Hi there, today we’re excited to release the second episode in our 2022 Baking Month. Today’s guest is Brian Levy, whose sugar-free baking book, Good & Sweet, is out now. For all of December, we’ll be celebrating some of the year’s best baking books with a handful of author interviews, dozens of featured recipes, excerpts, and more. Read on!
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Episode 148: Brian Levy
Next in our Baking Month series, Brian Levy joins us to #TalkCookbooks!
Brian’s interest in cooking and gastronomy began in high school when he went on a month-long trip to France. He discovered Gourmet magazine and started watching Martha Stewart, The Two Fat Ladies, and more food TV.
Before he began his career in pastry, Brian studied journalism and was determined to work for Gourmet. To build up his resume, he thought some experience in the kitchen might help—so he went back to France where he interned in a bistro outside of Paris. Eventually, he made his way to New York where he interned at Michelin-starred Babbo before later studying architecture at Yale.
Brian’s first cookbook, Good and Sweet: A New Way to Bake with Naturally Sweet Ingredients, has been called a “game-changing collection of desserts” by celebrated author and baker Alice Medrich.
In the book, Brian eschews processed sugar and common substitutes like maple syrup, opting instead to let pure fruits and other whole ingredients naturally sweeten and enliven his recipes.
Bonus Content + Recipes This Week
This week, paid subscribers will receive three featured recipes from Good & Sweet: Rosemary-Lemon Shortbread, a Pistachio-Studded Peach Galette, and the Perfect Currant Scone.
Find the recipes here:
More Salt + Spine Baking Month!
ICYMI, yesterday we featured recipes from Chetna's Easy Baking: Simple Cakes with a Twist of Spice by Chetna Makan:
And stay tuned to our Substack this week for exclusive recipes from Benjamina Ebuehi’s The New Way to Cake and a featured conversation with Erin Jeanne McDowell.
Brian Levy leans into natural sweeteners in debut Good & Sweet