I am a huge fan of Asian cuisine, but I consider myself more of a cook than a baker. When I saw this title, however, I couldn't resist. And it did not disappoint. I immediately fell in love with Ms. Lieu's story and the visuals. Her modesty, welcoming attitude, and charm come through in spades. This book is a truly a delight. The pictures, the design, the layout and, of course, the recipes (and their instructions) all combine to create a fabulous experience. I've already purchased the physical copy of this book (and I joined her FB group) and can't wait to try each and every recipe. I also think this book would make a great gift for anyone interested in Asian cuisine or in baking in general.

How can you not want to make EVERYTHING from this book?! The photography is stunning. The recipes are easy to follow. This is everything I want in a great cookbook. Ube, Matcha, Mochi- all the delicious things. I love that this includes sweet and savory recipes. I cannot wait to make so many of these recipes.

Asian baked goods are very popular right now and for good reason. Modern Asian Baking at Home gives you the tools to make these items yourself. It contains recipes for everything from cakes and cookies to bread and drinks. Lieu has focused on fully modern recipes as well as modern takes on classic recipes. If you like Matcha and Ube then there are a plethora of options for you. One of the best things about this book is that Lieu provides you with a basics section in the front to teach you how to use the materials and what certain techniques needed for this type of baking are (along with many pictures) I may ultimately just go get these from a local bakery or restaurant but now I have the ability to try making them myself.

(able to review this book through net galley)

This book was interesting for me to look through because I don't really eat asian sweets/baked goods. There's a few places near me, but not a lot. Flipping through this book, you can tell the author made this with love. Each recipe was not only photographed beautifully, but explained in a way that allowed me to understand some of the cultural significance. Any person would be lucky to have this book, and I can't wait to try more of the recipes.

Thank you to @quarto.knows #quarrybooks @katlieu @netgalley for the digital ARC in return for my honest review.
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My thoughts…
I want the physical book!!!! This was a beautiful book. The pictures looked so pretty and yummy! And, the recipes were yummy too. The subtitle of this book is: “Essential Sweet and Savory Recipes for Milk Bread, Mochi, Mooncakes, and More; Inspired by the Subtle Asian Baking Community as good!” As an Asian who grew up and loves to eat Asian baking, this book was a joy to have. My favourite baking is pretty much anything that has “ube” in it! That’s my #pilipina self. I tried the “Soft Crumb Ube White Chocolate Scones,” “Brazos de Mercedes Meringue Swirl,” and “Mochi-stuffed Ube Crinkle Cookies.” Sooooo yummy! And, unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures before they were all eaten! If you’re a baker, or likes to eat baked goods, this book may be for you.
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To the publishers: I wouldn’t say no to a physical copy!🙏🏼

The mooncake cover piqued my curiosity on how to make one. And this book indeed is full of surprises. Not only the famous Chinese or Japanese sweet treats, they included Vietnamese, Indonesian and Indian desserts. And also some genius modification of European cakes and pastries with hints of Asian, such as matcha. Although I haven't tried to recreate the recipes, but surely will do some mouthwatering dishes amateur like me can make.

I love niche cookbooks, so I was extremely excited to be approved for a second Asian baking book. I don’t live in an area with a high density of Asian specialty stores - the Asian supermarket is about half an hour away - so pretty much all I know about Asian baking comes from the previous Asian baking book that I read. Which means I have ever so much left to learn! And I was looking to this book to fill the gaps. I was off to a great start because the author intended for her book to be a “baking buddy” for home cooks exploring East and Southeast Asian ingredients and techniques.

Modern Asian Baking begins with roughly twenty pages of introductory material, including discussions of the Asian pantry and techniques used in Asian baking. I really appreciated the global recipe notes in this section, which specified certain aspects of the recipes, such as “All eggs are large,” “All butter is unsalted,” “All dairy milk is full-fat.” Although having these specifications up front may cause some confusion when excerpting a recipe from the book, I appreciated how these notes streamlined the ingredients lists in the recipes. Also, it was helpful to know well upfront that all ingredients (including liquids) would be measured in grams, for consistency and accuracy. I was concerned that this meant that I would be unable to attempt any of the recipes until my housemate replaced the digital kitchen scale that he accidentally destroyed; however, once I started reading the recipes, I discovered that the measurements are in both Imperial units and grams. No need for a kitchen scale! The Techniques section of the introductory material is fairly extensive and visual, with photographs that illustrate, among other things, varying degrees of meringue stiffness and the windowpane test for bread dough.

After the introductory material is approximately 150 pages of recipes divided into seven different sections, each specializing in one or two types of Asian bakery goods. Much to my surprise there is not as much use of the oven as I expected in a baking book. A fair number of the recipes were adaptations of Western recipes with Asian ingredients, including matcha chocolate chip cookies, blue pea flower shortbread, black sesame beignets, ube scones, and miso brownies. A good portion of the recipes seem to be classic Asian ones that appeared in the other Asian baking book, such as milk bread, moon cakes, steamed buns, scallion pancakes, and almond cookies. Each recipe starts with an author’s note providing the background of and the inspiration for the recipe. The Recipe Specs chart contains the prep time, cook time, inactive time, and yield of the recipe. The recipe steps are clearly written, with some humorous asides, and seem to be easy to follow.

Much like the previous Asian baking book that I read, the author of Modern Asian Baking is not classically trained: she is an avid self-taught home baker who started an “inclusive and diverse” Facebook group for Asian bakers two years prior to the book’s publication. Therefore, the vast majority of the recipes in this book seem to be either inspired by or adapted from recipes provided by other individuals in the Facebook group and/or adapted from other Internet sources. While the author is meticulous about crediting her sources and about citing everyone’s Instagram handles and website URLs in the blurbs before the recipes, it almost feels like she should have been credited as the editor rather than the author. Even though the cover has a blurb on it that states that the book was inspired by the Subtle Asian Baking community. I also wasn’t surprised to find minor inconsistencies throughout the book, such as a recipe that says to thread three pieces of fruit onto a bamboo skewer while the accompanying photo shows about eight pieces on the skewer. Or a different recipe that says the yield is eight cookies but only instructs to divide the cookie dough into four pieces.

Overall, I enjoyed both Asian baking books. This one had more variety in the recipes and fewer exotic recipes than the prior one. The prior one had more stories and information about Asian bakeries in the United States and the delicacies that they carry. I don’t know if I really need to add two Asian baking books in my 150+ book cookbook collection; however, there is so little overlap between the two volumes that it will be difficult to choose just one.

I received this book as a digital advance reader copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest opinion. I have yet to try any of the recipes from this book, but will update my review when I do.

Modern Asian Baking at Home: Essential Sweet and Savory Recipes for Milk Bread, Mochi, Mooncakes, and More; Inspired by the Subtle Asian Baking Community is a great cookbook for those looking to expand their baking repertoire into different cuisines. The cookbook includes a good introduction, with techniques, an Asian pantry glossary, and essentials for success.

Modern Asian Baking at Home is divided into the following sections, which I have listed with some of the standout recipes.

Basics and Confections: Night Market Scallion Pancakes; DIY Boba Adventure; Satisfying Korean Egg Bread; Dorayaki Pancakes with Anko (Sweet Bean) Paste

Sab's Favorite Cookies and Pastries: Berry Matcha Cream Bars; Gooey Fudgy Miso Brownies; Tangzhong Milk Bread

Airy and Not-Too-Sweet Cakes: Cottony Japanese Cheesecake; Pandan Chiffon Cake

Bread and Yeasted Bakes: Super Easy Milk Bread; Pineapple Buns; Butter Basil Sourdough Naan; Korean Garlicky Cream Cheese Milk Bread Buns

Treats Under One Moon and Holiday Bakes: Snowy Skin Mooncake; Mochi Stuffed Ube Crinkle Cookies

Custards and Frozen: Simply Perfect Purin (Japanese Flan); Magical Ginger Milk Curd

Drinks: Vietnamese Egg Palgona Coffee; Homemade Soy Milk; Mango Lassi with Sago

A well photographed cookbook with good instructions, I would recommend Modern Asian Baking at Home to other readers.

Disclaimer: I was given an Advanced Reader's Copy by NetGalley and the publisher. The decision to read and review this cookbook was entirely my own.

This book takes me back to my younger years of going to Chinatown with my family and enjoying the delicacies of dim sum, Chinese baked goods, and delicious aromas that filled the kitchen. This is a book that I will need to purchase to dive into all my favorite recipes, such as the egg custard tart, the Asian bakery fresh cream cake, and the one appetizer I always order: scallion pancakes.

What I love about this book is the readily available substitutions if a certain ingredient can't be found. The instructions are straight forward and it's as if Kat is having a conversation with you! Bright colorful photos will make your mouth water.

This will be the perfect addition to our pre-school bread study as I introduce my students to all of my childhood favorites.

Thank you to Kat Lieu, the publisher, and NetGalley for this advanced readers copy in exchange for my honest review.

This book is a treasure. The photographs and overall aesthetic are gorgeous. The recipes were all really well explained and everything looked easy enough to accomplish, if you have at least some basic experience with baking. Even if you live in a place were some Asian products aren't available there are still enough recipes for you to try to make this a book worth getting.

I received an electronic review copy from the publisher and here are my thoughts.

If you flip through this book's preview and start to feel hungry...just get it!

It has amazing authentic and also fusion-style Asian treats. I loved the creativity that went into the recipes.
The recipes look mouth-watering, and gorgeous. I have so many cookbooks that I have stopped adding to my collection unless the book offers me something I do not have...and this book has it.

Wonderful Asian and Fusion treats that you won't find anywhere else. Take a look at the preview and let that and your stomach will guide you.

I have pre-ordered this book and can't wait for it to arrive.

A delightful collection of asian recipes.

Kat Lieu gives us a comprehensive collection of popular asian treats spanning several different cultures and both classic (like tanghulu) and modern (like japanese fluffy pancakes) options.

I don't feel like there's a ton to say about this book, beyond that the recipes are all clear and look super delicious, but I'm very excited that this book exists. It's nice to have a large collection of options all available together. It's great to have recipes to make perennial favorites (I can make mochi in my microwave ?!?) as well as some unexpected options (like butter basil sourdough naan).

I'm looking forward to giving these recipes a try and I definitely recommend that you check out this book too if you like yummy foods from asian bakeries and cafes!

I really enjoyed the recipes in this book. The pictures and directions make it easy to follow. The techniques section walked you through the more advanced processes of the recipe. However, for the most part these are relatively amateur home-grown recipes so I didn’t have too much difficulty as a non-baker following a long. My two major critiques would be:

1. because some recipes were developed through trial and error, the directions are a bit purposefully vague (as in no specific directions) and require some trial and error on your part
2. I wish the recipes took yield time into account (Some do but not all)

There is SUCH a wide variety of recipes in here, and I really appreciated all the different uses for matcha especially, and the wide variety of cheesecakes. The instructions are easy to follow and the book is formatted very well, so that ingredients and instructions don’t co-mingle on the page. I love the asides by the author, which are both informative and occasionally funny. Lastly, there’s brilliant photography. If you’re interested in levelling up your baking, I don’t think you can go wrong with Modern Asian Baking at Home. Four stars! Full list of recipes on my blog.

This book is a must have if you love Asian home baking. There is just so much to look at in this book and it is so easy to follow. The colourful pictures are just so inspiring and I love that the author includes pictures of "how to" to get the results. So much effort has been put into bringing this book to fruition, and the introduction is so heartwarming. Thank you for introducing us to your family and your delicious recipes. I loved flipping over each page and being surprised by so many new to me recipes.

This is a 5* baking book for me and I have just pre-ordered 2 hard copies of this book and an ebook to take with me. Definitely recommend it to all who love baking and creating in the kitchen.

Thank you to Netgalley and Kat Lieu for the opportunity to read and give an honest review of this book, it was a delight to read.

I loved this cookbook! The recipes I tried tasted so good and were easy to follow. There are so many recipes that sound amazing and I can’t wait to try more of them. This cookbook will become a staple for my kitchen.

I knew I had to read this cookbook when I saw the beautiful mooncakes on the cover. My goodness they look like works of art. The Pros: There are lots of photos throughout the book. The recipes are short and concise. There are many recipes for drinks and dishes offered at your favorite restaurants and bakeries that you can now make at home. For example: dalgona coffee, mochi (a microwave version), and ube halaya jam. The Cons: I couldn't find any. I have to admit when I finished reading this cookbook I went back and read it again. That doesn't happen often. A great cookbook to add to your collection.

Interesting recipes, easy to follow instructions and well put out spreads for the pages. Good photography and lots of different sections.

Nice photos and innovative recipes!
I enjoyed flicking through the books and bookmarked a few recipes to try. I love Asian flavours in baking goodies, so I will definitely try a few recipes!

#ModernAsianBakingatHome #NetGalley

I really liked Modern Asian Baking at Home. With easier access to Asian foods in my area now, I'm able to appreciate such a beautiful cuisine. Add to that quite a few recent dietary restrictions, this cookbook has helped me embrace the positive of restrictions and get excited about different cuisines that come with ingredients I don't need to adapt, allowing me to enjoy the recipes to the fullest. Combined with beautiful photos, easy to follow instructions, and ingredients I can find in my (now) local Asian grocery store.

I will be keeping my eye out for more books from Kat Lieu with gratitude and excitement.