Mom's Big Book of Baking reviewed

Ambitions
		*Mom's Big Book of Baking* 200 Simple, Foolproof Family Favorites for Birthday Parties, Bake Sales, and More By Lauren Chattman ISBN: 1558323953 Publisher: Harvard Common Press Publication date: September 2008 Format: Spiral-Bound Hardcover List price: $21.95
Type: Baking; Family
Sample recipe: Blueberry-Cornmeal Crumb Squares
Intended audience:	novice	advanced beginner	good home cook	gourmet	professional
Apparent goal:	stocking stuffer	sampler	comprehensive	coffee-table	Biblical stature
Competition:	outclassed	follower	in the pack	strong challenger	likely champ
Content
Variety:	too little	too much	unusual	nice mix	just right
# of recipes:	<50	<100	<200	<300	≥300
Practical recipes:	<20%	<40%	<60%	<80%	≥80%
# of ingredients:	≤4	≤7	≤10	≤12	>12
Ingredient hunt:	7-Eleven	airfare required	online	pantry	supermarket
Recipe complexity:	too hard	simple	medium	challenging	professional
Instructions:	inadequate	verbose	bare-bones	full-figured	educational
Time conscious:	unconscious	outright lies	white lies	realistic	honorable
Cooking time:	weekend project	takes all day	takes time	≥30 minutes	<30 minutes
Added info:	zip	overwhelming	scant	balanced	generous
Photos/drawings:	none	distracting	decorative	instructive	glorious
Recipe results:	≤dorm food	casual food	family meals	fancy food	fit for royalty
Diet/Nutrition/Health
Nutritional info:	none	overwhelming	hit or miss	adequate	comprehensive
Format/Ease of Use
Layout:	ugh	cluttered	fine	considerate	work of art
Legibility:	unpleasant	challenging	tolerable	clear	brilliant
Production quality:	cheesy	dubious	years of service	gift quality	stunning
Page numbers:	non-existent	hard-to-find	spotty	sufficient	every page
Table of contents:	AWOL	frustrating	passable	useful	excellent
Index quality:	none	tragic	adequate	good	a treasure
Page flipping:	upsetting	tedious	acceptable	rare	never
Author
Writer:	beginner	food writer	writing cook	personality	auteur
Cook:	unknown	self-taught	chef	teacher	celebrity
Summary
Fulfills ambitions:	falls short	almost there	satisfactory	exceeds	home run
Flavor delivered:	sad	inconsistent	tasty	delicious	exceptional
Overall tone:	sterile	trying too hard	straightforward	best friend	mom
Value:	ouch!	a little pricey	worth splurging	on the money	a deal
Overall rating:	skip it	good	very good	excellent	Ochef Top 100
Comments: This is the story of a woman who became a mom, worked for a time as a pastry chef, but found the draw of home – and the attraction of home baking vs. the production of fancy restaurant desserts – more alluring. Since leaving restaurant kitchens, Lauren Chattman has turned out several books on desserts and baking. Her current work is an effort to convince busy, busy moms that baking from scratch, simple baking from scratch, can fit in their lives, can be an enjoyable activity, and will delight their children. These are meant to be quick, easy, well-written recipes for potluck suppers, birthday parties, bake sales, and just about every other event in daily life. Recipes include homemade pancakes and waffles; muffins, quickbreads, biscuits, and scones; cookies; brownies and bars; "no-fail" pies, tarts, cobblers, and quiches; birthday and other special-occasion cakes; and basic breads and pizzas. There is a nice mix of traditional favorites and new recipes.

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