Sally’s Baking 101 is formally out on the planet! After 3 years of labor, a whole bunch of recipe checks, and numerous flour-covered counters, I can hardly imagine I get to carry this e-book in my arms… and that it’s lastly in your arms, too.
To have fun the discharge, I believed it might be enjoyable to share the behind-the-scenes journey of how this e-book got here to life. From constructing the desk of contents, to chopping down an 80,000-word manuscript, to photographing recipes throughout all 4 seasons… right here’s how we made Sally’s Baking 101.
Please meet the group behind Sally’s Baking 101:
(Not pictured: James, Lexi, Allie, and Trina, or my wardrobe stylist, Danielle Wooden, and all of my recipe testers!)
Writing Sally’s Baking 101 has been the largest undertaking of my profession. In truth, it took three years from the very first proposal draft to holding the completed e-book in my arms. I need to take you behind the scenes not simply of the recipe growth, however the numerous hours, edits, photographs, and choices that went into making a baking e-book of this caliber.
Why 3 Years?
After I started the proposal in 2022, I deliberately requested for a protracted deadline. I wished to provide this e-book the time and a focus it deserved whereas nonetheless operating my web site, creating new content material for you, and maintaining with the day-to-day. This wasn’t going to be a rush job. It was going to be the form of e-book I’d be happy with many years from now. A real reference and educating information, not only a assortment of recipes.
And let me inform you: it was extra kitchen work than I’ve ever accomplished in my profession.
Constructing the Desk of Contents
You’d suppose step one could be leaping into recipe testing. However truthfully? We spent virtually your entire three years tweaking the desk of contents.
My co-author Beth and I obsessed over the circulate of the e-book. What expertise did we need to train? Which recipes made probably the most sense subsequent to one another? How may we construct a construction that took a newbie baker by the hand, whereas nonetheless holding skilled bakers impressed?
I began by pulling 31 recipes straight from my web site. Assume: the classics which have turn out to be group favorites and that I knew needed to be on this e-book, together with pizza dough, chocolate chip cookies, sugar cookies, banana bread, and extra. These shaped the muse. From there, we constructed out the chapters with new and thrilling recipes, flavors, and strategies. We pushed ourselves to transcend our consolation zones—not simply to be taught new expertise, however to translate them into teachable ideas for you.
Recipe Testing & Retesting
Every recipe was examined, retested, and in some circumstances lower or fully rewritten. Some got here collectively shortly; others took dozens of rounds. Beth and I might tag-team: I’d run checks in my kitchen, she’d do the identical, after which we’d evaluate notes and make changes.
Beginning in 2023, I shared a number of posts concerning the cookbook recipe testing course of:
- Cookbook Recipe Testing 1 (2023)
- Cookbook Recipe Testing 2 (2023)
- Cookbook Recipe Testing 3 (2024)
- Cookbook Recipe Testing 4 (2024)
And, clearly, these posts don’t even cowl 1 / 4 of the recipes within the e-book! There have been days when my kitchen regarded like a flour explosion. We went by kilos of butter, luggage of flour, mountains of chocolate, and so many cartons of eggs that I misplaced depend. Grocery retailer runs 3, 4x per day as a result of we ran out of one thing. And nonetheless, we by no means rushed the method. If one thing wasn’t working, we went again to the drafting board.
It wasn’t simply me and Beth within the kitchen, although. My group member Lexi examined many of the recipes within the e-book. I additionally employed Amanda Yee, who lives abroad, to bake by the recipes with totally different components and instruments. As a result of what works in my kitchen within the U.S. would possibly act in a different way out of the country. On high of that, we had over a dozen further recipe testers who supplied suggestions, requested questions, and helped be certain each element was clear and dependable.
Recipe testing is one thing I take very, very critically. For the e-book, I wished every recipe to not solely style unbelievable, however to additionally be just right for you the very first time you strive it. That meant being obsessive about directions, troubleshooting, and ensuring nothing was left to likelihood.
Writing (and Reducing) the Manuscript
The manuscript ballooned to about 80,000 phrases. That’s a small novel! Each recipe got here with detailed notes, troubleshooting ideas, and step-by-step explanations. As you’ll be able to think about, it needed to be pared down to suit the web page depend. Reducing phrases is painful, particularly if you like to over-explain (hello, it’s me), however in the long run the e-book is tighter, extra centered, and simpler to make use of.
Photographs of check recipes:
The Images Course of
I’m the photographer behind each recipe picture on this cookbook, apart from those the place I’m really within the shot! These had been taken by my longtime videographer, Stronz.
Images was a undertaking all its personal. It took us 10–12 months to finish as a result of I didn’t need to rush it. Sure components wanted to be in season, and I wished the photographs to replicate the freshest, most vibrant model of every bake. We shot a bulk of the e-book in April 2024.
To carry the e-book to life visually, I employed two stylists: Giulietta, a prop stylist with a literal warehouse filled with dishes, linens, boards, and backdrops for each temper and undertaking you’ll be able to think about, and Diana, a superb meals stylist. Collectively, they grew to become my cookbook dream group. Giulietta would arrive with crates of props that made every picture really feel heat and welcoming, whereas Diana had the magical potential to make each swirl of frosting and each flaky pie crust look its best possible.
Each single recipe has a photograph. The three of us photographed in batches, ready for berries, peaches, apples, or cranberries and many others to return into season. Every picture wanted to do greater than look fairly—it wanted to show. You’ll discover that there are numerous step-by-step tutorial photographs. That was intentional.
We liked working collectively a lot that they now assist me with pictures for my web site, too. They’re gifted, artistic, and endlessly enjoyable to be round—and I actually couldn’t have requested for a greater group to assist carry Sally’s Baking 101 to life on the web page.
The Emotional Aspect
I received’t sugarcoat it (pun supposed): it was exhausting. Writing Sally’s Baking 101 wasn’t only a undertaking, it was a marathon. There have been loads of joyful moments, but in addition loads of occasions it felt impossibly laborious. My kitchen was a revolving door of components, check batches, failures, and victories. There have been late nights after I was exhausted (after a protracted day engaged on the e-book, operating my web site, and parenting) however needed to pull one other tray of cookies from the oven. Days when a recipe failed for the tenth time in a row and I questioned if it might ever work.
It took literal blood, sweat, and tears. There have been occasions I cried from frustration, occasions I used to be so drained I couldn’t take a look at one other bowl of batter, and occasions I mentioned, “what did I get myself into? I can’t do that.”
However then there have been the breakthroughs. The second a recipe lastly clicked, the day the desk of contents got here collectively, the primary time I noticed a completed chapter laid out with photographs and phrases. These moments made each laborious day value it.
This e-book demanded every little thing from me: my time, power, creativity, and resilience. And whereas it pushed me additional than any undertaking earlier than, it additionally gave me my proudest skilled accomplishment up to now.
That is the e-book I’ve at all times wished to jot down.
And whereas three years felt like endlessly on the time, it was completely value it.
Now that Sally’s Baking 101 is on the planet, I take a look at it and consider all of the hours, choices, and teamwork that made it potential. It’s greater than a group of recipes—it’s a real guidebook for bakers at each stage. And it was a group undertaking.
And I couldn’t have accomplished it with out you. My readers, my pals, my household, my group. For over a decade, you’ve trusted me along with your kitchens, your celebrations, and your on a regular basis bakes. Your suggestions, photographs, questions, and encouragement are what fueled this e-book from begin to end.
This cookbook is my thanks. It’s a useful resource constructed from all the teachings we’ve shared, the classics you’ve liked, and the brand new challenges I can’t wait so that you can strive. My hope is that it evokes you, teaches you, and provides you confidence each time you activate the oven.
From the underside of my coronary heart: thanks for baking alongside me all these years. I can’t wait to see what you make first.
Sally’s Baking 101 is offered all over the place books are offered beginning right now. Pleased launch day, pals!
Picture credit score: Stronz Vanderploeg
