Yes, and this latest book by food chemist Shirley O. Corriher aims to deliver "the hows and whys of successful baking with over 200 magnificent recipes." Hooray!

So, are all the mysteries solved? Sadly not as Corriher sets about this daunting project from a curious angle: the recipes themselves, an odd mix of southern (as in biscuits, cream pies and layer cakes) and French (financier, souffles and cream puffs) baked goods. Considering the author is a scientist, not a pastry chef, recipe analysis, as opposed to chapters specifically devoted to ingredient properties and or cooking techniques, seems a roundabout way to transmit her message.

You'll have to read through the entire text to pick up tips instead of having them classified under such common food chemistry headings as "emulsification," "crystallization," "the effect of heat" and "the binding properties of starches and flours."

And from a scientist, I also expect a strong endorsement of tools such as the thermometer, microwave and kitchen scale. She provides metric measures (hooray!), so why not discuss the advantages of using a scale? There are many.

Although tempting for anyone who likes to bake, I wonder who BakeWise is meant for. Chefs will find little in the way of innovative scientific breakthroughs here.

Understanding food chemistry does indeed play a role in helping us become better bakers, but so many of these suggestions and bold statements (roasting nuts improves flavour, butter enhances flavour) are obvious.

Beginners will be burdened by the lack of clarity and length of the recipes. The pate à choux recipe counts 12 steps, and the pound cake calls for butter, Crisco and canola oil. Problems continue with the laborious method of the recipes and the lack of some key visual reference points. Illustrations would also have helped.

And then there's my long list of whys: Why use release foil sprayed with nonstick cooking spray when parchment paper - or, better yet, a silicone baking sheet - is better and cheaper? In the roasted pecan chocolate chip cookie recipe, she admits the baking soda is "excessive and overleavens," but keeps it in there to make a "slightly darker cookie." What's so great about a darker cookie?

When making the crème Anglaise, why not use a thermometer instead of cooking it over a water bath, a dated method if ever there was one? Why doesn't she add notes about how long a product keeps - an important factor with creams because of the egg content?

Why bother chopping chocolate in the food processor before melting it in the microwave? Why pour the hot syrup into a glass cup when making Italian meringue (get used to pouring it in a stream from the pot; it's actually less dangerous than transferring it into a cup)? Why are so many recipes rich, sweet, calling for vegetable shortening and corn syrup, two ingredients off-limits for many health-conscious bakers?

I appreciated much of Ms. Corriher's first book, CookWise (William Morrow, 1997), but her baking book misses the mark. Granted, there's useful information here, and some of the recipes are excellent, but you'll have to plow through 500 pages of text to find them. A good editor and a better layout would have made a world of difference.

The Buzz: Along with Harold McGee, Shirley Corriher is a big name and beloved figure in American food circles. Her work can be found in all the top cooking magazines and she's a frequent guest on Alton Brown's show, Food TV's Good Eats. I first heard Corriher was working on BakeWise in 2000, and it has been a highly anticipated book for almost a decade.

The test: The Southern biscuits with a "touch of grace" were salty, greasy and heavy (perhaps, I'm thinking, self-rising flour in the U.S. is different than in Canada?). Shirley's Even Greater American Pound Cake was moist and delicious, but this cake counts 14 ingredients, whereas the classic pound cake counts four. The cakey brownies count 15 ingredients - including four kinds of sugar (!). Fortunately, they were outstanding - even if the nuts listed in the ingredients never made it into method of the recipe.

Who is this book for? BakeWise is tough to recommend, as it falls short for so many reasons. Anyone hoping this would be the Holy Grail of baking books will be disappointed, for despite Corriher's background, the book's not cool and calculated, as we'd expect from a scientist, but a jumble of facts, hit-and-miss recipes and personal anecdotes. The Cook's Illustrated books are far better at this kind of analytical recipe testing, and for French readers, I would highly recommend Ricardo Larrivee's and Christine Blais's book La Chimie des Desserts (editions La Presse 2007) any day over this one.