Magnolia Bakery's new cookbook, "The Magnolia Bakery Handbook: A Complete Guide for the Home Baker", was written by Bobbie Lloyd, the company’s chief baking officer. The book features 150 foolproof recipes and techniques, including Lloyd’s tips for making the ultimate holiday pie (which follow).

Professional bakers use a scale for a key reason: it's precise. Baking is so much neater and more reliable when you use a scale. For example, when measuring dry ingredients, place a bowl large enough to hold all ingredients onto the scale, tare or zero it out, add the flour, zero it out again, then add the remaining ingredients one at a time, zeroing out between additions. This saves on cleanup, as you are only using one bowl.

It's important for ingredients to be at the proper temperature to ensure the recipe is successful. Pie doughs and scones require cold butter. Some recipes will specify using ice water, which really means use ice water, not just cold water. Some general fast facts-- it is easier to separate cold eggs and cut into cold butter; heavy cream won't whip if it's not cold.

Baking recipes are always presented in steps. For example, first you usually sift the dry ingredients together and set them aside. This is an important step so that when the time comes to add the dry ingredients into the wet, you don't need to stop. I prefer to place all the dry ingredients in a bowl and whisk them together. You will generally get the same results as sifting without the mess.

When you add the top crust to a classic fruit-filled pie – like an apple pie, for example – you should press your dough toward the center (over the apples). This allows the dough to “drop” during baking.