The Italian Bakery

Bake like an Italian with this latest Silver Spoon treasure - a culinary inspiration and go-to kitchen companion The Silver Spoon is known throughout the world as the authoritative voice on Italian cuisine and the leading Italian culinary resource. The Italian Bakery is the first volume in the Silver Spoon library to focus on dolci - the Italian term for all sweet treats. Dishes found in bakeries throughout Italy's diverse regions come to life in 140 accessible classic and contemporary patisserie recipes, including a library of 50 core recipes for basic baking building blocks, each illustrated with step-by-step photography, geared toward novices and experienced bakers alike. Filled with cakes, pastries, pies, cookies, sweets and chocolates, and frozen puddings, the collection showcases a wide range of delectable desserts suitable for everyday indulgences and special-occasion celebrations - the Italian way.

Life didn't do Kenny Tingle any favors. In The Girl in the Italian Bakery, follow his journey from childhood in a tough housing project north of Boston, the abduction and disappearance of a childhood friend, to the complete destruction of a family. His introduction to crime and the years he spent in foster homes. The poor choices he made in high school and the startling climax on prom night. Although he never has trouble meeting girls, the one girl he longs for always seems out of reach. The Girl in the Italian Bakery is the remarkably true story of always keeping hope, even when there is little left to hope for. This is a story of surviving through extreme adversity, and, ultimately, redemption.

‘Gennaro is an incredible baker – bread has always been central to everything he does. This is a great book – incredible food and full of Gennaro-style passion’ – Jamie Oliver Making bread has always been a natural passion for Gennaro Contaldo. Ingrained since childhood with memories of his mother’s weekly bread-making and visits to his uncle’s village bakery, it is a skill which has followed him throughout his career as a chef. In this book, Gennaro takes you onto a journey into the magical world of Italian bread and baking, giving you his secret tips on making the perfect dough to create wonderful Italian breads for all occasions. And not only bread – have you ever walked into an Italian panetteria (bakery) and marvelled at the amazing variety of freshly baked goods? Not only filone, filoncini, ciabatta, campagnia, panini, but also amazing focaccia, pizzette, biscuits and cakes. Included will be Gennaro’s fabled focaccia made in different regional varieties as well as mouth watering torte salate (Italian savoury pies) using seasonal ingredients such as spinach & artichoke oozing with fontina cheese for spring or escarole, black olives & anchovy for winter. There will be a section of rustic pane dolce (sweet breads) as well as delicious crostate (sweet pastry tarts), biscuits and traditional homemade cakes just like Nonna used to make. This book will be the ultimate in Italian bread and baking – it will be your Italian panetteria bible where you will be able to almost smell that dreamy, irresistible aroma of fresh baking as you flick through the pages. Word count: 55,000

An authentic guide to the festive, mouthwatering sweets of Southern Italy, including regional specialties that are virtually unknown in the US, as well as variations on more popular desserts such as cannoli, biscotti, and gelato. As a follow-up to her acclaimed My Calabria, Rosetta Costantino collects 75 favorite desserts from her Southern Italian homeland, including the regions of Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Puglia, and Sicily. These areas have a history of rich traditions and tasty, beautiful desserts, many of them tied to holidays and festivals. For example, in the Cosenza region of Calabria, Christmas means plates piled with grispelle (warm fritters drizzled with local honey) and pitta 'mpigliata (pastries filled with walnuts, raisins, and cinnamon). For the feast of Carnevale, Southern Italians celebrate with bugie ("liars"), sweet fried dough dusted in powdered sugar, meant to tattle on those who sneak off with them by leaving a wispy trail of sugar. With fail-proof recipes and information on the desserts' cultural origins and context, Costantino illuminates the previously unexplored confectionary traditions of this enchanting region.

'A true feast for the senses' Jenny Ashcroft, author of Beneath a Burning Sky The scent of freshly baked biscuits, lemon and aniseed reminds Elettra of her mother's kitchen. But her mother is in a coma, and the family bakery is failing. Elettra is distraught; she has many unanswered questions about her mother's childhood - Edda was a secretive woman. The only clue is a family heirloom: a necklace inscribed with the name of an island. Elettra buys a one-way ticket to that island, just off the coast of Sardinia. Once there, she discovers a community of women, each lost in their own way. They live in a crumbling convent, under threat from the local mayor and his new development plan. It is within the convent's dark corridors and behind its secret doors that Elettra discovers a connection to her mother's past. She also falls in love again: with friendship, baking and adventure.

La Vita è Dolce is an exciting take on Italian baking by food writer and trained pastry chef, Letitia Clark. Featuring over 80 Italian desserts, La Vita è Dolce showcases Letitia's favourite puddings inspired by her time living in Sardinia. Whether you’re looking for something fruity, nutty, creamy, chocolatey or boozy, you will be seduced by the sweet aromas of every bake. Complete with anecdotes and beautiful location photography throughout, each recipe is authentic in taste but with a delicious, contemporary twist. From a joyful Caramelised Citrus Tart to a classic Torta Caprese, this is a stunning celebration of the sweet things in life, and is guaranteed to bring a slice of Italy into your home.

New from the bestselling author of My Bread: A clear, illustrated guide to making sourdough and the Italian-inspired café dishes from one of Manhattan’s best bakeries. Founded in 1994, Sullivan Street Bakery is renowned for its outstanding bread, which graces the tables of New York’s most celebrated restaurants. The bread at Sullivan Street Bakery, crackling brown on the outside and light and aromatic on the inside, is inspired by the dark, crusty loaves that James Beard Award–winning baker Jim Lahey discovered in Rome. Jim builds on the revolutionary no-knead recipe he developed for his first book, My Bread, to outline his no-fuss system for making sourdough at home. Applying his Italian-inspired method to his repertoire of pizzas, pastries, egg dishes, and café classics, The Sullivan Street Bakery Cookbook delivers the flavors of a bakery Ruth Reichl once called “a church of bread.”

In her newest baking book, everyone's favorite Italian baker, Maria Bruscino Sanchez of Connecticut's Sweet Maria's Bakery, takes the mini-sweet-treat trend on an eye-opening Italian vacation as she highlights classic Italian treats in small sizes for scrumptious small bites while offering readers a trove of new recipes that are hers alone—cappuccino hazelnut or Bellini cupcakes, tiny Torta Caprese and bite-sized almond cakes, individual pear crostatas, mini Italian cream horns, and a one-serving version of Zia Ann's delicious Chocolate Ricotta Pies. Sanchez fills tiny parfait glasses and baking dishes with Arborio Rice Pudding Parfaits, Tiramisu Bread Pudding, and Buttermilk Panna Cotta with Crushed Amaretti and Berries. Small, Sweet, and Italian includes more than seventy–five recipes with easy-to-follow instructions that will turn any kitchen into a Sweet Maria Kitchen. So, think "small, sweet, and Italian" when you're looking for small, scrumptious desserts with an Italian twist!