One Year of SIFT
What a ride
I am allergic to celebrating my own birthday. I pretend it doesn’t exist and hope it passes without anyone noticing. I love nothing more than celebrating my friends and family, but my own? No thanks.
However, I think I’ve just found a loophole. This week I looked at the calendar and realised that coming up in just a few days is the 1st birthday of SIFT, my debut book. And, shockingly, I couldn’t be more excited. It’s been such a wonderful journey and I want to take a moment to look back on the last year and also thank you all so much for the support.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: without you, I never would have gotten the opportunity to write a book. Starting this newsletter almost five(!) years ago has been life changing in so many ways and I’m so grateful every time I get to sit down and write for you. Thank you for being here.
In case you missed it… and to any new readers
In case you’ve managed to swerve all the promotion of SIFT from the past year and you’re thinking… what are you on about? Let me catch you up: SIFT: The Elements of Great Baking is my cookbook that came out in the UK last year (yellow cover), published by Ebury, and in the US in November, published by Clarkson Potter. The book has two distinct parts that allow me to guide you through the fundamentals of baking and pastry via in-depth reference sections and well over 100 tried & tested recipes.
The book starts by taking a journey through the ingredients that underpin great bakes - Flour, Sugar, Eggs, Fat - before delving into the techniques that bring our recipes to life - Texture, Colour, How Things Rise and, of course, a Technical Overview. It’s the reference book of my dreams! All the “nerdy” details but organised in a way that, i hope, never feels overwhelming. My friends Josh and Chris from Nueker did such an incredible job and have made SIFT so lovely to spend time in.
The second half of the book is packed with recipes, divided into how long you have to bake: Whether you've got an afternoon, a day or a weekend, this book has something for you! The recipes are buildable, meaning you can hone your lamination skills in a more simple recipe before moving on to nailing cross laminated galette des rois, or perfect croissants. I’ve got you! The photography is by the brilliant Sam A Harris and it was styled by Holly Cochrane.
Ultimately I always wanted to write a book that I hope will have a place with you forever, something that you can always reference and that you can build your own recipes from.
SIFT in motion
I’ve been so fortunate that SIFT has so far been translated into Italian (titled BAKE!), German (coming next year!), Taiwanese (coming next year) and Dutch, where it is titled ‘Bloem, Suiker, Boter’ - it actually won the ‘Food and Friends Gouden Kookboek 2024’ award which was a huge surprise. It was even ‘translated’ into a limited edition chocolate collection by the brilliant Octavia!
I’ve been overwhelmed by the positive response that the book has received - it was a Sunday Times bestseller, the Sunday Times Food Book of the year 2024, included in ‘best book’ round ups in The New York Times, Washington Post, Delicious Magazine and Serious Eats, and last month received the 2024 Andre Simon Award. I even got to design a cake to go on the cover of the FT Magazine! And I’ve had the opportunity to talk about the book live on TV in the US and UK, and recently developed a set of recipes for the New York Times! I genuinely expected none of this and still can’t believe it.
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International Adventures + The Best Part of it all…
The greatest outcome of all this has been getting to meet and spend time with so many of you. Over the past year I’ve had the opportunity to tour SIFT in twelve cities across the US, Canada and UK. From cooking classes in Minneapolis, Tiramisu Maritozzi buns in Wales, to guest pastries in Edinburgh to pop-ups in LA, I’ve been hosted so generously by incredible friends, chefs, bakeries and bookshops. Amongst all of this, getting to meet you and dedicate books, talk about pastry joy (and woes), and demo recipes for you has been a complete honour. For anyone based in or near London I’ll hopefully be doing an event soon in the city to celebrate the year and feed you all lots more cake so watch this space. SIFTmas forever.
I know cook books are expensive and shelf space is limited so I do not take it for granted when you welcome SIFT into your collections. It means so much to see you interact with the book and my heart flutters every time I get tagged in a story, or post, with your bakes. I’ll NEVER forget the posts (yes there have been multiple) of people reading SIFT by the pool on holiday. Iconic. There was also the INCREDIBLE SIFT-NIC with the Sunday Afternoon Baking club and KP+ gang last July that, tbh, makes me cry (in the good way) whenever I think about it.
A taste of SIFT
I do know that the proof is in the pudding (has a phrase ever been so apt?), so below I’ve rounded up all the SIFT recipes that you can find on the newsletter in case you want a taster (and then get a copy here if ya like! / don’t forget you can always have a scroll through the 400+ recipes on the Kitchen Projects recipe archive).
If you’ve already got SIFT then let me say a huge thank you - can’t believe it has been a whole darn year. Here’s to whatever is ahead and from the bottom of my heart: Thank you. See ya next week for the usual newsletter.
Love,
Nicola
PSA: Mistakes happen!
One of the best parts about a book - it is a physical object that you hold in your hands - is also the worst thing. Once printed, it is uneditable! That means errors slip through the gaps. This can feel totally gutting, especially when so much effort is made to prevent this. I am thankful for your grace and genuinely wish I never had to create such a place to organise these, but i know the least I can do is be upfront about it. And, as the header says, mistakes do happen. So, I’ve got a section on my website which lists any relevant typos in one place so you can make notes in your book. Click here to see it!
A recipe to celebrate the first birthday of SIFT: Miso and Walnut Cookies, pg 197
Every book has to have at least one totally extravagant recipe in and in SIFT it is certainly the Miso and Walnut Cookies. GIGANTIC (you can actually make these smaller if gigantor cookies ain’t your thing, don’t worry) and stuffed with the best miso walnuts, that use shiro (white miso) and mirin with bitter walnuts for such a delicious balanced flavour. My husband made these with my niece and nephew over Christmas and we just baked them in small, scoop sizes (around 50g each?) and they were great. Just adjust the cooking time to about 11 minutes. You can get the recipe on KP+ now.
The Secret Chocolate Cake pg. 266
I love this cake because it shows you just how fine the line between mousse and cake is. You get real 2-1 action here by baking half the mixture and simply spreading the rest of the mixture on top once it is cool. I’ve sandwiched the two layers with sauternes soaked raisins, but you could swap this for caramel sauce or anything that you enjoy eating. Click here for the recipe
Caramelised Apple and Custard Crumb Cake
I developed this recipe as an autumnal version of the rhubarb custard cake in SIFT. In this newsletter, I talk you through how to adjust and develop your own recipes from the bases and I have to say this cake way to celebrate that you can get good apples year round! Click here for the recipe.
The PBJ Cake
Ok so real talk, this isn’t strictly a SIFT recipe as you won’t find it in the book, but I consider it part of SIFT canon in that it was developed specifically to celebrate the announcement of the US edition. Click here for the recipe.
The Choconut Tart, pg 159
This is a glorious no-bake dessert for chocolate lovers. And pro tip - the salty coconut chocolate base is the perfect petit four/gift - just make it and spread it out on baking trays to cool. The base is actually where this recipe started - I made salted coconut chocolate for my sister’s wedding favours back in 2020, and they are SO good that I knew I had to put them in SIFT. If coconut isn’t your thing, try this crust with cornflakes or a cereal that you enjoy with some flaked almonds. Remember, you make the rules! Click here for the recipe.
Cross Laminated Galette Des Rois pg 291
Cross lamination is a super cool technique where the layers are put on display. This is usually only achieved in bakery settings with the help of automatic sheeters, but I HAD to figure out a way to do it by hand and while it is quite a project, I KNOW YOU CAN DO IT! Though galette des rois are normally made in the winter, there’s no reason that you can’t make them anytime of the year. Plus, cross lamination is incredibly satisfying. This recipe is in SIFT, but you can also find it here.
SIFT team Interview Special
Behind every cookbook is a huge team of incredible people. From agents to editors, stylists to photographers, designers to copyeditors, it truly takes a village. Perhaps I’m biased, but I genuinely believe Sift has the best team ever. For IWD 2024 I had the joy of interviewing a few of them so if you want to look ‘under the hood’ of how a book is made, here is a great place to start. Click here to read it.
The ANYTHING cake
When i was developing the recipe list of SIFT, I came up with an idea to create a formula for an ‘ANYTHING’ cake, ie. a rubric/matrix of ingredients that you can adjust and turn into… well, anything! While it didn't end up in the book, I was lucky enough to publish this in the FT Magazine and it was the cover star! I’ve shared all the details on developing anything cake on KP+ here.
Truly the best baking book ever!
I expect to find Sift at my door tomorrow after work. Finally I can return the library book!
Happy Sift anniversary!!