Baker's math applied to cooking in general - New book

read the book, but did read an interesting review of it on Slate (http://www.slate.com/id/2219243/). I think I'll check the book out from the library to see how I like it.

I haven't read it myself, but got slightly turned off after reading this (great) review.

Thanks for highlighting the publication David.  I read the reviews and, from what was available, segments of the book as posted on Amazon.com.  It's not a book I'd spend money on because "cooking" yields to approximations and, once you've got a feel for how heat and time affects various ingredients, it's not (IMO) nearly as complicated as bread making.  I've cooked successfully for many decades but was a miserable failure at bread making.  Having just discovered the "secrets" of baker's percentages I am more comfortable in that environment and far more successful. 

Incidentally, if you're ten years old and you want to make a birthday cake for your  mother with one green and one red layer, don't use the entire contents of one of those little bottles of food coloring in each layer  ;-)

Hi David  

Thanks for highlighting the book.  I think the author is too ambitious for what he thinks he can achieve.  The ratio relationship between ingredients is indeed important; for a good cook (not just a cook), however, what's equally important, if not more, is how different flavors react to each other and compliment each other.  In scientific terms, how flavors come about is like a chain of chemical reactions between ingredients.  Mastering the "secret decoder" (ie, ratio relationship) would just mean one can cook - but cook well?  No, that's an entirely different question altogether.    

The ratio is a starting place for people who can't cook or bake at all; but by no means it is all there is to it in cooking or baking.  Beautiful chefs can go out of that conventional box and make unconventional combinations work; not just work, but work beautifully.  To oversell "ratio relationship" can be a trap and limitation.  

Just some thoughts.  Thanks again for bringing that book to our attention.  

 Shiao-Ping 

I am having a hard time understanding the breakdown of ingredients for figuring ratios. For instance, Michael Ruhlman sometimes uses Fat and other times uses Butter but does not break the butter down into fat, liquid, and milk solids. Going by his book, butter seems to be considered all Fat when figuring ratios. In reading Shirley Corriher's book Bakewise, she breaks cream down into Fat and Liquid, but butter only shows the Fat content with no Liquid considered, and buttermilk and milk are just Liquid with no fat consideration. (Re: page 16 The Great American Pound Cake recipe and page 33 "The Math"). I have seen reference in recipes that say to take into consideration the liquid in butter when substituting for shortening. Does anyone know the difinitive answer to this problem? I am trying to set up spread sheets that have ingredients taken into account the way they are supposed to be so that I do not have to do the math every time I want to create or try a new recipe, but nobody seems to agree on how to consider the ingredients. I appreciate any help I can get.