Savory Baking from the Mediterranean, by Anissa Helou, hardcover, 352 pages, list price: $29.95
Breadsticks, phyllo parcels, rolls and miniature stuffed breads — we love them all. They're like tiny presents, bite-size and full-flavored; the mystery of their creation we generally leave to someone else. What makes many of these breads so irresistible is the flavors tucked inside — the saffron-scented chicken in a Moroccan Triangle, the spinach and cheese that fill Turkish Flatbreads. For others, like Little Milk Breads, it's the fine, sweet texture that comes from a yeasty slow rise. Usually, you have to hunt down these sorts of recipes in some kind of general baking book, where they're hidden amid a hundred recipes for muffins and cookies, or in one of dozens of obscure regional Mediterranean cookbook. But Anissa Helou's book unlocks the mysteries of all these lovely little breads, setting them forth in one volume in all their golden-brown profusion. Now all you have to do is give the book to your favorite baker, and wait.
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