I have a lot of cookbooks. Probably more than 100. Most of these cookbooks I have used only once or twice. There are a handful that I use on a regular basis and consider to be favorites, and then there are a few special books that have actually changed the way I approach food. These books do more than provide me with recipes, they inspire me to think about food and eating in new ways and they make me a better cook. Kim Boyce's recently published Good to the Grain: Baking with Whole Grain Flours is one of those books. A former pastry chef at Spago and Campanile, Boyce left the restaurant business to raise her children. As a home baker she was faced with the challenge of baking for her family but wanting to keep them healthy. This problem set her on the noble quest of developing classic recipes using whole grains. Good to the Grain is the brilliant and inspiring result of that quest and of Boyce's self-education in the world of grain. The recipes she created range from things you might expect from a book like this such as muffins and pancakes to surprises like tarts and danishes. Almost nothing in the pastry canon is left untouched. In anyone else's hands this endeavor might have been disastrous. Too many before her have sacrificed taste and style to bring us "healthy" food, resulting in leaden muffins, weird cookies and unappetizing desserts. Healthy will never trump delicious when it comes to baking, and Boyce knows this. She very smartly leaves butter, whole milk and eggs in these recipes. She isn't writing a book for fanatics, she is writing a book for the rest of us. We believe in moderation and balance and flaky pastries. We aren't willing to sacrifice taste but would be thrilled if the chocolate babka we were enjoying happened to contain whole grains. I have been living with Good to the Grain for a week now and using it almost daily. The book is broken down by type of grain and each chapter includes several recipes that utilize the grain as well as some useful information on the grain itself. There is an additional chapter on jams and preserves, which is a great addition to the book and gets you very excited for a trip to the farmer's market. At the beginning of the book, Boyce adeptly walks readers through ingredients and tools and continues to offer helpful tips throughout. She makes you feel supported and confident in your ability to tackle any of the recipes. I started with the iced oatmeal cookie which single-handedly proved to me that Boyce is both trustworthy and a genius. This was better than your average oatmeal cookie and it wasn't despite the whole grains, it was because of them. The grains created such a complicated and interesting flavor that I couldn't wait for the next bite. They made traditional oatmeal cookies seem too simple by comparison. I brought these to work with me and my coworkers all went from skepticism over the idea of a 100% whole grain cookie to amazement at how good the cookies tasted. I've also made some delicious spice muffins topped with walnuts, and I even made my own Grape Nuts cereal, or as Boyce calls them, Graham Nuts. Each recipe comes together exactly as promised and tastes better than I ever imagined. One of the challenges Boyce faces as she converts us to whole grain bakers is the initial investment in the grains. The book uses more than 10 different grains in one way or another and even I felt overwhelmed at first. I know how easily people are turned off by difficult to access ingredients, and it would be a shame if that prevented anyone from trying the recipes. A list of sources is provided at the end of the book which allow you to easily order any of the grains you need and have them delivered to your door (my giant box of grains arrived from Bob's Red Mill in a couple of days).  Most cost only a couple of dollars and are well worth the investment because soon you won't just be using them for these recipes. After spending time with Boyce you will begin to see that you can use whole grains in other recipes too. This will become a way of baking, of considering grains and what they can do to enhance a recipe.  That is the brilliance of Good to the Grain— it makes us better bakers. Good to the Grain: Baking with Whole Grain Flours by Kim Boyce is available now.

1 Comments