Flo Braker — earned raves as pastry chef and cookbook author
Flo Braker, a home cook who grew to national recognition as an expert baker and luminary cookbook author, has died after complications from a fall. She was 78.
Ms. Braker, a Palo Alto resident, wrote several books, including her 1984 debut, “The Simple Art of Perfect Baking,” as well as the award-winning “Sweet Miniatures” (1991) and “Baking for All Occasions” (2008). For more than two decades, she penned The Baker column in The Chronicle. In 1997, she was inducted into the James Beard Foundation’s Who’s Who of Food and Beverage in America.
“When you think of pastry champions — someone who was a great baker from a technical standpoint and palate standpoint, and a champion of the pastry cooks in San Francisco — there was no one bigger than her,” said San Francisco pastry chef and cookbook author Emily Luchetti. “She knew everybody and was so supportive of the community.”
Florence Ann Gumberts was born and raised in Evansville, Ind. In a 2005 column, she wrote about how she was transfixed by baking at a young age, watching her family’s cook, Dorothy Temme, beat butter and sugar in a large bowl by hand with a wooden spoon as she made pies, cookies and cakes.
She met her future husband, Dave, while the two were attending the University of Michigan. The couple married in 1960 and decided to move to Palo Alto shortly afterward. As her family grew, so did her inquisitiveness for baking.
“She just got into baking because it was something that intrigued her,” Dave Braker said. “She knew nothing about it, she just started reading lots of cookbooks.”
In addition to baking for family and friends, Ms. Braker launched a small catering business, called Occasional Baking, that kept her busy for several years during the 1960s. In the early 1970s, she attended cooking classes in San Francisco led by Jack Lirio, who became a mentor. Eventually, Lirio asked her to teach baking classes with him.
She wrote about home entertaining for the San Jose Mercury News, and in 1989 she started writing The Baker column at The Chronicle. Her writing featured baking and pastry recipes that were approachable, educational and, above all, guaranteed to be delicious.
“She was so exacting in the way that she wrote her books and the way she explained baking,” said Celia Sack, owner of Omnivore Books in San Francisco. “Whether in person or in writing, it felt like she was there holding your hand.”
Ms. Braker’s star continued to rise. Shortly after “The Simple Art of Perfect Baking” was republished in 1992, she received a call from Julia Child inviting her to come to Cambridge, Mass., where the two spent a week together filming an episode of “Baking With Julia.”
In addition to her written works and television appearances, Ms. Braker was a charter member and president of the International Association of Culinary Professionals, and active in many other culinary organizations, including the San Francisco Professional Food Society and Les Dames D’Escoffier. She was also a founding member of the Bakers Dozen, a San Francisco educational and networking organization of baking professionals, educators, authors and serious home bakers.
“Whenever at the Bakers Dozen, whatever she would buy, the other bakers would want to buy,” said Sack, who met Ms. Braker at the Bakers Dozen meetings. “She would get some fancy chef-y book — and if Flo wanted it, then it had to be good.”
Ms. Braker is survived by her husband; son Jeffrey Braker of Burlingame; daughter Julie Weinstein of San Mateo; and three grandchildren. A memorial service is scheduled for 11 a.m. Sunday at Congregation Beth Am in Los Altos, followed by interment at Hills of Eternity Memorial Park in Colma.