The Best Baking Cookbooks of 2018

I don't understand the writer's fuss over the double cream or the superfine sugar called for in many of Donna Hay's recipes. I don't have any difficulty finding heavy and light creams (36% and 30% milkfat, respectively) in my supermarket's dairy case. And I wouldn't hesitate to use baker's sugar - also readily available at my local supermarket - in place of superfine sugar. (It is simply finer granulated sugar.) What I do find a bit more challenging about that cookbook - which *is* beautifully photographed! - is Ms. Hay's insistence on using "self-raising" flour instead of all-purpose flour a separate leavener, which I ascribe to being an Aussie vs. an American thing. I'll have to Google the right proportions of AP flour and baking powder to substitute.

"... it would be nice to see her books fully adapted for the American home baker". An odd comment, given that it is an Australian cookbook written by an Australian, so of course it should not be "fully adapted for the American home baker" because there are plenty of American cookbooks already. Furthermore, Donna Hay's book does indeed provide substitutes for Australian ingredients, including double cream (she suggests heavy cream). And her book has been thoughtful enough to include both metric and US measurements; the former is often missing from many American cookbooks. It's not all about the American reader. But Ms Laskey seems to think only Americans read the New York Times?

From the review: ‘If there is one sticking point, it’s that some of Ms. Hay’s (Australian) recipes call for ingredients like double cream that are not easy to find in the United States, and she provides no substitutes.’ Welcome to our world! So many recipe books currently published in the US offer few or no substitutes for ingredients for non-American countries which can be very frustrating. Nor do these books give the metric equivalents for the archaic Imperial weights and measures still in use in the US.

Just wow. This article ignores Stella Parks' "Bravetart: Iconic American Desserts." It won the 2018 James Beard Award for best dessert cookbook. What are you thinking?

Unless your kitchen is 100 degrees or so, removing eggs and butter from the refrigerator 30 minutes in advance will NOT bring them to "room temperature", ie, 70 or 75 degrees. Most refrigerators are COLD. It will take at least a couple of hours for eggs and butter to become "room temperature". After years of emails and comments to Sam Sifton I finally got him to admit that bringing a roast beef from the fridge for "an hour" ahead of time would not get it *remotely* near "room temperature".

I find everything I make from Sister Pie to be excellent and I will continue to use it frequently. My issue: the use of volume measurements rather than weight for many ingredients. Their choice is mentioned in the book, true. But why not both? It is a delightful and useful book in every other way.

Adding salt (or salted caramel) to sweet things seems now a matter of fashion. It doesn't appeal at a time when we are told to reduce salt generally. I am curious about the idea of being fashionable in cooking....

Baking and baking cookbooks are for gentle souls. Their products should be respectfully eaten with a desert fork and accompanied by a cup of tea, held in the hand with the little finger bent and protruding to the side. I do not like pies filled with gooey ingredients, some fruit pies are well enjoyable, but by far the best is flowerless dark chocolate mousse torte. No offense meant to the makers and lovers of traditional pies.

Wot? No bread books this year?

You can find the recipe for that amazing-looking chocolate cake on Donna Hay's website ... and black sea salt is available on Amazon.

Every December I look forward to this feature in the Food section because I am always asked what cookbook I would like for my birthday and Christmas. These wonderful NYT food editors do the grunt work and research and always, ALWAYS come up with at least 2 or more baking hits. I cannot wait to peruse Donna Hay’s “400-page doorstop” cookbook, “Modern Baking: Cakes, Cookies and Everything in Between” with its “jaw-dropping photography”. It’s always the photography that lures me into the kitchen to see what ingredients I have on hand vs. need to purchase for the recipe I “must make right now”. The picture of Ms. Hay’s salted chocolate dark chocolate layer cake with milk chocolate ganache truly jumped out at me. I think that will be my birthday cake of choice this year. I was thrilled to read that Rose Levy Beranbaum wrote another cookbook. I love her “Rose's Christmas Cookies” book and thumb through it every December. It’s a work of beauty and art. I cannot wait to get my hands on her “ Baking Basics: 100 Essential Recipes” book. What intrigued me the most is the “Sister Pie” cookbook because pies have always intimidated me which is probably why I have never been a pie person. But my husband adores that dessert so hopefully this new book will help dispel those fears and make a pie baker out of me yet. I think this book will be at the top of my husband’s list of gifts to give me this year. Thanks for a wonderful and enlightening article!