Books for Cooks

Barbara Burke

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"Ready, Set, Dough!" by Melanie Barnard (Broadway Books, 2004, paperback, $17.95)

Author takes the fear
out of baking

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The mere thought of making a homemade pie, tart, or yeast bread will send many home cooks straight to the nearest bakery.

In her new cookbook, "Ready, Set, Dough!" Melanie Barnard takes the fear out of home baking by offering recipes that begin with store-bought doughs. By using refrigerated cookie dough, biscuit dough, pre-folded pie crust, frozen puff pastry and phyllo dough, Barnard helps the home cook beat the clock and turn out a wide variety of baked goods, ranging from simple to gourmet.

"Ready, Set, Dough!" features more than 100 recipes including breakfast Cinnamon Raisin Swirl Bread and Orange Pecan Sticky Buns, desserts like Chocolate Chip Brownie Custard Bars and Mile-High Lemon Meringue Pie, and main dishes such as Herbed Sausage Calzones and Dilled Salmon in Phyllo.

The cookbook is printed in a two-color format. There are no photos, except for a very appealing cover shot. Directions are generally easy to follow.

While store-bought doughs are fast and convenient, they may contain more fat or preservatives than your family desires. An error was found in one recipe, Citrus Custard Tart, where sugar is included in the list of ingredients, but not mentioned in the directions. If you are a fan of Pillsbury Bake-Off recipes, you'll probably enjoy this book.

This contemporary version of pineapple upside-down cake uses fresh pineapple and dried cherries. Save the juice from the fresh pineapple for all or part of the pineapple juice in the recipe.

Pineapple Upside Down 'Cake'

2- 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup unsweetened pineapple juice
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon dark rum or orange juice
1/2 cup dried sweet red cherries
Eight 1/2- to 3/4-inch thick slices fresh pineapple
One 16.3-ounce tube refrigerated large-size Southern-style or cornmeal biscuits
1 pint mango gelato or vanilla ice cream

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Use 1/2 tablespoon butter to generously grease a shallow 2-quart baking dish.

In a small saucepan, boil pineapple juice until reduced to 2/3 cup. Stir in brown sugar and remaining butter until melted, then stir in lemon juice and rum. Pour mixture into prepared baking dish.

Sprinkle with cherries. Arrange pineapple slices, at least 1 inch apart, in the juice mixture. Set biscuits atop pineapple.

Bake 20 minutes, then reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees and bake until biscuits are rich, golden brown and juices are bubbling and caramelized, about 10 minutes more.

Let stand at room temperature about 5 minutes, then use a spatula to pick up the pineapple and biscuits, one at a time, and invert each onto a dessert plate. Spoon juices and cherries from pan on top. Serve warm accompanied by scoops of mango gelato or vanilla ice cream. Serves 8.

Approximate nutritional information per serving (using Southern-style biscuits, orange juice and vanilla ice cream): 380 calories, 17 g total fat, 7 g saturated fat, 20 mg cholesterol, 6 g protein, 51 g carbohydrate, 570 mg sodium.

Rating Scale: Best in its class / Highly recommended / Recommended / Not recommended

Barbara Burke is a Hawaii-Pacific University instructor who teaches and writes about food and nutrition. Contact her at the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210, Honolulu 96813; or e-mail her at: features@starbulletin.com