Country Baking: Simple Home Baking

Rooted in ``the provender of place,'' journalist Haedrich's baking fancy favors the seasonal ingredients of New England: its stone-ground flours, its berries, apples, squashes--and even kale--put in appearances. With the friendly tone of the home-taught, the author mixes advice on equipment and storage, methods of packing and freezing and many other tips with 250 recipes for baked goods. Readers should not be misled by his preference for whole-wheat and mixed-grain flours, as Haedrich's imaginative approach does not limit itself to the dull stuff commonly found in health-food baking. As Haedrich himself says, his type is ``laid-back, eclectic, earthy but not heavy; you might say it's baking that speaks the various tongues of a generation that grew up on Betty Crocker, turned hippie, then saw the dawning of the New American Cuisine.'' Even the canned fruits that are the staple of wintry country kitchens get fresh twists: pineapple upside-down cake is made pungent with freshly grated ginger in its gingerbread batter. And Haedrich's homey humor will soothe bakers who tussle with their first failed batches of bread: ``Calm down. . . chances are you just ran into a particularly intelligent or competitive strain of yeast.'' (Oct.)