When I was little I remember watching my grandma bake the most delicious cakes, cobblers, and pies. I would visit in the summers and my grandpa and I would sit side by side after dinner enjoying peach cobbler or coconut cake. My grandma bakes from memory and while she’s shared her recipes with me, never once has my dessert ever turned out as good as hers. That hasn’t stopped me from trying. My love for baking started there and it’s just grown over the years along with my collection of cookbooks. I know it’s easy to pull up recipes on the interwebs and you can call me old-fashioned but, I love thumbing through a cookbook. I have a few favorites that I always find myself grabbing from the shelves. I thought it would be a good time to share my favorite baking cookbooks. These are great as gifts for others or yourself!
Artisan Sourdough Made Simple | I bought this book about a year ago after doing a bunch of research on sourdough baking. I started with a sourdough starter last year in September and started working my way through this book. I began making artisan-style loaves of sourdough bread weekly using her recipe and eventually tweaking it into my own. I love the waffles, bagels, and cinnamon raisin bread too.
The Book on Pie | This book is a recent purchase for me because I’m trying to perfect my pie-making skills. Erin is known for her All Buttah pie crust which happens to be the most challenging pie crusts to make. There are dozens and dozens of delicious pies from sweet to savory inside the pages of this book. My favorite thing about this book is how detailed her instructions are.
Pastry Love | This book is new to me but the minute I opened it I knew I would love it. Classic recipes leveled up. Things like Chocolate Caramel Oreos, Real Butterscotch Pudding, and the entire cake section has me drooling.
The Baking Bible | This Rose Levy Beranbaum book is a classic. It’s one of the first ones I purchased when I really started getting into baking. It stretches you out of your comfort zone with new ingredients and techniques. When I want to impress people I thumb through this one.
The Vanilla Bean Book |I’m a Sarah Kieffer fangirl and I became one after this book. She’s the creator of the original pan banging chocolate chip cookie although that recipe isn’t in this book there are many other incredible recipes.
Weeknight Baking | I’ve been following Hummingbird High for a long time now so when her book came out I had to snag it. My family loves dessert and sometimes I don’t think to make anything until just before dinner time. This book has saved me so many times when that happens. I just flip through Weeknight Baking and pick something I have all the ingredients for and bam, we have a delicious dessert.
Art of the Pie | I think Matt got me this book several years ago for Christmas. By that point, I was making a lot of cookies and cakes but hadn’t really ventured into the world of pie. This was a great introduction. It helped me learn so much about pie crust and using different fats in the crust. It differs from The Book on Pie just enough that I think you need both.
100 Cookies | As a true Sarah Kieffer fangirl, I pre-ordered this book weeks before it came out. When it arrived in the mail I baked out of it that same day. I’ve now made at least ten recipes in this book and they are all incredible. Matt and I even did a bake-off where we both made a recipe from this book and had our friends vote on which cookie was better. The brownie cookie won.
Flour Water Salt Yeast |After baking sourdough for some time and really getting the hang of the ingredients and metrics I bought this book to up my game. The recipes are more sophisticated than I usually make but they are really fun to play around with. It has really stretched my skills. I’ve especially grateful for the pizza dough recipe in this book and can’t wait to perfect it soon.
If it isn’t yet obvious, I am a cookbook junkie. If you have any recipe books that you love will you share them with me below? I will likely add them to my wishlist if they come recommended by you!
I’ll have to check some of these out. I’ve been on the hunt for a really good bread (not just sourdough) cookbook. I would love to try out classic bread recipes that we don’t eat a lot.