Great Cookbook for Dutch Oven Outdoor Baking
By Bruce Tracy
Gibbs Smith, $15.99, 128 pages,
Are you a frequent user of an outdoor Dutch oven, or interested trying one? Dutch Oven Baking is likely to be an excellent addition to your cookbook shelf. Bruce Tracy has written a very baker-friendly, easy-to-use baking book featuring mostly relatively effortless recipes, even for the very beginner baker. He starts his brief introduction with critical temperature control and necessary equipment.
“There are recipes for every level of Dutch oven expertise.”
The small- to medium-format book is spiral bound, which unfortunately is not likely to stand up to heavy use. The paper stock is heavy, glossy and spill-resistant and the recipe layout is excellent, with nearly all recipes on a single page or facing pages. Recipe writing is very good, clear and precise—a snap to follow. Some recipes are illustrated with nice color photos. Every recipe heading states the size of Dutch oven you’ll need (Tracy suggests owning two sizes), how many burning charcoal briquettes you’ll need on the top and bottom, and the baking temperature. The recipes use readily available ingredients and, occasionally, baking mixes (like Bisquick). The cookbook is limited to breads (both yeast and baking powder) and sweet concoctions of all sorts. A chapter on sauces, toppings and crusts is useful. The index is excellent.
Reviewed by George Erdosh
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