How to Bake Everything: Simple Recipes for the Best Baking Kindle Edition

Of the 13 reviews so far, only one person has actually baked from the book and with questionable results. Another review did have some results but it is no longer is on line. I bought How To Cook Everything when it first came out in 1998 and used it so often when cooking that the binding is no longer attached. I've given or suggested HTCE for new cooks for years. I own other Bittman books that I don't use quite so much but reference them on occasion. This book was one I really wanted and I pre-ordered it. I'm really focused on improving my baking this winter.I'm not sold on this book yet and wish reviews would be updated by people after they've actually baked from it. Yes it is full of information and there's lots of good sounding recipes, but information and good sounding don't necessarily equate with good results. Baking is much more science than art so the information needs to be spot on. Unlike cooking where questionable results in many cases can be tweaked to be edible or even better than the recipe, this is not always the case with baking. So here's my take so far.I made the banana bread and like the prior reviewer whose post is no longer viewable, it was dense. Since we both had the same result, I'll keep the current recipe which is loved by all. I made the Overnight Waffles for use in a Belgian waffle maker. The description reads light and chewy. They were definitely chewy. To contrast, I made the King Arthur waffles the next morning and this was undoubtedly the winner.The first shot at the no knead bread was a gloppy mess, which led to me overworking the dough and eventually throwing it out. Cut to the NYTimes video of Mark and Jim Leahy and voila, my bread came out perfectly using the NYT recipe, which is different than the book. Made the HTBE version again and it was same result as the first time which is runnier and goopier than the NYT version. I baked it and it was fine. Didn't look as nice as the NYT version and not as easy to work with, but texture and flavor were nice. Waited a couple of days and I made it again.Im going to stick to the NYT version. The ratio of measured ingredients is not the same between the two recipes, which speaks to using weight as the reference in a recipe. Also, short of reading about working with sticky dough six pages earlier, a person not familiar with bread baking would be confused by the optional 2 tbsp of olive oil. There should at least be a mention next to the word optional about greasing the bowl with it. The recipe for the sourdough starter was a bomb. I now have the KA one finishing up in the kitchen and I will stick to it.I'm ready to bake from The Four and Twenty Blackbirds Pie book and will do a comparison between their crust which is not made with a food processor and Mark's which is. I hope more reviewers actually review after trying some of the recipes and not just based on appearances. Certainly I've not made enough to give a full review on all recipes, but felt it important the book not come off as the solution to every homemakers desire to nail baking first time around without anyone commenting on results.

Had high hopes for this book as I find Mark Bittman very straightforward - not the most original or sophisticated, but very "user-friendly", hence all the How to Everything series/approach.What I cannot get over, and definitely not a favor to consumers is not giving the ingredients by weight - even in addition to volume as many Americans don't feel comfortable with grams and kilograms - but a How to Bake Everything not acknowledging that in baking weight is the way to go, shame on the corner cutting!PS: the guide on page 53 and 54 do not suffice​.

So far, I’ve tried two recipes; so far, I’ve binned both.The big mistake in the kouign amann recipe is where it says to use butter to grease muffin tins. At the temperature that’s used to bake these babies, the butter burns, as do the pastries. Binned.I thought I’d give it another chance and try the macarons. You make the filling one day, and the shells the next. (That’s not the problem.) The problem is the lime curd recipe. It never gets thick, and it should not be made over direct heat. Binned again.I’m thinking the only value to this book is to get ideas for what to bake. For the actual recipes, get them elsewhere.

This is a cook book for people like me, who can't help tweaking recipes. Mark Bittman, like in his other books, has recipes with multitude suggestions for personalizing the baked goodies.This was the Bittman weekend at my house. Here are the recipes I've tried, with my thoughts on the final items.Banana Bread. Easy recipe, no problems. I gave the bread 4.5/5. It was a bit too sweet for my taste (maybe the bananas were extra sugary?), but I am biased. I've used an awesome recipe for years that contains sour cream, and Bittman's recipe doesn't. His was a bit firmer than mine, but then again, that's a matter of preference.Pumpkin pie. That's 2 recipes, the flaky crust (good -- though I might've gotten carried away and over processed it a bit, but it held up fine). The pie could have used more spices, but the texture and mouth-feel were excellent. Definitely beats store bought!Popovers. I got six giant ones baked in a large size popover pan (recipe for 12 small). Excellent!And then for the holy grail. Brownies. I've spent my life searching for the perfect one...This might be it. He uses cocoa, not chocolate, but I did add the bonus chocolate chunks, one of the optional tweaks he recommended. Soft, fudgy, chocolatey, gooey.... next attempt will be with Valrohna instead of Hershey's, and I'll know for sure if I the search is over!I agree with the reviewers who commented on the lack of measurements in weights. I was miffed when a recipe read to use a "stick" of butter, and I had Plugra brand, that's 8 oz, while the usual stick in the US is 4oz, one of four in the package. I played safe and used 4oz of it, and the recipe worked. I suspect the lack of weight measurements may be a carry-over from his cooking books, but baking needs to be more exact, and the oversight is almost inexcusable. So, I'm with the other reviewers on that, and am knocking off a star.However, I'm discovering that I prefer the format and style of this book more so than my previous go-to all-purpose baking tome, the King Arthur Flour Bakers Companion, which has been relegated to the Goodwill pile. It's easier for me to riff off a "master" recipe than to pore through ten similar recipes (e.g. Muffins with variations vs. pages of different muffins that are all essentially the same basic recipe). This may be preferable to those of us who are somewhat experienced bakers, might be harder for brand new ones. For this, though, I'm giving 3/4 of a star back.Final verdict: 4.75 stars.I have a few more recipes planned for this week. If there is a significant change to my rating, I will update the review.One last disclaimer: I paid for this book, wasn't given any freebies, and I don't know Mr Bittman!

I bake at least several times a week and this is my baking bible. Love the layout and ease of use. Great index of substitutions for vegan and other dietary needs listed with the recipe and in other areas of the book that are easy to find. Love the lists of alternative ingredients, how many times have you wanted to make something and not had all the ingredients? This books will give you the alternatives. Can’t say enough positives about this book.

This is a pretty comprehensive cookbook but I was really disappointed to find that it doesn't measure the ingredients by weight, only by volume. I'm just learning to bake, but I know that its very important to measure baking ingredients by weight so you can get an accurate measure.

They say you will not get all the baking secrets from the internet.This book is where you will find those secrets.Keep it like GOLD.

There is a recipe in here for almost anything. I'm not sure if it is the best recipe you could find for that item but the one recipe I did make so far was very good.

This book is for to learn...Wonderful. All recipes are good

For anyone to get your basics sorted! Bittman has done a great job in this book!