{"id":13331,"date":"2016-07-30T08:50:29","date_gmt":"2016-07-30T15:50:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailywaffle.com\/stage1\/?p=13331"},"modified":"2018-07-28T15:10:03","modified_gmt":"2018-07-28T22:10:03","slug":"book-review-city-bakers-guide-to-country-living","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailywaffle.com\/stage1\/book-review-city-bakers-guide-to-country-living\/","title":{"rendered":"CITY BAKER’S GUIDE TO COUNTRY LIVING | Book Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

City Baker’s Guide to Country Living by Louise Miller<\/a><\/p>\n

**ARC provided by the publisher for review**<\/p>\n

4 stars!<\/p>\n

Save your fork, there\u2019s pie!<\/em><\/p>\n

Louise Miller\u2019s City Baker\u2019s Guide<\/em> satisfies like the best apple pie \u2013 sweet and a little spicy, but not cloying. It\u2019s about creating family where you find it and finding your place in the world. Oh, stop rolling your eyes. While that might sound<\/em> schmaltzy, City Baker’s Guide<\/em> strikes the right balance, never veering off into oversentimentality. If there’s just more book to squeeze in on\u00a0your summer TBR list, it’s this one.<\/p>\n

Olivia Rawlings is a legit baker (ahem, pastry chef), a culinary institute grad with 15 years under her belt. Although baking is about precision and detail, her life is somewhat in chaos. She\u2019s behind on her rent and sleeping\u00a0with an older married guy and doesn\u2019t seem to have much guilt about it. And then, one night a flaming baked Alaska sets fire to her career in Boston and she runs off to her bestie in Guthrie, Vermont. All this in the first chapter \u2013 I love\u00a0a book that\u00a0throws you right into the action.<\/p>\n

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City Baker’s Guide to Country Living is Louise Miller’s debut novel — out August 9.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Guthrie is full of characters who all know each other’s business, and it wasn\u2019t long until I started casting the movie in my head. Mae Whitman or America Ferrara as Olivia, one the dudes from the Avett Brothers, or Taylor Kitsch as\u00a0Martin. Allison Janney as Jane White? Make it happen, Hollywood. Make.It.Happen.<\/p>\n

While there\u2019s only a touch of romance here, there is<\/em> full-on food porn. From the apple pie Olivia has to make on the spot at a job interview and all the way through, she is baking breads and muffins, creating amazing desserts for guests at the Sugar Maple Inn and pulling out her secret weapon cookies\u00a0for the town bake sale. City Baker\u2019s Guide<\/em> is a dessert-lovers dream when it comes to sweets \u2013 all described in deliciously vivid (and accurate) detail.<\/p>\n

\u201cI measured the almond paste, sugar and cocoa powder into the bowl of the stand mixer and set it in motion. The mixture began to make a swish-swish sound like maracas being shaken. The inside of the bowl sparkled like a black sand beach as the tide went out, the almond paste perfectly cut by the sugar and cocoa. After adding egg whites that had been whisked together with instant espresso powder and a drop of rum, I stopped the mixer, pinched off a piece of raw dough, and popped it in my mouth \u2013 the mixture melted on my tongue. All right, Guthrie bakers. Bring it on.\u201d<\/em><\/cite><\/p>\n

While I\u2019m nowhere near the baker Olivia is, I might just have to try a pie once apples start coming in. There\u2019s even a recipe included in the book. \u00a0In the meantime, black bottom from the Joy of Cooking will have to do. \u00a0City Baker’s Guide<\/em> comes out August 9.<\/p>\n