Pie In The Sky

You don't have to live in the mountains to need a cookbook like Pie In The Sky. Even though I now live and bake at an elevation above 8,000 feet, I have experienced many baking challenges at lower elevations, too. Living at sea level, and dealing with extreme humidity, created its own challenges for me.

In reality, everyone who bakes or cooks will have the need to adjust a recipe at some point. I believe this is what sets the great bakers and cooks apart from those who try to make a standard recipe work everywhere.

Pie In The Sky offers you recipe adjustments for sea level, 3,000 feet, 5,000 feet, 7,000 feet, 10,000 feet, and the in-between elevations. Now we can all bravely go where we never dared to go before. After all, the sky is no limit!

Public Domain - Photo Credit:Len Rizzi

I have always wondered about cream of tartar and what it is doing in my cookies. Thank heavens Susan Purdy has finally answered many of the questions that have lurked in the hidden recesses of my mind since I baked my first batch of sugar cookies as a child.

Curious about the ingredients in your recipes? Purdy explains the purpose of each ingredient in a way that I found extremely interesting. She also helps us understand how altitude affects those ingredients and their intended actions or reactions during baking.

Photo Credit:By cyclonebill from Copenhagen, Denmark [CC-BY-SA-2.0] - Wikimedia Commons

And then there are the myths. Susan Purdy discovered early on that most high altitude baking tips, rules, guidelines, and conversion charts simply do not work. Over the years, many of these calculations have been generated by computers, or tested in places other than the locations that, in reality, represent the actual bakers who use them.

The 12 most common myths are presented and debunked in Pie In The Sky. The myths deal with such topics as egg substitutions, flour additions, baking soda reductions, oven temperature adjustments, and the type of pans or baking dishes used at high altitudes.

Susan G. Purdy's Pie in the Sky
should be standard NASA equipment.
~ Buzz Aldrin, Astronaut

My hope is to work my way, ala Julie & Julia, through the entire collection of recipes in Pie In The Sky. I will need 100 days and lots of friends willing to temporarily set aside their diets for a few moments of gustatory bliss. Any volunteers out there?

The affirmations of my professional colleagues truly take my publications to new heights. Hey, baking powder does its job, and helps batter rise. But blessings? Well, now they really cause my spirit to soar. Thank you, Squid Angels!

A Mocha Mousse Angel Pie to Traveling Rae.
A Mile-High Lemon Meringue Pie to KarenTBTEN.
A Paradise Peak Chocolate Souffle to GrowWear.
An Alpine Angel Cake to darciefrench.
A Celestial Challah to Tipi.
An El Dorado Cheesecake to JoshK47.
A Vail Lemon Poppy Seed Loaf to Graceonline.