M.L.'s Reviews > The Violet Bakery Cookbook
The Violet Bakery Cookbook
by
by
Violet Bakery Cookbook – Claire Ptak. I read this courtesy of Netgalley.
This was a sparkling gem of a cookbook.
The intro by Alice Waters drew a word picture of the London Violet Bakery. Then the author gave some nice background info on her path to operating the Violet Bakery. A natural progression of some training led to doing stagings. What are stagings? Apparently, restaurants who encounter a cook who is simpatico with their style of cuisine, will invite that person to work in their kitchens for a short period of time. Then Claire did food stylings. After working at Alice Waters restaurant, she went to London, where she started baking out of her home and selling in a farmer’s market. Finally she opened a shop.
Just before reading this cookbook I had begun a book by a doctor which bashed carbs/gluten. I was open to changing my intake of carbs and gluten but there were no appealing recipes in that book. One of the first recipes I saw in the Violet Bakery Cookbook was one for quinoa granola. Not presented as a health food bandaid, it was simply a recipe in this book that offers all kinds of baked goods recipes.
I loved the pictures, which were very casual chic. The recipes were arranged by: Morning, Mid-day, Afternoon (kind of tea time, which reminded me of the hobbits asking if Aragon had ever heard of second breakfast), Evening and Party Time. Besides the quinoa granola, I chose a few other recipes I will be giving a try. The prune oat and spelt scones where the prunes are soaked in earl grey tea sounded enticing. The strawberry/ginger/poppy seed scones; apple galette; chocolate/prune/ whiskey cake are also on my to-try list. In some cases, there are techniques/ingredients I just want to try – not the whole recipe. For instance, the author writes so well about the aromatic roasted fig leaves for a recipe that, although I won’t attempt the recipe, I want to try roasting fig leaves just to see what they smell like. Oh, and I’ll be using coffee in my confectioner sugar frostings in the future.
Even though most of the recipes are not gluten free, I would recommend this cookbook to people who want to try gluten free options. And regular cookbook collectors will enjoy this little gem since it presents recipes that are a little more than run-of-the-mill. These are very approachable ideas with a little twist.
This was a sparkling gem of a cookbook.
The intro by Alice Waters drew a word picture of the London Violet Bakery. Then the author gave some nice background info on her path to operating the Violet Bakery. A natural progression of some training led to doing stagings. What are stagings? Apparently, restaurants who encounter a cook who is simpatico with their style of cuisine, will invite that person to work in their kitchens for a short period of time. Then Claire did food stylings. After working at Alice Waters restaurant, she went to London, where she started baking out of her home and selling in a farmer’s market. Finally she opened a shop.
Just before reading this cookbook I had begun a book by a doctor which bashed carbs/gluten. I was open to changing my intake of carbs and gluten but there were no appealing recipes in that book. One of the first recipes I saw in the Violet Bakery Cookbook was one for quinoa granola. Not presented as a health food bandaid, it was simply a recipe in this book that offers all kinds of baked goods recipes.
I loved the pictures, which were very casual chic. The recipes were arranged by: Morning, Mid-day, Afternoon (kind of tea time, which reminded me of the hobbits asking if Aragon had ever heard of second breakfast), Evening and Party Time. Besides the quinoa granola, I chose a few other recipes I will be giving a try. The prune oat and spelt scones where the prunes are soaked in earl grey tea sounded enticing. The strawberry/ginger/poppy seed scones; apple galette; chocolate/prune/ whiskey cake are also on my to-try list. In some cases, there are techniques/ingredients I just want to try – not the whole recipe. For instance, the author writes so well about the aromatic roasted fig leaves for a recipe that, although I won’t attempt the recipe, I want to try roasting fig leaves just to see what they smell like. Oh, and I’ll be using coffee in my confectioner sugar frostings in the future.
Even though most of the recipes are not gluten free, I would recommend this cookbook to people who want to try gluten free options. And regular cookbook collectors will enjoy this little gem since it presents recipes that are a little more than run-of-the-mill. These are very approachable ideas with a little twist.
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Reading Progress
Started Reading
March 11, 2015
– Shelved
March 11, 2015
–
Finished Reading