Williams Sonoma's brand new "Baking for Every Season" just landed in my mailbox the other day and I have to say that I'm impressed.
I'll be the first to admit that I'm far more likely to be waiting in line at a restaurant supply store for my kitchen gear than I am a Williams-Sonoma, but I have to give them credit where credit is due.
They merchandise beautifully, and I mean beautifully. Even non-cooks get excited in those stores and really, that's the whole point of why those stores look and feel like they do. Seriously, the stores are a master class in merchandising. This cookbook is an extension of that in a lot of ways. I mean, this thing is absolutely gorgeous.
When the publisher, Weldon Owen's Insight Editions, reached out to me I expected this cookbook to be a glossing over of the baker's art but now that it's here I have to admit that I was wrong.
Baking for Every Season is an exceptionally well-written cookbook. The first thing I always look for in a baking book is whether or not the weights of the dry ingredients are listed, rather than their volume measurements. Sure enough, each recipe gives the volume measurements as well as the the weights in ounces and grams. For someone who bakes with a scale and who weighs out everything in grams, this is a big deal.
As the title implies, the recipes are organized by season and there are more than 125 recipes in total. The time of year when the primary ingredient is in season determines where in the book a recipe ends up. For the most part this makes sense. Citrus fruits are in the winter section because that's when they're harvested. Apples are in the autumn, and so on.
In addition to the feature recipes, there's a section of reference recipes at the end of the book. I'm calling these reference recipes because these items are listed as ingredients in some of the featured recipes elsewhere in the book. In this section you'll find recipes for different types of pastry, frostings, icings and a host of other things like ganache.
This section of reference recipes lends an air of credibility to this whole endeavor --this is not just another picture book. What I mean is that these recipes have been tested and the bakers behind these recipes really know what they're doing. The pastry recipes in particular really stand out.
Even though it's not just a picture book, it certainly looks like one. The photography by Erin Scott is absolutely gorgeous.
That image is from one of their winter recipes, Meyer Lemon Curd Pavlova with Blood Oranges and Cream. Now, I have a sugared fruit pavlova recipe I lifted from Mary Berry that's one of my Christmas standbys, but this one from Williams-Sonoma gives it a real run for its money.
If you've never made a pavlova, please give this one a try. Pavlovas are not so much difficult as they are time-consuming. But, much like bread baking, time-consuming in this case means that there's a time lapse between steps. The steps themselves are pretty simple and straightforward.
If you've never had a pavlova, that means that you're from the US. Hah! Seriously though, pavlovas a big deal in Australia and New Zealand. They show up often in British dessert books and anywhere else with heavy British influences. Canada I'm looking at you.
Anyhow, it's a Friday afternoon as I write this and we're on day two of seemingly unending winter storm. A citrus-y pavlova is just thing we need around here to brighten things up. So I'll be testing this recipe myself.
This book is available for pre-order now and its release date is 22 March 2022.
Baking for Every Season
Weldon Owen | 8.5 x 0.51 x 10 in | 192 pages
Hardcover | $35.00
ISBN:978-1-68188-784-5 | March, 22 2022
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