Home Baked Comfort (Williams-Sonoma): Featuring Mouthwatering Recipes and Tales of the Sweet Life with Favorites from Bakers Across the Country

This delicious new baking book from Williams-Sonoma has over 100 decadent, down-home, comfort food recipes, highlighting America’s most revered bakeries and bloggers with recipes from each. Stunning photography and a gorgeous design bring it all to life. In addition to the crave-worthy recipes, author Kim Laidlaw shares tips on becoming a better baker, offers insight on choosing the best kitchen tools, and reveals all you need to know about ingredients--ultimately showing how fun and easy baking can be.

Discover just how fun it is to transform the simplest ingredients—flour, sugar, eggs, butter—into irresistible baked goods. With over 100 recipes, starring family favorites and mouthwatering creations from seasoned bakers and popular bloggers, this enticing book will become your go-to source for luscious treats. You'll find recipes for gooey s’mores, brownies, and cherry "toaster tarts" that will take you back to childhood; modern twists on classic comforts such as flaky rhubarb turnovers and heirloom tomato and goat cheese tart; and classic favorites like maple pumpkin pie and chocolate crinkle cookies. So turn on your oven, pull out your mixing bowl, and spread the joy of baking!

Features more than 100 recipes, including caramel whoopie pies, sour cherry “toaster” tarts, deep dark chocolate cupcakes stuffed with marshmallow cream and glazed with ganache, gooey s’mores brownies, brown butter pound cake with fresh fig compote, flaky rhubarb turnovers, crème brulee with caramelized blood oranges, maple pumpkin pie, brown-sugar banana bread, and chocolate crinkle cookies.

Featured bakeries:

Baked (Brooklyn, NY)

Floriole Café and Bakery (Chicago, IL)

Flour Bakery + Café (Boston, MA)

Huckleberry Café and Bakery (Santa Monica, CA)

Pearl Bakery (Portland, OR)

Salty Tart Bakery (Minneapolis, MN)

Sugar Mama’s Bakeshop (Austin, TX)

Tartine Bakery (San Francisco, CA)

Featured blogs:

Bakerella

Cannelle Et Vanille

La Tartine Gourmande

Smitten Kitchen

Table of Contents:

Why Bake?

Ten Tips for Becoming a Better Baker (and Enjoying It)

Top Baking Tools I Cannot Live Without

All About Ingredients

Amazing Baking Facts You Might Not Know

Breakfast

Breads

Cookies and Bars

Cakes and Cupcakes

Pies and Tarts

Custards and Soufflés

Basic Recipes

Tips and Tricks

Index

Sample recipes:

Bite-size Bacon and Cheese Scones

Lemon-Blueberry Drizzle Bread

Whoopie Pies with Salted Dulce de Leche

Cherry Potpies

Savory Goat Cheese Soufflés

This gorgeous new baking book contains beloved classics and contemporary treats, from passionate baker and food editor Kim Laidlaw and America’s most revered bakeries and bloggers. Stunning, full-color photographs throughout bring it all to life. A mixture of nostalgia and fun, it is directed at both experienced bakers or anyone who might be curious about baking; there’s something here for everyone.

Favorites like caramel whoopie pies, sour cherry “toaster” tarts, deep dark chocolate cupcakes stuffed with marshmallow cream and glazed with ganache, and gooey s’mores brownies will take the reader back to childhood. Modern twists on classic comfort foods such as brown butter pound cake with fresh fig compote, flaky rhubarb turnovers, and crÈme brulee with caramelized blood oranges; and old family favorites like maple pumpkin pie, brown-sugar banana bread, and chocolate crinkle cookies will entice and inspire anyone to get in the kitchen and start baking.

Featured bakeries:

Baked (Brooklyn, NY)

Floriole CafÉ and Bakery (Chicago, IL)

Flour Bakery + CafÉ (Boston, MA)

Huckleberry CafÉ and Bakery (Santa Monica, CA)

Pearl Bakery (Portland, OR)

Salty Tart Bakery (Minneapolis, MN)

Sugar Mama’s Bakeshop (Austin, TX)

Tartine Bakery (San Francisco, CA)

Featured blogs:

Bakerella

Cannelle Et Vanille

La Tartine Gourmande

Smitten Kitchen

Table of Contents:

Why Bake?

Ten Tips for Becoming a Better Baker (and Enjoying It)

Top Baking Tools I Cannot Live Without

All About Ingredients

Amazing Baking Facts You Might Not Know

Breakfast

Breads

Cookies and Bars

Cakes and Cupcakes

Pies and Tarts

Custards and SoufflÉs

Basic Recipes

Tips and Tricks

Index

Sample recipes:

Bite-size Bacon and Cheese Scones

Lemon-Blueberry Drizzle Bread

Whoopie Pies with Salted Dulce de Leche

Cherry Potpies

Savory Goat Cheese SoufflÉs

Kim Laidlaw is a cookbook editor, food writer, and baker who has been in the kitchen covered in flour since she was big enough to stir the biscuit dough. She has worked in the cookbook world for over nine years and was the first blogger on KQED’s popular Bay Area Bites blog, which launched in 2005. Kim previously worked as a professional baker at La Farine French Bakery in Oakland, CA. She lives with her husband in San Francisco, CA.