Cookbook Chronicles: The Manuscript

Did you miss me? I'm back!

Hello? Is there anybody out there? It's me, emerging from my word-filled, flour-dusted writing cave.

First of all, I sincerely apologize to all of you subscribers for neglecting this newsletter for the past six weeks. After wrapping up the first photo shoot for my cookbook, I had to buckle down, put the book together, and submit my manuscript.

Plant-based yellow cake with chocoalte frosting.

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But before I get into an update on the cookbook, here are three other things that I’ve cooked up.

Rye Vollkornbrot, one of the breads I’ll be sharing in Traverse City on May 22nd.

• My recipe for an egg-free, plant-based birthday cake (photo above) appeared in the Chicago Tribune. This classic recipe will delight vegans and omnivores alike.

• If any of you will be near Traverse City, Michigan, this Thursday, May 22nd at 5:30pm, I am hosting a Bread and Wine tasting and pairing workshop at the lovely Left Foot Charley Winery. I spent many years working in the wine business, and I'm excited to bring these two passions together. Only a handful of tickets remain, so get them now! Update: This event has sold out!

• I will be in conversation with

  John Birdsall
  , author of What is Queer Food? How We Served a Revolution on Tuesday, June 10th at 7:00pm at Women & Children First bookstore in Chicago’s Andersonville neighborhood. John wrote a fascinating, fantastic romp through the history of queer food in America. Reserve your spot here.

  

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My research assistants.

Wrapping up my manuscript meant, writing and editing the first few and the final chapters of my book, as well as actually assembling the whole document.

The Front Matter

After all of the recipes were developed, written tested by me, and cross-tested by others, I compiled the front matter, as it's called in the business. This part of the book consists of the introduction and, for cookbooks, chapters on things like tools, ingredients, and techniques. Although I may be the exception to the rule, I think these chapters comprise the heart of many cookbooks. A cookbook (as opposed to a short-form video or even a blog post) gives you space to get into some of how and why of your recipes all at once. The information in teh front front matter can turn a so-so baker into a great baker, so I infused it with nerdiness, fun, and a dose of Midwest nice meets strong, educated opinions.

In the front matter, I explain how I stock my pantry, and what the different ingredients do in baking. Yes, I wrote several paragraphs about buckwheat, rye, and yeast. I scrawled several pleas for folks to use a kitchen scale to measure everything. I got into the details about my favorite baking pans, and divided the tools into things that you need to have and those items that are simply nice to have.

I'm not a science-focused writer like

Nik Sharma

, nor a test-every-single-variation authority like

Nicola Lamb

. I hope to strike a balance geeky and approachable, translating some of the science and expertise of baking for the lay-baker. Luckily I had Stacie Nakamoto, the baking biochemist, to correct some of my explanations. (Thank you, Stacie!)

Several cookbook authors, including the

Everything Cookbooks

crew, wonder if anyone reads this front part of the book. Do people leaf through the opening chapters without actually taking that information in? I wonder that, too. I'm sure that hungry readers will skip right to the recipes. But you may skip right off a cliff.

During recipe testing many folks strayed from the instructions. Some testers used a nonstick cake pan for a sponge cake when I specifically instructed them not to use a nonstick cake pan. Some testers skipped chilling and resting steps or didn't follow the visual cues for proofing or baking. Some folks used active-dry yeast (which I hate) instead of instant yeast (the better option). Worst of all, some people used volume measurements. The appropriate instructions were in the recipe, but the front matter underscores why I wrote those instructions.

Testers asked me questions ranging from "Can I use a glass pie plate?" or "What is a buckwheat groat?" or "What happens if I use margarine (plant-based butter) instead of butter?" and even "Can I bake this at 350 instead of 425?" (The answer to the last one is simply, "No.") The front matter aims to answer many of these questions.

In the first few chapters I help guide people to avoid mistakes, or answer questions that they might have while making the recipes. I also offer some really odd but useful tidbits, like my tip for knowing when you need to purchase a new piece of baking equipment.

My editors.

Assembly

After I wrote the front matter, plus several other bits and bobs, I has to put it all together. I kept every part of the book separate; each recipe, chapter introduction, and front matter section had its own file. I feared assembling one monstrous Word file. As someone who heretofore only wrote newsletter posts and newspaper articles, I worried that, somehow, I would royally screw up that chonker of a document.

I trudged forward, copying and pasting each chapter and each recipe in my preferred order. The flow of the book cascaded towards me, wearing down rough edges and each meander getting to the right place. I moved sidebars (those little boxes in the margins that explain or highlight something) around and honed my recipe formatting. I toiled over how best to describe baking times, especially for recipes that you can make in stages or recipes that take many hours but are almost entirely hands off. (Thanks to

Sarah Chang

and

Lukas Volger

for help with that challenge.)

Suddenly, I had more than 100,000 words in one document. Woah.

But I wasn't done. I read through these words over and over again, editing as thoroughly as I possibly could. Over the past year or so, I've become a much better writer and editor, but only for short articles or newsletters—not a 100,000-word manuscript. Editing this monster was tough...and it's not over.

Now that I've turned it in, it's time to wait and see (Gulp!) what my editor thinks. Plus another photoshoot late this summer.

In the meantime, I'm back here, at my desk and in my kitchen, ready to bake and write some new recipes for you. I have a bushel recipe ideas bouncing around my head, and I can't wait to share them with you!

Testing a German Käsekuchen recipe.

Stay tuned: new recipes coming soon!

Happy Baking,
Martin (and Dani)