If you’ve ever been to the picturesque college town of Ann Arbor, home to the University of Michigan, you may have heard about or eaten at the well-known, even world-famous Zingerman’s Bakehouse.

This very popular bakery and deli offers wonderful artisan breads, pastries, and other baked goods, as well as a tempting array of soups, salads, and one-of-a-kind sandwiches. And really good desserts! Having been there myself a few years ago, I can verify that this is a great place to eat and that they make some of the best sourdough bread I’ve ever tasted!

So that’s why I was so excited to receive a review copy of the Zingerman’s Bakehouse baking book by Amy Emberling and Frank Carollo, created in celebration of Zingerman’s 25th anniversary. The book includes helpful baking tips and techniques as well as 65 of their most popular recipes for breads, scones, biscuits, cakes, pies, cookies, and more. There are lots of full-color photos throughout the book, along with stories the authors share about their successful business. Everything at Zingerman’s is really, really good, so that means there are lots and lots of great recipes in this book including: Big O Cookies, Sour Cream Coffee Cake, Bakehouse Bagels, Focaccia with Gorgonzola and Caramelized Onions. Bakehouse Blondies and Brownies, Detroit-Style Pizza, and Challah, Rye, and Sourdough breads.

I had to try the recipe for the brownies, since that’s one of the things I had at the Bakehouse. They were amazing! Zingerman’s actually has several different brownie versions which are in the book–this is the basic version. I really shouldn’t use the word “basic” to describe these, because they are actually pretty exceptional–dense, fudgy, and chocolatey. If you are a brownie-lover you will need to make these. And soon!

I can’t say enough good things about these brownies or about Zingerman’s! If you are ever in Ann Arbor, Michigan, be sure to go there! Have any of you already been to or heard of Zingerman’s?

HERE’S SOME INFORMATION ON PASTRY FLOUR SUBSTITUTIONS…

Pastry flour is a high-starch and low-protein flour, similar to, but not the same as, cake flour. If you don’t have pastry flour, you can easily make pastry flour by substituting half cake flour and half all-purpose flour in a recipe (if you want a more precise match, use 3/8 cup of all-purpose flour and 5/8 cup of cake flour per one cup of pastry flour).

If you don’t have cake flour, use 2 Tablespoons of cornstarch combined with enough all-purpose flour to make a cup. Your baked goods will be a bit tougher (due to the extra protein), but they’ll still be good.

Sharing at Hearth & Soul, Meal Plan Monday, Fiesta Friday, Thursday Favorite Things, Full Plate Thursday.