Don’t just read Tartine, go to the bakery in San Francisco. Just do it! They make AMAZING pastries and cakes and coffee and .....
Melissa: How about the copyediting in those books? ; (I know how you used to feel about copy editors.) These look great.
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It’s frustrating to read and become interested in a Cooking article and then be unable to click through to the linked, offered recipe due to the paywall. I’m a Times subscriber. I expect to be able to read in full (including recipes) all articles offered in the paper for which I pay. Using recipes as a teaser to get more subscribers to your cooking service feels like a cheap trick. If you only want to send those stories to Cooking subscribers, then do so. I want to be able to read all the articles in the paper as it comes to me. If I can’t read the recipe, don’t publish the article in my digital edition.
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But - no bread cookbooks?
WHY O WHY??
Bread is the food of life! Melissa, we need your list of 2019’s greats!
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Hi! I thought this article was very helpful.
Noticed the one last year, in 2018, only reviewed three cookbooks. This year's format better, with a few more recommendations, would keep in future.
Based on article, I bought "Simple Cakes," by Odette Williams. Pleased to concur that it is a very lovely book! Has clear recipes, great photos and stories of author's childhood in Australia.
So far, made the Milk and Honey cake with honey whipped cream. It was a hit!
Overall, really nice article, gives multiple options and, based on the one I bought, reliable recommendations! Happy baking!
For me gluten-free recipes and unconventional flours are a minus if not a dealbreaker. I bought Simple Cake in hopes of finding a collection of, yes, simple cakes that would be the last cake book I would ever need. The lemon cake and the milk-and-honey are as good as they say. But the gingerbread, which is one of my top priorities, is a mess of whole-spelt flour. No. I'm not going to keep spelt flour on hand just to make this once or twice a year. When I do bake gluten-free goods for my one friend who avoids gluten (he's not celiac but his brother is and I love him too much to call him on it), I use an all-purpose 1-to-1 gluten-free mix. So I'm still looking.
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@Flora . I think you could substitute whole wheat flour for the spelt. (Or perhaps buy the exact amount you need in a bulk store, to avoid keeping it on hand.)
I just purchased Pastry Love and I have learned so
much already. Her information is great! Just the kind of info that I have been poking for in a baking cookbook and haven’t found...not in one place at least. Yay!!
Conspicuously absent from this list is the reissued edition of Claudia Fleming’s “The Last Course”. Perhaps it is Ms. Clark’s modesty since she is now coauthor, but I own 3 books from this list in addition to “The Last Course”, and Ms. Fleming’s and Ms. Clark’s book is most deserving to be included.
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The type is SO SMALL in the Tartine cookbook, I almost need a magnifying glass to read the recipes. I know I'm old, but 8pt (or less) is ridiculous for a cookbook.
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So interesting to see the Tartine book on this list right after the Tartine bakery in San Francisco was closed by the city health department. They were allowed to re-open a few days later after they presumably got rid of the vermin that had infested their facility. I am looking forward to reading the book more than I am interested in visiting the bakery. No mice in my kitchen.
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@Ken Danko It is disingenuous and naïve to think that a lot of kitchens do not have SOME type of issue that needs to be addressed. In Italy the car repair shops are traditionally cleaner than kitchens of restaurants. I work in a kitchen NOW and the individuals I work with have some basic voodoo magical thinking about food safety. And that is industry wide. I feel it speaks more to the heartiness of the human species than anything else.
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@DB
I know plenty of people who work in professional kitchens, and I know what you write is true. I try to be very selective about the restaurants I support. At least I know my kitchen is pristine, and that's the cooking I prefer.
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Terrific list. Sad that Maida Heatter's last book is not on here. I will purchase that one for my daughter this Christmas.
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Yes. I bought that right away 'cause I love Maida and have all her books. The first thing I made was the blueberry crumb cake. It was perfect, of course.
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Like many of you, I too use both cookbooks and the internet. But really there is nothing like delving into a book and ogling and trying the recipes! Thanks for this great list Melissa. I already own two of them and plan to add at least one more. I looked at the new Maida Heatter yesterday in the bookshop and loved the illustrations and format. And knowing Maida Heatter the recipes will be superb too.
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I have 3 of the 5 of these books and two more in my list of things I would like to buy.
I've had Simple Cake since it came out and it is a truly lovely book. I've made at least 4 things from it and all are great, even on a weeknight when the urge for chocolate cake can't be denied.
I just got Midwest Made and have a marble bundt bookmarked for this weekend. I love cookbooks!
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A lively, enjoyable read, as always. However, I'll stick to R.L. Beranbaum's Cake Bible for my needs.
But I must disagree with Ms. Clark on one point. Her praise for the fact that gluten free recipes are "practically hidden" & not even to be found in the index of the Tartine book is puzzling and disappointing.
"That these recipes are so integrated into the book is a testament to both how comfortable we have become with the roster of flours and starches necessary for gluten-free baking, and how far gluten-free baking has come."
I strongly disagree. I think this speaks to lazy organization and a rushed editorial process more than some fuzzy idea of "integration". If I'm baking for someone with celiac disease, I don't want to flip through the entire book to find a recipe. That info should be either in the index, the name of recipe, or indicated by it's place in the book (like a section in the table of contents, i.e., gluten free cakes). Or how about all three. The trend toward cutesy, non-utilitarian organization is irritating & not to be encouraged. A cookbook is a tool, it's primary function is a reference. It can also delight, entertain & inspire, but those things must be secondary. Some consider old works like Joy of Cooking or Craig Claiborn's NYT Cookbooks a bit stodgy, but they are meticulously organized and a pleasure to use. So many newer cookbooks fail the"user friendly" test.
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@A. Cleary Agree with you! There is nothing stodgy about the precision and excellence of all of Claiborne's work. Really miss him.
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@A. Cleary Maybe they were trying to make a statement that the gluten free recipes are as good or better than the rest, but as you said that's just not helpful when you need a GF one.
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@A. Cleary
Sadly, not having gluten-free recipes listed in the index is the result of a publishing industry that has lost its way. Many of us would simply call that LAZY, if not contemptible. Ms. Clark's waxing poetic about this omission is sad and disappointing.
I personally don't have a gluten issue, so I'm not interested in gluten-free recipes. However, just like nut allergies, gluten can be a serious issue for some. If a writer/publisher is going to care about all his or her readers, then this important information should be easy to find in the book's INDEX. No questions asked.
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I don't own any cookbooks .if I need a new recipe it's the internet sites. I do have a dozen or so family recipes in a small stash. but I have taken over 30 new cookbooks from my library this year and learned a lot and cooked alot from Asian to Sioux to everything that I never would of bought on my own.
Do people still buy and read cookbooks, or just buy them as gifts? If I want a recipe I just type it in on the internet and pick and choose or combine what I find. I have dozens of cookbooks and haven’t opened one in years.
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@Richard Agree, except Joy of Cooking, which I go to all the time.
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@Richard I use my cookbooks almost daily. Along with the internet.
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I love my cookbooks, you will often find a small stack next to my bed. The internet is also a great source but doesn’t have the intimacy of holding a book and reading a book.
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"The Last Course" by Claudia Fleming second printing ..don't know if qualifies because re-release--- but would certainly be placed first among chosen titles here.
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I agree. And “Tartine” is a reissue as well, although is is a “revised” edition and “The Final Course” is not revised.
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I’m always leary about “revised” editions, even first editions for that matter; it comes
down to a basic mistrust of all baking recipes in print because many recipes are poorly tested.
Many fail to take into account important details about the ingredients, types of ovens, environmental conditions, etc.
These factors are even more pertinent when following old recipes from perhaps 30 years ago, which may be treasured “classics” but are no longer as reliable as they used to be.
For instance, the overall quality of dairy products nowadays varies widely according to the brand whether it be milk, sour cream or butter.
Try recreating the quirky Hershey’s Mayonnaise Cake, I bet you would be shocked by a resulting failure because Best Foods Mayo is radically different from it’s original formula.
It was Jacques Pepin who wisely stated:
“If the recipe had been followed to the letter, the finished dish would have been a disaster, but understanding the idea in the platonic sense behind the dish enables the cook to adjust and compensate for ingredients, temperature, humidity, et cetera.
So, what is the point of at recipe? A recipe is a teaching tool, a guide, a point of departure. You have to follow it exactly the first time you make the dish. But as you make it again and again, you will change it, you will massage it to fit your own taste, your own sense of aesthetic.”
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/jacques-pepin-says-following-a-recipe-can-lead-to-disaster
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Wow! Which book to buy first and which recipes to first make. Decisions, decisions. This is why baking is for me the great escape. It is a way to leave behind the craziness in the world and just focus on something that can bring a smile, joy and content to those I love. Thank you for all of the suggestions.
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@Linda Greenwood
LOVE your comment and could not agree more.
I always found baking an escape as well although my husband always referred to it as therapy for my soul. He is such a cool and smart guy.
Happy baking Ms. Greenwood.
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With all due respect to the writers of baking cookbooks, why so many of them deal with sweet pies, and so few with savory? One can construct a most enjoyable diet, either omnivorous or vegan, including mushrooms, from savory pies alone, accompanied by appropriate wines.
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@Tuvw Xyz
With all due respect, maybe, at least in this particular article, the focus IS on sweet, rather than savory cookbooks, hence the term "best baking cookbooks" rather than simply "best cookbooks."
I think you may have stumbled onto the dessert section rather than the main course section.
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@Tuvw Xyz Check out When Pies Fly by Cathy Barrow!
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@Tuvw Xyz . I agree. I recommend Ken Haedrich’s “Dinner Pies” to you. (His “Harvest Baking” is a mix of sweet and savory, but vegetable and fruit heavy.) Anissa Helou’s “Savory Baking from the Mediterranean” is mostly breads, not pies, but a lovely book.
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Once again I knew I could count on Melissa Clark to feature at least 2 or more baking cookbooks that would be right up my kitchen alley.
Being a Wisconsin farm girl, I instinctively went to the "Midwest Made" cookbook. I love that line, "There are also plenty of simpler treats that would be catnip at any school bake sale." It's almost as if Ms. Clark knows my baking heart and spirit. I know whatever recipes it will contain will be sweet reminders of when I baked with my Mom.
Cannot wait to get my paws on that edition or the "Joys of Baking" and the "Simple Cake" cookbooks. It's almost as if these titles are serenading me to include them in my baking collection.
With my birthday right around the corner, any of these three baking books would be a wonderful treasure to add to my baking library. Of course the real joy and delight will be baking whatever treat the generous gift giver will be requesting that I bake for him or her.
Thank you Ms. Clark for this article and suggestions.
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@Marge Keller and being that your birthday is right around the corner, I want to wish you a very happy birthday to my favorite to read in the comment section commentators. You are the best, Marge Keller. Happy Birthday!
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@Martha White
What an incredibly sweet and kind comment Ms. White. WOW. You just made my day.
Thank you very, very much.
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@Martha White Let me second that! Party on, Marge!
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