideas
2. All recipes have ingredients listed in grams
It is a fun and funky book at heart but it's not very adapted to the home baker. I will try baking from it again but will keep in mind the ingredient ratios and tweak where necessary. It also might be worth googling what you plan to make and see how others fared before wasting any expensive ingredients.
Torn between giving it 2 stars (for the cookie disaster) or 3 stars for it's fun nature.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
56 reviews
137 of 153 people found the following review helpful
Fun read but too sweet
25 Oct 2011
Format:Hardcover
Momofuku Milk Bar cookbook is your chance to jump back to your youth when you were raised on Cap'n Crunch and Corn Flakes. In a follow-up to David Chang's best-selling Momofuku Cookbook, his pastry chef, Christina Tosi, presents her most popular recipes including the famed Compost Cookies and Crack Pie. But beware of her overly sweet recipes if you prefer your desserts a bit more subtle and understated.
Momofuku Milk Bar's fame, although relatively new, is well deserved. The story is legendary - David Chang was serving Hershey Kisses as dessert for his restaurants, and on leave from wd-50, Christina Tosi arrived to assist in dealing with the New York restaurant inspectors. A quick consult turned into a full-time job based on junk food turned nostalgia pastry. Many terms have been used to describe her creations including the New York Times' "a time capsule of arrested adolescence, an homage to American processed food," but I prefer to think of them as "gussied up stuff my mom used to make."
Momofuku Milk Bar Cookbook comes in at 256 pages with over 100 photographs. Pictures fill most pages and are sure to get your mouth watering although her desserts are not about fancy and frilly, and so they aren't necessarily the most photogenic. The book also contains sections on her preferred ingredients, equipment and techniques. What is most exciting about this book is that Tosi gives us much of her menu, and explains how the menu evolved in those early years.
The evolution of her menu makes sense. Chefs don't have much time so they need to create a handful of knock-out base recipes that can be spun into a number of other recipes. And for this reason alone, Milk Bar is a good read for any aspiring chef or prolific bake sale maven. The book centers around ten such bases - cereal milks, crumb, crunch, graham crust, fudge sauce, liquid cheesecake, nut brittle, nut crunch, ganache and mother dough - which she spins into more savory applications. And then each of those bases is used in cookies, cakes, pies and other sweets. Recipes are written clearly and ingredients are presented in grams and standard measures.
In reviewing cookbooks my pastry staff and I prepare a number of the recipes to check for flavor and success. Our response (and the response of our customers) was universal - too sweet and inconsistent outcomes. We started at the Compost Cookies and worked our way through the cornflake-chocolate-chip-marshmallow cookies, carrot layer cake, cinnamon bun pie, candy bar pie, and finally finished with the Crack Pie. Even my sugar loving pastry team was left setting the fork down to grab a cup of water. Aside from the sweetness, some of the recipes didn't have the final finished appearance that was worthy of a restaurant let alone a bake sale. But is that enough to disregard this book?
I found the narrative sections to be an enthralling and fun romp. I cook in a small rural community and while reading Tosi's accounts I felt like I was in New York. I could smell the crowded, hot kitchens. I could see her running down the street to the market to buy chips. I could feel the camaraderie of her staff. Tosi has a wonderful gift in being able to capture the passion of her kitchen and sharing it with the reader. Her recipes are fun and doable for all levels of cooks. For those who wake up to Cap'n Crunch (even in their 30s and 40s), her recipes will be cherished.
I can make your decision fairly simple. When you're done eating your cereal, do you pick up the bowl and drink the milk because you like the flavor of the cereal milk? Do you ever find yourself dumping all of your leftover junk food in a bowl and pouring chocolate sauce on top for a late afternoon snack? If you do these things then you'll love this book. If not, take a glance at it for a quick afternoon read and then share it with your sugar-loving neighbor.
Momofuku Milk Bar's fame, although relatively new, is well deserved. The story is legendary - David Chang was serving Hershey Kisses as dessert for his restaurants, and on leave from wd-50, Christina Tosi arrived to assist in dealing with the New York restaurant inspectors. A quick consult turned into a full-time job based on junk food turned nostalgia pastry. Many terms have been used to describe her creations including the New York Times' "a time capsule of arrested adolescence, an homage to American processed food," but I prefer to think of them as "gussied up stuff my mom used to make."
Momofuku Milk Bar Cookbook comes in at 256 pages with over 100 photographs. Pictures fill most pages and are sure to get your mouth watering although her desserts are not about fancy and frilly, and so they aren't necessarily the most photogenic. The book also contains sections on her preferred ingredients, equipment and techniques. What is most exciting about this book is that Tosi gives us much of her menu, and explains how the menu evolved in those early years.
The evolution of her menu makes sense. Chefs don't have much time so they need to create a handful of knock-out base recipes that can be spun into a number of other recipes. And for this reason alone, Milk Bar is a good read for any aspiring chef or prolific bake sale maven. The book centers around ten such bases - cereal milks, crumb, crunch, graham crust, fudge sauce, liquid cheesecake, nut brittle, nut crunch, ganache and mother dough - which she spins into more savory applications. And then each of those bases is used in cookies, cakes, pies and other sweets. Recipes are written clearly and ingredients are presented in grams and standard measures.
In reviewing cookbooks my pastry staff and I prepare a number of the recipes to check for flavor and success. Our response (and the response of our customers) was universal - too sweet and inconsistent outcomes. We started at the Compost Cookies and worked our way through the cornflake-chocolate-chip-marshmallow cookies, carrot layer cake, cinnamon bun pie, candy bar pie, and finally finished with the Crack Pie. Even my sugar loving pastry team was left setting the fork down to grab a cup of water. Aside from the sweetness, some of the recipes didn't have the final finished appearance that was worthy of a restaurant let alone a bake sale. But is that enough to disregard this book?
I found the narrative sections to be an enthralling and fun romp. I cook in a small rural community and while reading Tosi's accounts I felt like I was in New York. I could smell the crowded, hot kitchens. I could see her running down the street to the market to buy chips. I could feel the camaraderie of her staff. Tosi has a wonderful gift in being able to capture the passion of her kitchen and sharing it with the reader. Her recipes are fun and doable for all levels of cooks. For those who wake up to Cap'n Crunch (even in their 30s and 40s), her recipes will be cherished.
I can make your decision fairly simple. When you're done eating your cereal, do you pick up the bowl and drink the milk because you like the flavor of the cereal milk? Do you ever find yourself dumping all of your leftover junk food in a bowl and pouring chocolate sauce on top for a late afternoon snack? If you do these things then you'll love this book. If not, take a glance at it for a quick afternoon read and then share it with your sugar-loving neighbor.
42 of 44 people found the following review helpful
Long awaited and worth the wait!
9 Nov 2011
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I preordered this cookbook as soon as I could. I have been dying to get it. I have never been to NYC, so I have never tried the baked goods. I have made all the recipes I could find online. I loved the crack pie, and chocolate malted milk cake, but the blueberry and cream cookies really haunted me.
I could not wait to try the corn cookies especially. It took me a week or so to get in the Just Corn that I needed. In the meantime, I started with the cornflake marshmallow cookies. The first six I baked off were overbaked. I was expecting them to take about 18 minutes, like the book said, but I ended up pulling them at 15. The next batch got removed at 12 minutes. I think I could have gone 11. I know they were the right size because I had the right quantity. My one heads up about this book is that the baking times for the cookies seems really off to me. Luckily I bake a lot, so I know what a cookie should look like when it is done. The middle should look completely unbaked while the edges are lightly browned. They continue to bake quite a bit after they come out. The center will be fully baked by the time they cool. I was able to adjust quickly. For cookies this size I think the baking time should be about 11-12 minutes.
I have made: chocolate marshmallow cookies, corn cookies, confetti cookies, candy bar pie, crack pies (one with pecans!), and the compost cookies so far. Every one has had a much deeper depth of flavor than ordinary baked goods. I believe she is right when she says that milk powder is the msg of the baking world. It does seem to make everything taste better.
The crack pie recipe in the book is different and far superior to previously published versions. This pie is truly incredible, and my family prefers the pecan variation. The corn cookie was worth tracking down the Just Corn. My husband said they reminded him of his favorite childhood cereal, King Vitamin. We loved this cookie!
I currently have passion fruit puree and a cake ring on order from Amazon. I cannot wait to try the cakes and the grapefruit pie.
I highly recommend this book if you like a bit of a challenge in the kitchen. You really want to track down the right equipment and ingredients to do these recipes justice! It is well worth the effort.
I could not wait to try the corn cookies especially. It took me a week or so to get in the Just Corn that I needed. In the meantime, I started with the cornflake marshmallow cookies. The first six I baked off were overbaked. I was expecting them to take about 18 minutes, like the book said, but I ended up pulling them at 15. The next batch got removed at 12 minutes. I think I could have gone 11. I know they were the right size because I had the right quantity. My one heads up about this book is that the baking times for the cookies seems really off to me. Luckily I bake a lot, so I know what a cookie should look like when it is done. The middle should look completely unbaked while the edges are lightly browned. They continue to bake quite a bit after they come out. The center will be fully baked by the time they cool. I was able to adjust quickly. For cookies this size I think the baking time should be about 11-12 minutes.
I have made: chocolate marshmallow cookies, corn cookies, confetti cookies, candy bar pie, crack pies (one with pecans!), and the compost cookies so far. Every one has had a much deeper depth of flavor than ordinary baked goods. I believe she is right when she says that milk powder is the msg of the baking world. It does seem to make everything taste better.
The crack pie recipe in the book is different and far superior to previously published versions. This pie is truly incredible, and my family prefers the pecan variation. The corn cookie was worth tracking down the Just Corn. My husband said they reminded him of his favorite childhood cereal, King Vitamin. We loved this cookie!
I currently have passion fruit puree and a cake ring on order from Amazon. I cannot wait to try the cakes and the grapefruit pie.
I highly recommend this book if you like a bit of a challenge in the kitchen. You really want to track down the right equipment and ingredients to do these recipes justice! It is well worth the effort.
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
From the trenches of baking love
11 Feb 2012
Format:Hardcover
"I will bake anything from this cookbook that you ask me to," I have proclaimed more than once, to more than one person, while singing the praises of this book. Last weekend, I went through three pounds of butter because I could not stop myself from trying more recipes.
I thought that I liked baking. I had no idea how far from "like" I was. Compared to what I do now, I was just going through the motions.
I have had this book for less than two months, but already it has changed my approach to and my enjoyment of baking. It will be a longstanding staple in my kitchen/life.
I received this book as a gift. I'd never heard of it. At first glance, the photos are beautiful, but there is a lot of reading, as far as cookbooks go. And, upon further inspection, the recipes looked complicated and intimidating. They are recipes within recipes. But, having heard of Momofuku, the Milk Bar is their bakery, I was intrigued.
The first thing I did, which is out of character for me and a cookbook, is read it from cover to cover. I was in love with the narrative. And reading through it piqued my interest, revved up my courage and helped me to understand the recipes and the process of baking. I was inspired!
There are some unusual ingredients in the book. The author is a big proponent of Amazon for sourcing things like glucose and freeze-dried corn, if you can't find them locally. Instead of making an investment in a yet-to-be-proven-in-my-kitchen-cookbook, I chose a recipe that needed nothing particularly special: Cornflake Chocolate Chip Marshmallow Cookies. I was not particularly sold on that combination of ingredients, but went ahead with it, anyway. It was from that point on that I was a shameless devotee. I haven't picked up another cookbook in weeks!
The beauty of this book, is her approach. It is broken down into techniques which all integrate to create other complete recipes. For example, Cornflake Crunch goes into the Cornflake Chocolate Chip Marshmallow Cookies. The Mother Dough can be fashioned into Volcanoes, Brioche or Croissants, Cereal Milk into Cereal Milk ice cream. And the cakes! Four recipes in one, at times! Also included are nut brittles, pies, liquid cheesecake, ganache, fudge sauce and other things that I didn't even know existed, let alone that I wanted to bake! Some have thier own dedicated chapters. Others are within chapters.
There is an introduction detailing some of the author's history, a section on success in the kitchen and using the book. She writes , in detail, about ingredients and technique. The writing is friendly and direct, but not overwhelming in length. And the reading of the narratives feels, not like a chore, but a gift of insight and glimpses of motivation.
It turns out, I LOVE BAKING. This book has inspired me to try my own ideas when I don't have all the pieces for one of hers. I have baked things I'd never have even considered before this book, stuffed croissants and black bepper brioche to name two. And shortly after trying her recipes, and having read through her narrative, I began improvising on the recipes she had provided. I have actually gained confidence and inspiration as a baker after having read through the book and having tried some of the recipes.
Initially, I wasn't sure that this was a book I'd recommend because of the commitment required to complete a single recipe. Then, I thought that I couldn't recommend it out of the greed of wanting to be the most creative baker at work. But now, for anyone who thinks they love baking, want to love baking more or want to be re-seduced by the call of the items in the pantry, I wouldn't dream of keeping this a secret! ( And, much to the dismay of my ego, having returned to work each Monday with a new story from the trenches of baking love, I get the feeling that, at least one of my co-workers will be shamelessly slaving away to the call of the Momofuku Milk Bakery Cookbook.)
I thought that I liked baking. I had no idea how far from "like" I was. Compared to what I do now, I was just going through the motions.
I have had this book for less than two months, but already it has changed my approach to and my enjoyment of baking. It will be a longstanding staple in my kitchen/life.
I received this book as a gift. I'd never heard of it. At first glance, the photos are beautiful, but there is a lot of reading, as far as cookbooks go. And, upon further inspection, the recipes looked complicated and intimidating. They are recipes within recipes. But, having heard of Momofuku, the Milk Bar is their bakery, I was intrigued.
The first thing I did, which is out of character for me and a cookbook, is read it from cover to cover. I was in love with the narrative. And reading through it piqued my interest, revved up my courage and helped me to understand the recipes and the process of baking. I was inspired!
There are some unusual ingredients in the book. The author is a big proponent of Amazon for sourcing things like glucose and freeze-dried corn, if you can't find them locally. Instead of making an investment in a yet-to-be-proven-in-my-kitchen-cookbook, I chose a recipe that needed nothing particularly special: Cornflake Chocolate Chip Marshmallow Cookies. I was not particularly sold on that combination of ingredients, but went ahead with it, anyway. It was from that point on that I was a shameless devotee. I haven't picked up another cookbook in weeks!
The beauty of this book, is her approach. It is broken down into techniques which all integrate to create other complete recipes. For example, Cornflake Crunch goes into the Cornflake Chocolate Chip Marshmallow Cookies. The Mother Dough can be fashioned into Volcanoes, Brioche or Croissants, Cereal Milk into Cereal Milk ice cream. And the cakes! Four recipes in one, at times! Also included are nut brittles, pies, liquid cheesecake, ganache, fudge sauce and other things that I didn't even know existed, let alone that I wanted to bake! Some have thier own dedicated chapters. Others are within chapters.
There is an introduction detailing some of the author's history, a section on success in the kitchen and using the book. She writes , in detail, about ingredients and technique. The writing is friendly and direct, but not overwhelming in length. And the reading of the narratives feels, not like a chore, but a gift of insight and glimpses of motivation.
It turns out, I LOVE BAKING. This book has inspired me to try my own ideas when I don't have all the pieces for one of hers. I have baked things I'd never have even considered before this book, stuffed croissants and black bepper brioche to name two. And shortly after trying her recipes, and having read through her narrative, I began improvising on the recipes she had provided. I have actually gained confidence and inspiration as a baker after having read through the book and having tried some of the recipes.
Initially, I wasn't sure that this was a book I'd recommend because of the commitment required to complete a single recipe. Then, I thought that I couldn't recommend it out of the greed of wanting to be the most creative baker at work. But now, for anyone who thinks they love baking, want to love baking more or want to be re-seduced by the call of the items in the pantry, I wouldn't dream of keeping this a secret! ( And, much to the dismay of my ego, having returned to work each Monday with a new story from the trenches of baking love, I get the feeling that, at least one of my co-workers will be shamelessly slaving away to the call of the Momofuku Milk Bakery Cookbook.)
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