Baking Illustrated

Book excerpt: Have You Ever Devoted a Sunday Afternoon to baking bread only to turn out loaves that are misshapen and dense? Or struggled over piecrust, ending up with a dry and crumbly dough that was impossible to roll out? We have. And that's why we've tested and retested hundreds of recipes to give you the guidance and the confidence to make everything from the perfect zucchini bread -- one that your neighbors will actually want to eat -- to light and flaky croissants that are (almost) as good as what you will find on the streets of Paris. Packed with 350 recipes and 500 illustrations, Baking Illustrated brings you inside America's Test Kitchen, where the test cooks and editors have exhaustively examined every ingredient, technique, and piece of equipment that is critical to your baking success. Have you wondered how long you can keep that can of baking powder in your cabinet or what brand of chocolate will yield the best brownies or flourless chocolate cake? Or puzzled over the key to making pizza crust that is thin and crisp or cookies that bake evenly? The editors at Cook's Illustrated have pulled back the curtain on the seemingly complex world of baking to give you the answers to these and thousands of other questions.