Seattle-based Sur La Table has kept its finger on the pulse of America's cooks since opening its doors in 1972 at Seattle's historic Pike Place Market. Since then, chefs and home cooks with a taste for adventure have flocked to the culinary mecca. A destination for iconic chefs like Julia Child, Jacques Pepin, Martha Stewart, and Mario Batali, Sur La Table entices aficionados and curious beginners alike with its amazing selection of cookware and tools. With a successful catalog, Web site, cooking class program, and stores coast to coast, Sur La Table continues to share its passion for the traditions and tastes of the world with people who love to cook and entertain. To find out more about Sur La Table, go to surlatable.com.

Cindy Mushet has been a professional pastry chef and baking teacher for nearly 20 years. She is the author of Desserts: Mediterranean Flavors, California Style (2000), and her recipes have appeared in publications across the country, including Bon Appetit, Fine Cooking, Country Home, the National Culinary Review, the New York Times, and The 150 Best American Recipes (2006). Cindy has taught baking classes across the country, and she lives in the Los Angeles area.

"I've been using high-quality baking tools from Sur La Table for years, and now I can add their all-purpose baking book, with delicious and easy-to-follow recipes, to my collection. The photos alone are worth the price, but Cindy Mushet's clear recipe descriptions and nurturing voice make this a book everyone will want to actually use and not just look at." --Peter Reinhart, author of Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Bread: New Techniques, Extraordinary Flavor

As the second title in Sur La Table's namesake cookbook series, The Art and Soul of Baking focuses on the largest specialty demographic within the culinary market--baking.

The Art and Soul of Baking guides readers through the world of baking, where alluring aromas of chocolate, vanilla, and cinnamon fill the air and tempt the palate. Culinary authority Sur La Table teams with professional pastry chef and baking instructor Cindy Mushet to create the ultimate book for bakers. The Art and Soul of Baking demystifies the friendly science of baking through delicious recipes and photography sequences that illustrate proper techniques for carmelizing sugar, or working with croissant dough.

From tantalizing tarts, decadent cakes, and delicious cookies, to more complex creations like crusty breads and flaky pastries, to melt-in-your-mouth meringues, and lighter-than-air souffles, The Art and Soul of Baking offers the instruction of a private baking class at home. Beautiful photographs and more than 250 fool-proof recipes, as well as information on over 100 popular baking ingredients and more than 50 pieces of baking equipment, ensure that Sur La Table's The Art and Soul of Baking is destined to inspire passion in any baker and make the craft of baking not just accessible, but a true passion.

"Veteran pastry chef Mushet puts her decades of experience to work in this dense, informative baking guide from Seattle-based gourmet cookware retailer Sur La Table (thankfully light on advertorials), opening with a comprehensive overview of crucial equipment and a 30 page guide to pantry stocking (butter, flour and sugar get three pages each, chocolate gets five). Covering all aspects of the baking spectrum, Mushet gives yeast-based breads, quick breads, cookies and bars, layered pastries and other specialties their turn, doing admirable work with standards like pizza dough and dinner rolls, as well as trendier riffs like pesto rolls and rustic olive and thyme bread that give cooks room to stretch in each category. Mushet's invaluable lessons in ensuring oven accuracy, incorporating butter into dough for layered pastries (with step-by-step photos) and the causes of falling soufflés will get novices up to speed, and experts ready to tackle Mushet's compelling cheesecake batter-in-a-food-processor technique will find her inventive hors d'oeuvre Stilton Cheesecake with Port-Braised Pears a big hit at the next cocktail party. Those already comfortable with baking will get the most out of the book's 250 recipes, but there are plenty of dishes well within the reach of those new to Crème Brulee and lemon bar construction, making this a great volume to learn and grow with." Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

As the second title in Sur LaTable's namesake cookbook series, "The Art & Soul of Baking" focuses on the largest specialty demographic within the culinary market--baking.

"I've been using high-quality baking tools from Sur La Table for years, and now I can add their all-purpose baking book, with delicious and easy-to-follow recipes, to my collection. The photos alone are worth the price, but Cindy Mushet's clear recipe descriptions and nurturing voice make this a book everyone will want to actually use and not just look at." --Peter Reinhart, author of Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Bread: New Techniques, Extraordinary Flavor

As the second title in Sur La Table's namesake cookbook series, The Art and Soul of Baking focuses on the largest specialty demographic within the culinary market--baking.

The Art and Soul of Baking guides readers through the world of baking, where alluring aromas of chocolate, vanilla, and cinnamon fill the air and tempt the palate. Culinary authority Sur La Table teams with professional pastry chef and baking instructor Cindy Mushet to create the ultimate book for bakers. The Art and Soul of Baking demystifies the friendly science of baking through delicious recipes and photography sequences that illustrate proper techniques for carmelizing sugar, or working with croissant dough.

From tantalizing tarts, decadent cakes, and delicious cookies, to more complex creations like crusty breads and flaky pastries, to melt-in-your-mouth meringues, and lighter-than-air souffles, The Art and Soul of Baking offers the instruction of a private baking class at home. Beautiful photographs and more than 250 fool-proof recipes, as well as information on over 100 popular baking ingredients and more than 50 pieces of baking equipment, ensure that Sur La Table's The Art and Soul of Baking is destined to inspire passion in any baker and make the craft of baking not just accessible, but a true passion.