Dorie Greenspan and Julia Child - Baking With Julia: Based on the Pbs Series Hosted by Julia Child

Pros: Classic and contemporary recipes, thorough instructions, beautiful photos.
Cons: The small black and white pics should be color

Julia Child once said that people who eliminate butter from their diets are stupid. I love that. With her shockingly tall frame, her Muppet-like voice, and her very real, sloppy kitchen style, Child lacked the polished image most modern TV ...

Pros: Well written and very enticing recipes
Cons: The shaping instructions for the breads could be better. Volumetric rather than weight measurements

What is it about Julia Child that inspires such fond protectiveness among foodies? Is it just me, or there always the feeling, when she comes up in conversation, that someone's about to make a crack at Julia's expense? And yet, no one ever does. It's ...

Pros: Wide variety of recipes covers full spectrum of baking.
Cons: Recipes originally developed for professionals, often requires lots-o-time and/or special equipment.

If you're familiar with the Master Chefs and Baking With Julia TV series, you know that Julia sits on the sidelines, culinarily speaking. She doesn't contribute recipes to the book either, only the foreward and introduction. Credit for the recipes goes...

Pros: Many varied recipes for simple and fancy baked goods.
Cons: Recipes are often unwieldy in the time and ingredients involved.

Even people who don't cook know Julia. If nothing else, you must have seen the famous Dan Ackroyd skit where, depicting Child, he drunkenly chops his fingers and ends exsanguinating on the kitchen floor. Anyway, she is one of the bonafide kitchen...