Sift

The Elements of Great Baking

Author Nicola Lamb On Tour
An “informative, enriching, and delicious” (Yotam Ottolenghi) guide to baking that combines easy-to-follow, science-based advice with 100 reliable recipes for both novices and more experienced bakers, from the renowned pastry chef behind the Kitchen Projects newsletter.
 
Sift is a marvel of completeness, sound advice, encouragement, and joy. We’re so lucky to have this book!”—Dorie Greenspan, New York Times bestselling author of Baking with Dorie

Sift begins with the foundational ingredients that underpin great bakes—flour, sugar, eggs, fat—before delving into the techniques that bring recipes to life: texture, color, how things rise, and a technical overview. 100 tested, tried, and true recipes follow and are organized by difficulty and time commitment, ranging from easy 30-minute cakes to spectacular showstoppers you can devote a weekend to, including:

Bake in an afternoon: Marble Cake with Chocolate Frosting, Lemon Curd Meringue Tarts with Blackberries, Miso Walnut Double-Thick Chocolate Chip Cookies
Bake in a day: Mango Shortcake with Candied Lime, Fancy Rhubarb Tart, Olive Oil Brie-oche with Roasted Grapes, Honey, and Thyme
Bake in a weekend: 3-Day Focaccia; Pain au Chocolat; Classic Fruit Custard Danish

Gorgeous photos accompany every recipe and the infographic-style illustrations help home bakers easily grasp the hows and whys of baking so they can tackle any project with confidence.
Welcome

Welcome to the world of baking, a wonderful place where ingredients transform right before your eyes. It’s a place where lumps of butter and dough become impossibly fragile flaky croissants, where the wobble of a custard tart appears to defy physics and egg whites are whipped into a frenzy of creamy clouds. When you learn to bake, it sometimes feels like you’re becoming a magician. And although it IS magical, it isn’t magic.

And I want to tell you why.

Learning to ask why is one of the most important lessons I have ever learned while baking. Once you start asking this question and pulling at the threads, you’ll discover that baking is an interconnected puzzle, a sprawling family tree of ingredients and reactions. In this book, I hope to provide you with a map so you can explore this kaleidoscopic world with confidence.

I know how frustrating it can be to attempt a recipe off the bat only to be disappointed with the results and not understand why. The reality is, effortless-looking bakes coming out of professional kitchens are often down to one thing, and trust me (because I am speaking from experience), it’s not just natural talent. It comes from years of information gathering and repetition.

Holding a piping bag, judging when the dough is proofed, and defining what “golden brown” really means are no simple feats. In fact, when you are baking at home, it’s near impossible to replicate the rote memory that comes with rolling 10,000 croissants a week or frosting hundreds of cakes. I mean, who has the time (or budget) to take on such a task? It’s obviously not practical. But as a result, it can be harder to feel comfortable and natural in the kitchen when the stakes (The! Dinner! Party! Is! In! Two! Hours! And! My! Ganache! Has! Split!) feel so high. 

Part of this is because we set the bar much higher for baked goods. Unlike savory cooking, which seems to be endlessly fixable, once a cake is in the oven, there’s no real way to go back. And what we consider baking “failures”—the burns, the explosions, curdled eggs, the weird textures, the odd colors—always seem more unforgivable and egregious than cooking “failures,” which tend to be considered edible.

Although this high expectation means that a curdled custard may be destined for the trash, while menacingly dry roasted chicken will likely make the cut, it’s for a good reason. At the end of it all, baked goods and desserts have a role in our life that extends far beyond sustenance. Baked goods have an incomparable ability to bring us joy.

In this book, I want to help pave a direct path to that joy. I want to teach you the fundamental principles and techniques that underpin and connect our recipes. Learning to understand the why of baking through the lens of science has helped me feel more confident and independent in the kitchen: imagine a detective’s investigation board with string connecting all the different elements of pastry, showing how choux buns are connected to bagels, how brioche relates to ganache, and what jam and ice cream have in common. I'm no scientist, but I have learned to play by the rules set by each ingredient, which ones play nicely together and which should be kept apart!

I want to share with you the defining factors of successful baking with technique-driven recipes that will show you these skills in action and help to sharpen that baking Spidey sense I know you have. When a recipe asks you to whisk the eggs for 10 minutes or tells you to bake at a sky-high temperature, I want you to know why it’s worth it, and when it’s not. I want this book to make you pick up another baking book with confidence or return to a recipe that previously confounded you. More than anything, I want you to be able to look at any recipe and think, no, know: “I can make this!”

From the pearls of wisdom handed to me in the early days of my career to all of the knowledge generously shared in the pages of in-depth research by chefs, writers, and scientists, to my own hard-earned lessons along the way, it is my greatest honor to help lay a foundation for you on your baking journey.

This book is divided into two sections. The first is a practical reference guide to the key building blocks of baking. From how to make egg foams to the melting points of fat, my goal is to arm you with the details that underpin successful baking. Yes, there will be graphs.

The second section will lead you through a series of recipes broken down into what I hope is a valuable metric: time. Split into An Afternoon, A Day, and A Weekend (I will never lie to you about how long something takes, that’s a promise!), the recipes will be a practical way for you to see everything described in the reference section in action. From speedy cookies to awe-worthy croissants, each recipe has a timeline, so you’ll be able to transform your kitchen into a patisserie to suit your schedule.

But the first lesson I want to teach you is this: there will be burned crusts, pastry stuck to pans, unset jellies, and everything in between, but try not to let these knock your confidence. Failures are a crucial part of the learning journey. And any journey that ends with cake is one worth taking.

Shall we begin?

Nicola
“Informative, enriching, and so delicious.”—Yotam Ottolenghi

“Nicola understands and explains baking like nobody else.”—Jamie Oliver

Sift is a marvel of completeness, sound advice, encouragement, and joy. From simple cookies and plain cakes to beautifully laminated pastries that rival gems, Nicola has worked it all out for us, ensuring our success. We're so lucky to have this book!”—Dorie Greenspan, New York Times bestselling author of Baking with Dorie

“Each page of Sift is full of Nicola's trademark tireless research that is infused with lightness and makes learning about the building blocks of baking so immensely enjoyable. Each page is packed with so much information, humor, and, most importantly, incredible recipes. I am thrilled to have her distinct style distilled into this deeply researched (but never dull) book that I will undoubtedly refer to often.”—Yossy Arefi, author of Snacking Bakes and Snacking Cakes

“Simply extraordinary recipes.”—Helen Goh

“When the student becomes the teacher—Nicola carefully and clearly shares her tried-and-true knowledge and tips for future bakers.”—Chef Dominique Ansel

“Everything you ever wanted to know about baking but were too afraid to ask.”—Felicity Cloake

“Nicola unravels the mysteries of baking for both beginners and experienced bakers. There’s so much to learn from this book and to be inspired by. Far more than just recipes, it’s a toolkit to prepare you for an exciting journey in the kitchen.”—Susan Spungen, author of the Veg Forward and Susanality newsletter
 
Nicola Lamb is a pastry chef who trained in top New York and London bakeries, including Dominique Ansel, Ottolenghi, and Little Bread Pedlar. She is also a food writer and recipe developer whose work has been featured in The GuardianVogueLondon Evening Standard and Olive magazine. She lives in London. View titles by Nicola Lamb

About

An “informative, enriching, and delicious” (Yotam Ottolenghi) guide to baking that combines easy-to-follow, science-based advice with 100 reliable recipes for both novices and more experienced bakers, from the renowned pastry chef behind the Kitchen Projects newsletter.
 
Sift is a marvel of completeness, sound advice, encouragement, and joy. We’re so lucky to have this book!”—Dorie Greenspan, New York Times bestselling author of Baking with Dorie

Sift begins with the foundational ingredients that underpin great bakes—flour, sugar, eggs, fat—before delving into the techniques that bring recipes to life: texture, color, how things rise, and a technical overview. 100 tested, tried, and true recipes follow and are organized by difficulty and time commitment, ranging from easy 30-minute cakes to spectacular showstoppers you can devote a weekend to, including:

Bake in an afternoon: Marble Cake with Chocolate Frosting, Lemon Curd Meringue Tarts with Blackberries, Miso Walnut Double-Thick Chocolate Chip Cookies
Bake in a day: Mango Shortcake with Candied Lime, Fancy Rhubarb Tart, Olive Oil Brie-oche with Roasted Grapes, Honey, and Thyme
Bake in a weekend: 3-Day Focaccia; Pain au Chocolat; Classic Fruit Custard Danish

Gorgeous photos accompany every recipe and the infographic-style illustrations help home bakers easily grasp the hows and whys of baking so they can tackle any project with confidence.

Excerpt

Welcome

Welcome to the world of baking, a wonderful place where ingredients transform right before your eyes. It’s a place where lumps of butter and dough become impossibly fragile flaky croissants, where the wobble of a custard tart appears to defy physics and egg whites are whipped into a frenzy of creamy clouds. When you learn to bake, it sometimes feels like you’re becoming a magician. And although it IS magical, it isn’t magic.

And I want to tell you why.

Learning to ask why is one of the most important lessons I have ever learned while baking. Once you start asking this question and pulling at the threads, you’ll discover that baking is an interconnected puzzle, a sprawling family tree of ingredients and reactions. In this book, I hope to provide you with a map so you can explore this kaleidoscopic world with confidence.

I know how frustrating it can be to attempt a recipe off the bat only to be disappointed with the results and not understand why. The reality is, effortless-looking bakes coming out of professional kitchens are often down to one thing, and trust me (because I am speaking from experience), it’s not just natural talent. It comes from years of information gathering and repetition.

Holding a piping bag, judging when the dough is proofed, and defining what “golden brown” really means are no simple feats. In fact, when you are baking at home, it’s near impossible to replicate the rote memory that comes with rolling 10,000 croissants a week or frosting hundreds of cakes. I mean, who has the time (or budget) to take on such a task? It’s obviously not practical. But as a result, it can be harder to feel comfortable and natural in the kitchen when the stakes (The! Dinner! Party! Is! In! Two! Hours! And! My! Ganache! Has! Split!) feel so high. 

Part of this is because we set the bar much higher for baked goods. Unlike savory cooking, which seems to be endlessly fixable, once a cake is in the oven, there’s no real way to go back. And what we consider baking “failures”—the burns, the explosions, curdled eggs, the weird textures, the odd colors—always seem more unforgivable and egregious than cooking “failures,” which tend to be considered edible.

Although this high expectation means that a curdled custard may be destined for the trash, while menacingly dry roasted chicken will likely make the cut, it’s for a good reason. At the end of it all, baked goods and desserts have a role in our life that extends far beyond sustenance. Baked goods have an incomparable ability to bring us joy.

In this book, I want to help pave a direct path to that joy. I want to teach you the fundamental principles and techniques that underpin and connect our recipes. Learning to understand the why of baking through the lens of science has helped me feel more confident and independent in the kitchen: imagine a detective’s investigation board with string connecting all the different elements of pastry, showing how choux buns are connected to bagels, how brioche relates to ganache, and what jam and ice cream have in common. I'm no scientist, but I have learned to play by the rules set by each ingredient, which ones play nicely together and which should be kept apart!

I want to share with you the defining factors of successful baking with technique-driven recipes that will show you these skills in action and help to sharpen that baking Spidey sense I know you have. When a recipe asks you to whisk the eggs for 10 minutes or tells you to bake at a sky-high temperature, I want you to know why it’s worth it, and when it’s not. I want this book to make you pick up another baking book with confidence or return to a recipe that previously confounded you. More than anything, I want you to be able to look at any recipe and think, no, know: “I can make this!”

From the pearls of wisdom handed to me in the early days of my career to all of the knowledge generously shared in the pages of in-depth research by chefs, writers, and scientists, to my own hard-earned lessons along the way, it is my greatest honor to help lay a foundation for you on your baking journey.

This book is divided into two sections. The first is a practical reference guide to the key building blocks of baking. From how to make egg foams to the melting points of fat, my goal is to arm you with the details that underpin successful baking. Yes, there will be graphs.

The second section will lead you through a series of recipes broken down into what I hope is a valuable metric: time. Split into An Afternoon, A Day, and A Weekend (I will never lie to you about how long something takes, that’s a promise!), the recipes will be a practical way for you to see everything described in the reference section in action. From speedy cookies to awe-worthy croissants, each recipe has a timeline, so you’ll be able to transform your kitchen into a patisserie to suit your schedule.

But the first lesson I want to teach you is this: there will be burned crusts, pastry stuck to pans, unset jellies, and everything in between, but try not to let these knock your confidence. Failures are a crucial part of the learning journey. And any journey that ends with cake is one worth taking.

Shall we begin?

Nicola

Reviews

“Informative, enriching, and so delicious.”—Yotam Ottolenghi

“Nicola understands and explains baking like nobody else.”—Jamie Oliver

Sift is a marvel of completeness, sound advice, encouragement, and joy. From simple cookies and plain cakes to beautifully laminated pastries that rival gems, Nicola has worked it all out for us, ensuring our success. We're so lucky to have this book!”—Dorie Greenspan, New York Times bestselling author of Baking with Dorie

“Each page of Sift is full of Nicola's trademark tireless research that is infused with lightness and makes learning about the building blocks of baking so immensely enjoyable. Each page is packed with so much information, humor, and, most importantly, incredible recipes. I am thrilled to have her distinct style distilled into this deeply researched (but never dull) book that I will undoubtedly refer to often.”—Yossy Arefi, author of Snacking Bakes and Snacking Cakes

“Simply extraordinary recipes.”—Helen Goh

“When the student becomes the teacher—Nicola carefully and clearly shares her tried-and-true knowledge and tips for future bakers.”—Chef Dominique Ansel

“Everything you ever wanted to know about baking but were too afraid to ask.”—Felicity Cloake

“Nicola unravels the mysteries of baking for both beginners and experienced bakers. There’s so much to learn from this book and to be inspired by. Far more than just recipes, it’s a toolkit to prepare you for an exciting journey in the kitchen.”—Susan Spungen, author of the Veg Forward and Susanality newsletter
 

Author

Nicola Lamb is a pastry chef who trained in top New York and London bakeries, including Dominique Ansel, Ottolenghi, and Little Bread Pedlar. She is also a food writer and recipe developer whose work has been featured in The GuardianVogueLondon Evening Standard and Olive magazine. She lives in London. View titles by Nicola Lamb