Leslie Mackie's Macrina Bakery & Café Cookbook

Leslie Mackie's initial bread-making experience took place in her first grade class. The dye was cast at that point in terms of her life's work and we should all be thanking her teacher, Mrs. Johnson. If we had her address, we'd share it with you. Of course there were more experiences between first grade and the opening of Macrina Bakery & Café in 1993 and Leslie shares some of them in the book, giving it a warm, personal feel. But mostly it's about the bread.

Through her schooling and travels, she kept notes on everything. All these thoughts eventually brought her to that summer of '93 when the first bakery opened in Belltown with a full line of artisan breads, a few muffins, coffee cakes and tarts. Things really took off and a year later they took over the retail space next door to the bakery. It became the café. In 2002, they opened a second location, this one on top of Queen Anne hill. This cookbook came out in 2003 just at the moment of her tenth anniversary. Coincidence? We think not. This reprinted version includes a new chapter of most requested recipes. In 2006, a Vashon Island location was opened.

Book cover photo courtesy of Sasquatch Books

Leslie shares bread-baking techniques, basic ingredients needed and kitchen must-haves and nice-to-haves (tools). She gives clear and simple day-by-day instructions on how to make a natural sour starter, then moves on to a whole wheat starter, campagne natural starter and biga-started breads (they take less time to make and leftovers are discarded as opposed to the natural sour starter which can be used for "years or even decades").

The book is easy to ready and Leslie gives tips that help you successfully reproduce her recipes. For example, "If a recipe calls for melted butter, I recommend melting it over medium heat, then letting it cool slightly for about two minutes. It's best if the melted butter is warmer than room temperature, but not too hot to the touch."

Clear instructions include the reason behind the steps. "I think the most important step is the creaming of the butter and sugar. Beating the ingredients until the sugar is fully dissolved and the butter is oxygenated, giving it a pale color, will result in lighter and fluffier coffee cakes."

If you're perpetually in a hurry or working under a deadline, it's easy to want to cut things short. With the book's explanations, you know why it's important to do it right. When making bread pudding, for example, she says "The drier the bread cubes, the more easily they will absorb the custard, which will give the final pudding a lighter texture." So take the time to dry those cubes!

In addition to breads and baking, the book includes recipes that are Café favorites, brunch items from past and present Macrina chefs, lunch recipes and the new chapter on most requested recipes. Leslie includes some fun background information, like how brunch was never in her original plan. In 1994, there weren't a lot of good breakfast options and Macrina's customers spoke up (demanded!) weekend brunch.

Although she believes in "staying true to a recipe's traditions," she acknowledges that you have to be open to dealing with food allergies and personal choices. She includes a recipe for sesame millet bread that has no gluten and one for Blackburn wheat bread that is vegan. Her pie dough recipe is updated to use palm fruit shortening to avoid trans fat.

Whether you're a baker or not, you'll appreciate her constant refrain that it's best to experiment and make recipes your own and then share them with friends and family for that communal, social effect. In fact, Leslie has recently taken steps to ensure that she gets to focus on that side of things. She's formed a partnership with Pagliacci Pizza and DeLaurenti Specialty Food & Wine that will allow her to spend her time baking and not running the business. Each Macrina loaf has always been formed by hand; with this new partnership, loyal fans can relax knowing this will continue to happen with Leslie in the kitchen.

Click here to see Macrina's Fresh Fruit Coffee Cake recipe

Buy this book now!

Gay Douglas/February 2007