There was a time when I thought being a wise baker merely meant following the recipe.  I'm not sure when that changed; it may have been my first way too crisp cookies, my first tasteless pie crust or my last flat cake, but at some point I realized a wise baker understands "why" what they bake works.  Confident that I now knew what a wise baker was I recently read BakeWise by Shirley O. Corriher and learned that my understanding of baking wisdom was not complete because the wisest of bakers is also one who is constantly learning.  For those looking to do just that, learn more about baking by baking, BakeWise is the key to wisdom.  

I started my BakeWise journey with cookies since "'tis the season" for making cookies.  After browsing the cookie recipes in BakeWise I declared a desire to make every one of Shirley's cookies. I began with the Chocolate Crinkle Cookies. Shirley enticed me with theses cookies by claiming they have a gooey inside with a crunchy surface, and to my amazement that is exactly what I created.  The cookies not only fulfilled the claim and tasted wonderful, but they were easy to make and made me wiser. 

BakeWise imparts its wisdom through a collection of recipes divided into five chapters that focus on cakes, puff (the magic leavener - steam), pies, cookies and breads.  Each chapter provides an introduction to the overall concepts needed for the general topic.  The beginning of every recipe describes exactly what the recipe teaches us. Each recipe serves a purpose and teaches one or more specific skills. BakeWise is more than an instructional book though, thanks to Shirley O. Corriher's great voice that resonates throughout the instructive text, interesting stories, and wonderful recipes.  If you've had the good fortune of trying out Shirley's CookWise you know how great she is, but if you haven't had the pleasure check out the recipe for the Chocolate Crinkle Cookies and "Touch-of-Grace" biscuits and see for yourself how elegantly Shirley O. Corriher imparts her wisdom in BakeWise.

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

From BakeWise by Shirley O. Corriher, Scribner 2008.

Makes 3 to 5 dozen depending on size

Striking snow-white and black, these wonderful cookies are slightly crunchy on the surface but gooey chocolate inside--oh yum!

What This Recipe Shows

1. Rolling in plain sugar first, the confections' sugar does not soak in so much and stays on the surface better.

2. Corn syrup in the batter helps prevent crystallization to produce the soft chocolate center.

3. Oil greases flour proteins to produce a tender to the point of gooey chocolate center.

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons (8.2 oz, 232 gm) spooned and leveled, bleached all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons (0.25 oz, 7 gm) baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon (3 gm) salt
• 1 1/3 cups (8 oz, 227 gm) semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 2 3/4 cups (19.25 oz, 546 gm)  sugar, divided
• 1/3 cup (79 ml) canola oil
• 2 tablespoons (30 ml) light corn syrup
• 2 large eggs (3.5 oz, 99 gm)
• 1 large egg yolk (0.65 oz, 18 gm)
• 2 teaspoons (10 ml) pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup (4 oz, 120 gm) confectioners' sugar

1. Arrange a shelf in the middle of the oven and preheat the oven to 325°F/163°C.

2. In a medium bowl, beat together well flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside.

3. Melt chocolate in the microwave on 50% for 1 minute, stir, and microwave for 15 seconds more and stir.

4. In the mixer with paddle attachment, beat 2 1/2 cups (17.5 oz, 496 gm) sugar, oil, and corn syrup together to blend. Beat in eggs, egg yolk, and vanilla, and on low, then beat in melted chocolate. Add flour mixture and beat in on low.

5. Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate for several hours or overnight. Take out about 1/4 of the dough at a time to shape. Roll the dough into 1-1/2 to 2-inch balls. Pour 1/4 cup (1.8 oz, 51 gm) granular sugar into one bowl and the confectioners' sugar in another bowl. Roll each cookie dough ball very lightly in plain sugar first and then very heavily in confectioners' sugar. By rolling in plain sugar first, the confections' sugar does not soak in so much and stays on the surface better.

6. Place Release foil (nonstick side up) on a baking sheet. Arrange cookies 2 inches (5 cm) apart. For crisp cookies, bake 12 to 14 minutes. You can have several sheets of foil covered with cookies ready.

7. When one sheet is done, you can pull off the foil and cookies to a cooling rack. Rinse baking sheet with cold water to cool and then slip the sheet under a foil with cookies and get it right back into the oven.   

Shirley Corriher's "Touch-of-Grace" Southern Biscuits

From BakeWise by Shirley O. Corriher, Scribner 2008.

Makes 12 to 14 medium biscuits.

As a little girl, I followed my grandmother around the kitchen. For breakfast, lunch, and dinner she made the lightest, most wonderful biscuits in the world. I used her bread bowl, her flour, her buttermilk--I did everything the same, and I shaped the biscuits just like she did. But, mine always turned out a dry, mealy mess. I would cry and say, "Nanny, what did I do wrong?" She was a very busy woman with all my uncles and grandfather to feed three meals a day, but she would lean down, give me a big hug, and say, "Honey, I guess you forgot to add a Touch of Grace."

It took me over twenty years to figure out what my grandmother was doing that I was missing. I thought that the dough had to be dry enough to shape by hand, but she actually had a very wet dough. She sprinkled flour from the front of the bowl onto the dough, pinched off a biscuit-size piece, and dipped it in the flour. She floured the outside of the wet dough so that she could handle it. This wet dough in a hot oven creates steam to puff and make feather-light biscuits. A wet dough was the big secret. Now, I make biscuits almost as good as my grandmother's, and so can you, with a good wet dough and a Touch of Grace.

What This Recipe Shows

1. Low-protein flour like White Lily helps make tender, moist biscuits.

2. A very wet dough makes more steam in a hot oven and creates lighter biscuits.

Ingredients

• Nonstick cooking spray
• 2 cups (9 oz, 255 gm) spooned and leveled, self-rising flour (low-protein Southern U.S. flour like White Lily or any self-rising flour)
• 1/4 cup (1.8 oz, 52 gm) sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon (3 gm) salt
• 1/4 cup (1.6 oz, 47 gm) shortening
• 2/3 cup (158 ml) heavy cream
• 1 cup (237 ml) buttermilk or enough for dough to resemble cottage cheese (If you are not using low-protein flour it will take more than 1 cup.)
• 1 cup (4.5 oz, 127 gm) plain all-purpose flour for shaping
• 3 tablespoons (1.5 oz, 43 gm) unsalted butter

1. Preheat the oven to 425°F/218° C (for a convection oven, 375°F/191°C) and arrange a shelf slightly below the center of the oven. Spray an 8- or 9-inch (20- or 23-cm) round cake pan with nonstick cooking spray.

2. In a large mixing bowl, stir together the self-rising flour, sugar, and salt. Work the shortening in with your fingers until there are no large lumps. Gently stir in the cream, then some of the buttermilk. Continue stirring in buttermilk until THE DOUGH RESEMBLES COTTAGE CHEESE. It should be a wet mess--not soup, but cottage-cheese texture. If you are not using a low-protein flour, this may require considerably more than one cup of buttermilk.

3. Spread the plain (not self-rising) flour out on a plate or pie pan. With a medium (about 2-in, 5-cm, #30) ice cream scoop or spoon, place 3 or 4 scoops of dough well apart in the flour. Sprinkle flour over each. Flour your hands. Turn a dough ball in the flour to coat, pick it up and gently shape it into a round, shaking off the excess flour as you work. Place this biscuit in the prepared pan. Coat each dough ball in the same way and place each shaped biscuit SCRUNCHED UP AGAINST ITS NEIGHBOR so that the biscuits rise up and don't spread out. Continue scooping and shaping until all of the dough is used.

4. Place the pan on the arranged shelf in the oven. Bake until lightly browned, about 20 to 25 minutes. Brush with melted butter. Invert onto one plate, and then back onto another. With a knife or spatula, cut quickly between biscuits to make them easy to remove. Serve immediately. "Butter 'em while they're hot," or spread with Cherry-Chambord Butter.

Cherry-Chambord Butter

From BakeWise by Shirley O. Corriher, Scribner 2008.

This is also excellent substituting orange marmalade for the cherry preserves and Grand Marnier instead of Chambord.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup (4 oz, 113 gm) unsalted butter
• 1 package (8 oz, 230 gm) cream cheese
• 2 tablespoons (30 ml) Chambord or other raspberry liqueur
• 1/3 cup (1.3 oz, 38 gm) confectioners' sugar
• Less than 1 small jar, 4 tablespoons (3 to 4 oz, 85 to 115 gm) good cherry preserves
  

Place the butter, cream cheese, liqueur, and confectioners' sugar in the food processor fitted with the steel blade. Process to blend well. Stir in the preserves by hand. Chill well before serving. Keeps well in the refrigerator for several weeks in a closed jar.

About BakeWise

Great day in the morning, BakeWise is out! You are holding the book that everyone has been waiting for. Sure enough, Shirley did not hold back -- it's all here. Lively and fascinating, BakeWise reads like a mystery novel as we follow sleuth Shirley while she solves everything from why cakes and muffins can be dry to génoise deflation and why the cookie crumbles.

Available at Amazon.com

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