It’s a lot more fun being a cookbook author some days than others. When a recipe I’m testing just won’t work out, or my computer suddenly eats my carefully polished prose, it’s not fun at all!
But some weeks, like this one, are both fun and exciting. One reason is I just found out that that my latest book, Kneadlessly Simple, made the 2009 Amazon Cookbooks Top 10 Customer Favorites List. The top entry on the list was Martha Stewart’s cupcake book, so I feel I am in pretty good company!
Along with this honor (which was a huge surprise), I have just gotten several especially memorable e-mails from people who have been enjoying my recipes and took the time to tell me. During the writing/testing phase, I work very hard to be sure my recipes will succeed for every cook. So it is extremely gratifying to hear when my efforts paid off.
Here, with their permission, I’ve quoted several folks whose words really touched me. Two of the e-mails arrived the same day! In case you aren’t familiar with it, the pain d’epice the first writer mentions is a classic French honey-spice bread; it is in Kneadlessly Simple. The second e-mail refers to a story I wrote for the October issue of Eating Well magazine on quick, healthful soup suppers. What could go together better than soup and bread!
Dear Nancy Baggett,
I just tasted the almost-completely-cooled pain d’epice that I made today using your recipe. It is profoundly satisfying; a marvelous combination of tastes, textures and fragrances. I should confess to extreme finickiness on this subject. My mother is French, and pain d’epices were the transcendent treats of my childhood. When we would go to France to visit my grandparents, my grandmother would always get some at the beekeeper’s stall in the Fontainebleau market (this, like most bread and pastry, was NOT done at home). Otherwise, the little pre-cut loaves she would send seemed to benefit from weeks in the hold of a ship and then who knows what kind of overheated or freezing freighttrain car on its way to the midwest. Friends bring it back from their trips to France.
Recently a nearby bakery added a pain d’epice to their repertoire, and my visiting elderly mother exclaimed over its presence. We got some. It was….very good. But as I’m sure you know, that is just not good enough when one is dealing with this sort of intersection of taste & memory. So I started making my way through every recipe I could find. We’ve had versions that were so dry one had to add a swallow of water to each bite, so defiantly dense that it hurt the jaw to tear off a morsel unless it were sliced paper thin, and a number that smelled great while baking and were just good. Merely Ok. Last summer my son & I worked our way through your All-American Cookie cookbook in an effort to expand our repertoire of regulars. An excellent book! So your name resonated when I saw your pain d’epices recipe recently, and I must say the results are really quite excellent. We will probably try a few more, just for scientific certainty, but I’m going to go put your method on my list of keepers, and will make another loaf to take to my mother. It will make her very happy.
Hello:
I have just made ALL of the soup recipes in Eating Well from October and can’t thank you enough. They were fabulous and I love soup as a main meal. I have never written anyone before but I thought you deserved to hear how delicious they all were!
Hi,
I just want to say how much I am enjoying your Kneadlessly Simple bread book. I cannot believe how easy and amazing delicious it is. My bread machine is now history. Have one bug to iron out. The bread is done much quicker. So I now put it in the middle of the oven. Should I just drop the oven temp by 25 degrees? That seems to be the other problem. Also do you use a gas oven– mine is electric. Oh and my friends are now buying your book. Thank you so much.
It might have been that there was just a little too much flour–the dried fruits start absorbing some so even though you don't want a batter, you don't want the dough to end up dry either. But I think that if you just let the dough rise a little longer during the second rise that might solve the problem also, as the slightly dehydrating effect of the dried fruit slows down the rise a bit.
me again. I think I know why I had that density problem-thinking thru the prep, I added too much flour when trying to get the dough to a stiffer consistency. I'm going to make another one tomorrow and see if that was the case. thanks again
Hi again Nancy, Congrats on making the list–but really, you should have been #1!!!!!! I just finished my first panettone from your book. The taste was absolutely right on but the density was a bit more than a store bought one. I've always ordered a Bindi Panettone but this year (if I get the density issue solved), I'm making panettone for several friends. Thanks again for great fun and food. Any ideas on the density thing?
It's funny that you'd think an author would be too busy to hear that you liked her work! I have a number of writer friends–some are cookbook authors and food writers, some are novelists. And they all love getting positive feedback. It makes their day, too!
Firstly, much deserved congratulations. I often think that successful cookbook authors, like yourself, would be confident of their work. So it's interesting to read how you love receiving comments from people who have successfully baked from your books. I often think people would be far too busy to hear from me. A lesson for me, tell people how great their books are. So action for me – off to do some more baking from some of my fabulous books (and new ones I must order ASAP!), and I'm sure I'll be back soon to you soon!
Thank you all for your kind words. I appreciate them very much.
Congratulations! That's quite an honor. I'm putting your book on my list of must haves, and I'm going to run out and buy that copy of Eating Well too. Bread and soup are a perfect pairing.
Thanks for stopping by my blog and leaving a comment. I'm excited to try some of your recipes.
Warmest congratulations, Nancy! I think that's thrilling news to hear. I'm looking forward to getting a copy of your new book soon. In the meantime, I've been relishing a copy of your tried and true All American Dessert Book, that I recently (and finally!) got my hands on. It's nestled comfortably, at the moment, next to your cookie book on my bedside table. There are so many scrumptious recipes in it, I just don't know where to start!
I always crave new baking books at this time of year (well, all year, but even more so in the fall) and I'm so pleased that I have your bread book to look forward to.
Jane 🙂
Congratulations Nancy!!! It's very well deserved!!!