31 bake from scratch
“A CASE OF YOU”
Joni Mitchell, Blue (1971)
“It’s mellow and gets my day started. If I’m baking
whole wheat bread or carrot cake, it brings back
memories of the commune I grew up on.”“CRAZY LOVE”
Van Morrison, Moondance (1970)
“This one’s slow and a little more intense. To me, it’s a
perfect sourdough-kneading sound.”“TEXAS SUN”
Khruangbin and Leon Bridges, Texas Sun (2020)
“This is the perfect song to distract me from wanting
to open the oven door while something is still baking.”“I’M COMING OUT”
Diana Ross, Diana (1980)
“When I hear this, I get inspired to drape ganache
over a chocolate cake or add some sprinkles to it.”“HOMEMADE DYNAMITE (REMIX)”
Lorde (featuring Khalid, Post Malone, and SZA),
Melodrama (2017)
“This is my go-to soundtrack whenever I get the
blowtorch out!”“NICE FOR WHAT”
Drake, Scorpion (2018)
“I need a solid beat to end just about any project, and
Drake always delivers.”ZOË’S TOP TUNES
Music is an essential part of Zoë’s baking process.
Here’s her ultimate baking playlist.to easily accessible workstations, speed racks built into a “garage” under the
island, and professional-grade appliances. Zoë’s also fi lled the room with her
favorite sentimental fi nds, like an antique French bread cooling rack that she
uses to store her dishes. A votive candle bearing the likeness of Ina Garten
sits on her stove, a gift to her from blogger Erin McDowell of Cloudy Kitchen.
In the corner, a black-and-white framed photo of famed pastry chef August
Sander that her husband gave her faces the kitchen’s main work space. “My
husband says he wanted someone to watch over me,” Zoë says cheerfully,
“And as for the candle, who doesn’t need the patron saint of baking, Ina
Garten, in their kitchen?” Because no kitchen would be complete without
a few cookbooks, Zoë’s stocked a built-in shelf behind the island full of her
favorite tomes, all arranged by color. Adjacent to her kitchen library is one
of Zoë’s most prized possesions: a silver spoon collection her grandmother
gathered from her travels and from Zoë’s Norwegian great-grandparents.
Uniting practicality with a unique sense of home, Zoë’s made her kitchen the
perfect headquarters for Zoë Bakes, as well as her favorite room in the house.After authoring two more books with Jeff, Zoë is still involved with the
Bread in Five books and brand but is also growing Zoë Bakes to incredibleheights. She’s writing her fi rst solo cookbook, Zoë Bakes Cake, that will be the
culmination of her career. Releasing in spring of 2021, the concept is simple:
it’s all about cake. With recipes ranging from a simple pound cake to a rum-
soaked black cake and advanced genoise, the book is packed with her best tips
and food science facts. “I want people to understand the what and why behind
my recipes,” she explains. It’s her teaching power translated into print. Along
with her own cookbook, Zoë is also expanding her brand by producing more
in-depth YouTube tutorials. She’ll continue to post the Instagram stories she’s
so famous for, but her YouTube videos will be a place for her to share her
pastry knowledge more fully than before. By adapting to the ever-changing
worlds of baking and social media, Zoë is ensuring that she can keep inspiring
home bakers across the globe.A perfect hybrid between pastry chef, blogger, and baking instructor, Zoë
really is living the sweet life. She refl ects on this as she cleans leftover dough
from her butcher block with a bench scraper. “Everything I do is with the
purpose of sharing the freedom I get from baking,” she says. After looking
through her beautiful feed and her lively videos, it’s impossible not to feel the
same joy she does. For Zoë, that’s mission accomplished.