Letter from Sarah     

Dear Friends,

If half-baked breads, cracked cheesecakes or chocolate chip cookies that are flat plague you, where do you go for help? If a recipe calls for unsalted butter, and you have salted, is it ok to use?  Or, if you have to use a certain pan size, and you don’t have it, will a different one work? What if your sourdough starter is pink? Is it ok to use?  Or if you can’t figure out why your caramel candy won’t harden, especially after following the recipe exactly, who do you ask for help? 

Now with baking911.com you do have someone to turn to. Throughout baking911.com, you'll see advice for every type of baker. Personally, when cooking and baking, I am not a perfectionist, nor do I ever strive to be one. I like to enjoy myself during the process and my attitude is that the flavor and appeal of the baked good is more important than worrying about its flaws. I like simplicity, fresh and natural ingredients, vibrant flavors and interesting recipes, plus just plain and good "homey" food to enjoy with my family and friends. It's good to know where you stand as a baker, and to seek out information on this site accordingly.

Baking a recipe involves understanding all kinds of nuances, which cookbooks do not adequately explain. There is more to baking a “made-from-scratch” recipe than throwing all the ingredients into a bowl and turning on the mixer. Cookbooks usually contain recipes and do not contain extensive sections on problem solving. Chefs on TV are constantly saying, "It's quick and easy", when it is for them, but not for the majority of us. (I promise I will never write: "It's quick and easy" on a recipe or  baking technique that isn't). Baking from scratch is a baking term and description used, when you prepare and assemble all your dry and wet baking ingredients, by following a recipe using techniques. But, how do you do it? That’s what home bakers are asking.

I have been answering questions from both new and experienced bakers for over 15 years now. I love it. I am natural, knowledgeable source as I am a professional baking expert whose common thread in my career entails my working closely with bakers such as you. 

I am a cookbook author and was a food manufacturer, specialty food broker and Internet baking expert. During marketing of my own cookbook, The Healthy Oven Baking Book, (Doubleday, 1999), at book signings, I have enjoyed talking with home bakers. My second cookbook, Baking 9-1-1, was published in November, 2003, by Simon & Schuster. I personally demoed my Healthy Oven Low-Fat Baking Mix 12 item Product Line (1989 - 1999) in grocery stores around the country meeting consumers. As a specialty food broker, I have visited stores to promote products. I also worked for two years with ivillage.com, ranked as the fifteenth largest website on the Internet, as the Baking Expert and with kitchenlink.com as the same. Plus, I too am a life-long home baker and have a library of hundreds of cookbooks.

 I noticed that a pattern emerged with the type of questions being asked by home bakers. Certain basic ones were asked over and over again by different individuals. Some of my top favorites are: “How come my chocolate chip cookies are flat? Another common one is “Can I use all-purpose flour instead of cake flour?”. Or, "When a recipe calls for room temperature butter, can it be the soft kind in my butter dish?” Another, “How can I prevent my cheesecake from cracking? My mom’s never did”. And, what about when a recipe says to “use 2 eggs, can I use any size?” 

And, when I needed to research some of the answers to questions. I found it to be a frustrating experience even for me; there wasn’t one cookbook source that I could go to for answers, with complete explanations in an easy-to-read format.

Besides questions, sometimes a baker needs a person to turn to and get help:

As a response to this, I started an online baking help site called baking911.com in October 2000, with an “Ask Sarah” Message Board being added in the following April. Here, you, a home baker can ask me questions and get immediate answers tailored to your specific needs. I also like the interaction with you because it keeps me in constant touch with the issues that you are faced with from which I constantly update the information on my site.

Currently, the website’s information base is extensive, covering around 1,000 plus pages while seeking to demystify the complexities of baking. The baking911.com site quickly proved my assumption that there was a pent-up demand for an online stand-in. Without any advertising or sponsors, during its first year, baking911.com received over 5.8 million hits. For the MONTH of December, 2002 alone, we grew to 5 million hits!

The idea of the baking911.com website seems to have struck a cord. This e-mail says it all:

Over time, I hope that baking911.com becomes your constant baking companion and helps to guide you through your own baking endeavors, from simple to complex.