Anne Byrn (aka, “The Cake Doctor”) wrote this massive cookbook and history of Southern food to celebrate the incredible culinary traditions. Byrn’s meticulous research into the origins of these recipes and her wonderful narratives about the impact of these wonderful desserts make for immersive reading!
This book contains 200 recipes from 14 Southern states, from Maryland to Texas, and nearly as many mouthwatering photos, that will send you scurrying into the kitchen to whip up some tasty confections. Baking in the American South is worth it alone just for the cornbread recipes!. From there you can dive into the biscuits and rolls, cakes, and cookies!
Thomasville Cheese Biscuits and Ouita Michel’s Sweet Potato Streusel Muffins and Blueberry Loaf are delicious! It will take Diane and me over a year to work our way through this incredible cookbook recipe by recipe! Do you love Southern food as much as we do? Do you have a favorite? GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Introduction vi
How to Bake This Book xiii
My Southern Baking Pantry xvii
Sizzling Cornbread 1
Hot Biscuits 57
Quick Loaves, Griddle Cakes, Waffles, and Fritters 105
Rolls, Breads, and Yeast-Raised Cakes 147
Comforting Puddings 199
Pies Plain and Fancy 233
Bake Me a Cake 315
Cookies and Bars by the Dozen 393
Frostings and Flourishes 439
Acknowledgments 460
Bibliography 464
Index 473
Credits 482
About the Author 485
Who doesn’t? Pecan pie, biscuits, you name it.
Jeff, pecan pie is my favorite! I’m hoping to try some of these tasty recipes as soon as Diane and I get back from NYC and have time to play in the kitchen. Right now, I’m just looking at the mouth-watering photos and making a list of potential recipes I’d like to make!
I’ve always preferred European recipes and Southern cousine has never appealed to me. I do love cooking and it’s been great for both my mental and physical health as I’ve veered increasingly toward a Vegan diet which, as a former meat-and-potatoes kid, I can testify is far more delicious than you might imagine. Ice cream remains the one exception.
Byron, I’m with you on the trend to Vegan. I might have a meat dish about once a month now. Ice cream and milkshakes are close to perfection!
I love it—but it doesn’t love my A1C, lol. These days I have to pick and choose my favorites with care.
All sympathies there.
Todd, I’m confident that medical technologies will solve the A1C problem just like the GPL-1 drugs solved the weight-loss problem.
Deb, same here. But, my Ozempic has brought down my A1C so I can eat a few more of the recipes in BAKING IN THE AMERICAN SOUTH…if I’m careful.
I didn’t know you were a baker, George.
Patti, I used to help my mother cook and bake. Both Patrick and Katie are bakers (though Katie struggles with pies). My cooking tends to lean towards veggies, pasta, and rice dishes. I can make a delicious apple pie and a world-class Chocolate Cake! I’m not a cookie guy, but I can whip up a batch of yummy BOILED OATMEAL COOKIES in 15 minutes, start to finish.
I haven’t had Bisquick biscuits since the last time I had my mother’s, but, then, she was West Virginian by birth, which is almost as Border as Maryland. And I haven’t had any brown bread with raisins, as my Vermont-born father loved, in decades as well. Slathered in butter, or a light (and these days lacto-veg) gravy on the biscuits.
How many plates of stroganoff over rice rather than noodles I would put away in childhood? Difficult to enumerate. Never many leftovers those nights. Tacos ran a close second (soft tortillas).
Todd, I’m a taco and nacho guy, too. And, I’m a big fan of corn bread!
My mother’s (North Carolina) fried okra, fried oysters, and oyster stew were incomparable.
Fred, I have had some fabulous pecan pies in Tennessee!
I was born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama but I don’t remember my mother cooking many standard southern dishes. Corn bread and pecan pie would be my favorites in the baking area.
Tracy, corn bread an pecan pie would be at the top of my List of Favorites, too!