Cheryl Day's Treasury of Southern Baking

Combining her deep experience, the conversations she’s had with family and her passion for collecting local cookbooks and handwritten recipes, one of the South’s most respected bakers presents more than 200 tried-and-true recipes that celebrate the craft of from-scratch Southern baking. 100,000 first printing. Illustrations.
"My great-grandmother was both enslaved and a pastry cook who was famous for her biscuits and cakes. There is power in that." -Cheryl Day, in the New York Times And from this position of strength comes Day's next cookbook: a complete book of Southern baking recipes written by this great-grandchild of a former slave who is also one of our country's most acclaimed bakers. In a tome filled with recipes for both savory and sweet baked goods and pastries, Day shows that the creators of our favorite Southern recipes-from cathead biscuits to chess pie-were the slaves who worked in the kitchens of the grand home and plantations of the South. Today these recipes have become a beloved part of American cuisine, and Day shares the secrets to making all the Southern baking mainstays, like Flaky Buttery Biscuits and Skillet Cornbread, and creative twists, like a Cold-Oven Pound Cake and Sweet Tea Custard, as well as accompaniments and drinks to serve alongside. Organized by category, there are Southern slow breads like Sally Lunn Bread and Buttermilk Buns; coffee cakes and loaf cakes, like a Brown Butter Sock-It-to-Me Cake and a 7-Up Cake; layer cakes, including a Pig-Pickin' Cake that's a mainstay at Southern barbecues; cookies good for Southern teas, like Lime Cornmeal Shortbread; and recipes to illustrate an evolving South, with those from different cultures too-from Mexican Concha Buns to French Madeleines made with cornmeal. Pies are an important part of Southern food, and this book features both classic and unique favorites, including fruit pies, chocolate pies, savory pies, and hand pies, all with an expanded section on piecrust variations. Cakes take the form of sheet cakes, loaf cakes, and layers cakes and include lessons on cake decorating. This monumental piece of work is Cheryl Day baking at its best with recognition of the past and a strong case for why her Southern baking is our future"--
Named a Best Cookbook of Fall 2021 by EaterNamed a Top 10 Most Anticipated Cookbook of Fall 2021 by Stained Page News There is nothing more satisfying or comforting than tying on a favorite apron and baking something delicious. And nowhere has this been so woven into life than in the American South, where the attitude is that every day is worthy of a special treat from the kitchen. Cheryl Day, one of the South&;s most respected bakers, a New York Times bestselling author, and co-owner&;with her husband, Griff&;of Savannah&;s acclaimed Back in the Day Bakery, is a direct descendent of this storied Southern baking tradition. Literally: her great-great-grandmother was an enslaved pastry cook famous for her biscuits and cakes. Now Cheryl brings together her deep experience, the conversations she&;s had with grandmothers and great-aunts and sister-bakers, and her passion for collecting local cookbooks and handwritten recipes in a definitive collection of over two hundred tried-and-true recipes that celebrate the craft of from-scratch Southern baking. Flaky, buttery biscuits. Light and crisp fritters. Muffins and scones with a Southern twist, using ingredients like cornmeal, pecans, sorghum, and cane syrup. Cookies that satisfy every craving. The big spectacular cakes, of course, layer upon layer bound by creamy frosting, the focal point of every celebration. And then the pies. Oh, the pies! The book steeps the baker in not only the recipes, ingredients, and special flavor profiles of Southern baking but also the very nuances of how to be a better baker. With Cheryl as your guide, it&;s like having generations of Southern bakers standing over your shoulder, showing you just how to cream butter and sugar, fold whipped egg whites into batter, adjust for the temperature and humidity in your kitchen, and master those glorious piecrusts by overcoming the thing that experienced bakers know&;a pie dough can sense fear! Time to get out that apron.
A complete and comprehensive Southern baking book from one of the South&;s best and most respected bakers, Cheryl Day.