For Greg Patent, an Italian bakery burgeoning with pignoli cookies, fat cannoli and sweet pastries is cause for investigation.
Patent, a veteran baker, cooking teacher and cookbook author, hunted down the secrets of ethnic baking from more than 30 nations, including Italy, Nigeria, Austria and India. His new book, A Baker's Odyssey, collects recipes for the delectable treats and offers insights into their culinary history and cultural significance. For his research, Patent visited more than five-dozen master home bakers around the U.S.
The book includes a one-hour DVD that demonstrates the key skills, baking techniques and step-by-step methods ambitious bakers need for making cannoli, matzoh, pretzels and other items.
Below, reprinted by permission from A Baker's Odyssey, are recipes for Australian Lamingtons and Iraqi Sambouseks.
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