Baking Science: Foolproof Formulas to Create the Best Cakes, Pies, Cookies, Breads and More

by Dikla Levy Frances

The Scientifically Guaranteed Guide to Better Baked Goods

For every flawless cake you bake, are there three that come out of the oven dry, deflated or dense? Do your cookies crumble and cheesecakes crack? You’re not alone! A lot of bakers struggle with selecting the right ingredients or choosing the right method and temperature to yield flawless end results. With this book, One Sarcastic Baker creator Dikla Levy Frances is here to help you recognize your baking mistakes and learn how to get the best results—the scientific way. She teaches you the chemistry behind successfully baking everything from cakes to cookies to breads with approachable explanations and simple formulas so easy that anyone can create these sweet experiments.

Learn the molecular breakdown of basic ingredients like flour, butter and sugar, and how they react with each other to make the baked goods you love, like Triple Coconut Cake and Monday Night Football Cookies. Explore how mixing methods like beating vs. whisking vs. stirring affect your final product, and which method is best for the particular treat you’re trying to make, like Almond- Chocolate Pound Cake or Reese’s® Peanut Butter Quick Bread. Discover how different temperatures transform ingredients into the baked goods of your dreams, and how to use more or less heat to create everything from creamy, never-cracked Funfetti® Cheesecake to the perfect pie crust. Each section is also accompanied by scrumptious recipes to help you practice your newfound knowledge.

Improve your technique tenfold with simple, science-based tips that’ll have your baked goodies looking like masterpieces every time. Whether you’re a kitchen amateur or baking pro, you’re guaranteed to perfect your craft with Dikla’s approachable methodology and mouth-watering recipes.

Genres: Cookbooks, Food, Cooking, Nonfiction

192 pages, Paperback

Published April 19, 2022

Reviews

[Denver Public Library · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hey baking nerds, this one is for you! When you follow a recipe, do you ever wonder why it calls for olive oil, not another kind? or how you can keep your whipped cream frothy? These answers can be found in Baking Science. With chapters devoted to Stabilizers, Tenderizers, Temperatures and Foolproof Formulas, the author (creator of the One Sarcastic Baker blog) walks readers through the interactions of the ingredients and process in a recipe result in the final product. Each scientific process is highlighted with drawn illustrations which aid in understanding the science. Reese's Peanut Butter Quick Bread and S'Mores Biscotti are just a couple of the standout delights of the over 40 recipes included to make in your own lab, or kitchen! 4.5 stars.

[Ian Chadwick · Rating 3 out of 5]

For the most part, the science is good and well-written, although not as comprehensive or detailled as in Emily Buehler’s Bread Science. But light years beyond the vague sort-of-sciencey chat of Newman’s Sourdough by Science. She explains without condescension what is going on with the chemistry and physics of baking. It could use a few more illustrations, but she is clear and understandable.

Her section on flour is, however, weak. An American, she doesn’t recognize the differences between US and Canadian (or British) flour. She also doesn’t discuss how gluten forms when the two proteins glutenin and gliadin are hydrated, about using extra gluten to boost low protein, about diastatic malt, or additional starches in a recipe. And there’s nothing on European flours like tipo 00 used for pasta and pizza.

Great recipes (and photos) if you bake cakes, pastries or even make popsicles; little for bread makers you can’t find in other books. While most of her science notes have information that can apply generally in bread baking, there is nothing significant on fermentation, nothing on using pre-ferments or the tangzhou method, and nothing at all about sourdough. Nor even a mention of a bread machine.

I was a bit annoyed that most if not all of her recipes require a stand mixer. I have never used one for bread, and have no interest in owning another appliance. I wish she had included alternative instructions for hand mixing, because I am hesitant to try her recipes without the device.

If you want to learn about food science and the chemistry behind most common ingredients, and your main baking interest isn’t in bread, it’s a good book. If your main focus is bread, then this in an interesting but far from essential book for your library.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first thing my grandma told me when I started helping in the kitchen was when you cook you measure with your heart, but when you bake you use a measuring spoon.⁣

If you're anything like me, you've tried to get away with not following baking recipes to the T... and if you're anything like me doing so was not a successful endeavor. 😬 But have you ever wondered why? Well, wonder no longer.

𝗕𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗦𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 is more than a cook book filled with delicious cakes, pies, cookies, and breads... It is a scientifically guaranteed guide how to make flawless baked goods. 👩‍🍳

The first thing I made was this beautiful Orange Sesame Bundt Cake. You guys, I can usually make things that taste good, but they usually don't look good. This is one of my first Bundt cakes to slide flawlessly out of the pan! Woot! 🙌 I also learned what I was doing wrong when I added syrups to moisten the cake after it was baked, and by doing it right for the very first time my orange syrup soaked through the whole cake making each and every bite a fragment sweet, moist, and delicious bite! 🤤

We've loved baking our way through this book and have learned so much about the science behind the success. I made the gang Monday Night Football Cookies and they were gone before I had a chance to take photos! So this weekend we're definitely making another batch this weekend.

Thank you @pagestreetpublishing @onesarcasticbaker for the gifted copy in exchange for my honest review.

Click on the link in my bio to purchase your copy today!

𝗧𝗶𝘁𝗹𝗲: 𝘉𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘚𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘍𝘰𝘰𝘭𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘧 𝘍𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘊𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘊𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴, 𝘗𝘪𝘦𝘴, 𝘊𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘦𝘴, 𝘉𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘔𝘰𝘳𝘦!
𝗥𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[Victoria Worley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m a chef who hates baking. I do like facts about baking and happen to be taking a test tomorrow about baking science. I feel like I could have passed without reading this but I did learn a thing or two. A very nice review. I also don’t enjoy reading non-fiction. I especially don’t enjoy reading books without smut. Besides the occasional reference to creaming, this book definitely lacked smut 😂 I kid. Great Pictures and interesting recipes I certainly will use in my classroom.

[EvelynViolet McGuire · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this book because it combined chemistry with something I love to do, bake. It did so while also being interesting and straight to the point. I found it easy to read, but sometimes explanations were not as clear and detailed as I would have liked and left a bit of confusion. However, this is expected because it is aimed towards people both interested and uninterested in science and is a bit shorter because it contains recipes. At the same time, I really like that aspect of the book- how the author chose to use recipes throughout its entirety. They were examples of concepts and methods that the author was discussing so the reader could see the chemistry in action if they wished to attempt it, but were also just there to help the reader understand via an example without entering the kitchen at all. Each concept or idea she introduced, like how you can use temperature in recipes aside from just in the literal baking part, she also included a recipe to explain and practice that concept, like enhancing the chocolate flavor of cocoa powder by pouring boiling hot coffee over it or “blooming” it. She also did not just spit out facts in her writing, she explained the chemistry behind it- the WHY. In the case of blooming, she explained how the warm temperature disrupts the structure of the fat molecules in the cocoa powder allowing them to migrate to the surface, therefore enhancing the flavor when it meets your tastebuds. Overall, it was really good, but next time I might invest my time into reading a longer book that goes into more detail as I am super intrigued by “baking science” and wish to learn more about it!

[Chrissann Nickel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This books gives you an entirely different perspective on baking. There were lots of interesting tidbits that I got out of it, and I even got some answers to questions I hadn’t quite articulated in my head but had stumped me nonetheless for many years.

There are also recipes throughout the book that showcase the principles being taught, which I find useful. Overall, this is a really good read if you are a baker who wants to understand how recipes work and what ingredients do from a science perspective.

[Spencer Pullen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve been interested in what happens during baking. It has fascinated me all the way back to childhood. Baking Science takes you through how and why ingredients work. The author gives baking ratios in the back of the book so you can think about creating your own recipes. For anyone who is interested in more that just following a formula, this is worth a look.

[Dray · Rating 5 out of 5]

I rarely give a 5 star rating but this smallish book deserves one. Ms Frances delves into the science of all major ingredients in baking, explaining how they are necessary and exactly what they do and how they can be augmented. She also add some flourishes about things like temperature and whipped creams.

[Joanne Clifton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book. If you thought you had a library of good books of recipes,you need this book to make them better. She takes the home cook thru the cooking school to expand their knowledge and improve everything! Not to mention giving them recipes along the way!

[Bayla Jacobson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Run do not walk to read this book. I love the information and creative recipes.

[Audrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I learned a lot!