Bake Sum: Asian American Pastries, Breads, and Other Treats

Bake Sum is a gateway into an imaginative, smart synthesis of various sweet and savory baked goods with American and European traditions. Its recipes are arranged in order of complexity, encouraging bakers to develop their skills as they make their way through the book.

Joyce Tang grew up in the East Bay of California in a culturally Chinese home but exposed to the region's polyglot food culture. Bake Sum, her Oakland bakery, celebrates influences not only from China and Hong Kong, but at the very least, India, Japan, Persia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam. 

"There is no single Asian American palate," she writes, "but I know how to meld nostalgia with high-level craft to make food that hits the taste memories of second-generation immigrants like myself."

Among what she offers:

• black sesame snickerdoodles
• brown butter mochi bites
• coconut mango mooncakes
• chili crab sandos, made with milk bread
• okonomiyaki Danishes
• gochujang garlic pull-aparts
• butter chicken hand pies

Tang supports her more complex recipes with helpful step-by-step photo sequences. Her occasional sidebars explaining, for example, how Mexican concha toppings found their way to Asia long before she began employing them, make it clear that she treats origins as respectfully as she does her riffs.

Serious creative baking.

Hardcover. Color photographs throughout.