Here are 20 books that The Perfect Loaf fans have personally recommended if you like
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I didn’t really mean to become a food photographer. But with the first photo that I took of a batch of homemade raspberry scones, I knew I found something special. And then, I didn't really mean to become a cookbook author. But photos led to recipes, which led to this crazy notion that the world needed a cookbook dedicated to doughnuts! I’ve since written five more cookbooks and have a bit of an obsession with beautifully designed and photographed baking books that can fuel my project baking and cooking fascination. The books on my list continue to inspire me, and hope they inspire you too.
Stella Parks approaches baking like I want to, but don’t really have the patience for.
She’s meticulous in her experimentation (check out her posts on Serious Eats) and baking science. In BraveTart, she turns her eyes to classic American desserts like Oreos, Fig Newtons, English Muffins and Graham crackers. Her recipes are stellar, and I like that I can enjoy them knowing that they are at least a little better health-wise than the store-bought versions.
I also enjoy reading through the bits of history each of the recipes includes. Having written a cookbook on remade childhood classics myself, I know the work that is involved!
If you have ever marvelled at a flawless slice of cherry pie in a television bake-off and wondered if you could re-create it at home, BraveTart is for you. Here are recipes for one-bowl Devil's Food Layer Cake, Blueberry Muffins, Glossy Fudge Brownies and even Parks's own recipes for re-creating popular supermarket treats! These meticulously tested, crystal-clear and innovative recipes bring a pastry chef's expertise to your kitchen.
Along the way, BraveTart tells the surprising story of how these desserts came to be. With a foreword by The Food Lab's J. Kenji Lopez-Alt, vintage illustrations of historical desserts and breathtaking…
I didn’t really mean to become a food photographer. But with the first photo that I took of a batch of homemade raspberry scones, I knew I found something special. And then, I didn't really mean to become a cookbook author. But photos led to recipes, which led to this crazy notion that the world needed a cookbook dedicated to doughnuts! I’ve since written five more cookbooks and have a bit of an obsession with beautifully designed and photographed baking books that can fuel my project baking and cooking fascination. The books on my list continue to inspire me, and hope they inspire you too.
The recipe I’ve probably made most out of anything that I’ve baked originally came from the Macrina cookbook.
It’s the currant anise scone recipe that makes the lightest and fluffiest scones and has pretty much ruined all other scones for me. It’s a scone recipe that makes me think I should go into the bakery business (in some other town than Seattle, which already has Macrina scones).
The book is worth buying just for the look you’ll get when you make these scones for the people you care about. Of course, there are also a lot more amazing recipes in the book, such as the morning buns, a mash up of croissant meets cinnamon roll which take 3 days to make but are worth every minute. This book is a treasure.
Leslie Mackie offers a treasury of recipes from Seattle's beloved Macrina Bakery. From breads to salads, pies to sandwiches you are sure to find a recipe in this attractive collection that will become a tradition at your house. Clearly written instructions and tips on everything from equipment, ingredients, and techniques will let you see for yourself why her breads and other baked treats are favorites in restaurants and homes across the Puget Sound region.
I didn’t really mean to become a food photographer. But with the first photo that I took of a batch of homemade raspberry scones, I knew I found something special. And then, I didn't really mean to become a cookbook author. But photos led to recipes, which led to this crazy notion that the world needed a cookbook dedicated to doughnuts! I’ve since written five more cookbooks and have a bit of an obsession with beautifully designed and photographed baking books that can fuel my project baking and cooking fascination. The books on my list continue to inspire me, and hope they inspire you too.
I lived in San Francisco for a year, just a few blocks away from Tartine Manufactory. Tartine has a well-deserved cult following for its tangy rustic loaves and baked goods.
I moved last year, and so unfortunately, I can no longer just pop over when I need a fix. Luckily, the Tartine Bread book lets me get very close at home. I love this type of project baking where I really feel accomplished at the end… even if it does take a couple of days to get there.
The book also has a ton of great fancy toast recipes that I can make in the rare case that I haven’t just eaten a whole loaf simply with a slather of butter.
"...The most beautiful bread book yet published..." - The New York Times
Tartine - A bread bible for the home baker or professional bread-maker! It comes from Chad Robertson, a man many consider to be the best bread baker in the United States, and co-owner with Elizabeth Prueitt of San Francisco's Tartine Bakery. At 5 P.M., Chad Robertson's rugged, magnificent Tartine loaves are drawn from the oven. The bread at San Francisco's legendary Tartine Bakery sells out within an hour almost every day.
I didn’t really mean to become a food photographer. But with the first photo that I took of a batch of homemade raspberry scones, I knew I found something special. And then, I didn't really mean to become a cookbook author. But photos led to recipes, which led to this crazy notion that the world needed a cookbook dedicated to doughnuts! I’ve since written five more cookbooks and have a bit of an obsession with beautifully designed and photographed baking books that can fuel my project baking and cooking fascination. The books on my list continue to inspire me, and hope they inspire you too.
One of my favorite things is being able to take a basic or classic recipe and tweak it here and there to create something entirely new. That’s the spirit behind Pure Dessert.
Olive oil and sherry pound cake? Yes please. Cocoa nib and buckwheat butter cookies? I am all over that. I love that this book focuses on a flavor theme, and then plays around with different ways to bring that to life. The recipes are deliciously crafted, but also just a great inspiration for creating my own.
Delicate handmade cheeses, wholesome grains, organic yogurts, and great chocolates create pure and simple desserts that provide soul satisfaction through the pleasure of real flavours. Taste how sesame seeds and sesame oil completely redefine cake and the lovely, nutty flavour buckwheat flour brings to indulgent buttery cookies and strawberry shortcake. Medrich transforms ice cream by using honey, pound cake with the addition of olive oil and sherry, and meringue by adding chestnut flour and walnuts. Recipes like Cardamom-Roasted Figs and Chilled Oranges in Rum-Caramel Syrup prove that authentic, fresh flavours taste best and make for desserts that are easy and…
I was born in Communist Poland, and when we emigrated to the UK, I craved the tastes of my childhood. More than that, I missed the culture of foraging, preserving, fermenting, and the stories that accompanied these processes–there was something deeply ingrained in my soul that I have been called to explore within my own work. I have written four books on East European cuisine. Slavic Kitchen Alchemy is rather different from the others because of its focus on herbs, healing, and mythology. The books on this list have inspired me in my own writing, and I will keep returning to them again and again.
Once again, being a Polish cook, I felt I knew a fair bit about fermentation, yet this book opened my eyes to so many different traditions and processes. This is the kind of book everyone needs in their kitchens because if you are at all interested in fermenting (and you should be because it’s one of the best things you can do for your health), then you will come back to it again and again.
'...The high priest of fermentation theory' the Guardian
'Sandor Katz's teachings and writings on fermentation have changed lives around the world.' Dan Saladino, The Food Programme BBC
The bible for the D.I.Y set: detailed instructions for how to make your own sauerkraut, beer, yogurt and pretty much everything involving microorganisms. The New York Times
International New York Times bestseller, translated into 10 languages and over a quarter of a million copies sold worldwide
New York Times bestseller The Art of Fermentation is the only fermentation guide you'll ever need! In this book, fermentation revivalist Katz contextualises fermentation in terms of…
For me, backyard composting is more than just a way to lessen how much waste I send to the landfill. When you compost you transform items that many people consider garbage into a valuable soil amendment for your garden. You are creating something with real value that can help plants thrive and act as a carbon sink to help reduce negative impacts of climate change. Composting is so easy and rewarding that I really want to see everyone give it a try.
Becoming more self-sufficient requires that you be able to preserve what you harvest to eat in other parts of the year. Meredith nails the topic of how to preserve many different foods in a delicious and easy way. She covers dozens of methods while keeping the text light and fun. Much of the book reads like a cookbook with a twist. How could I not fall in love with a book that teaches you how to make spiced slow-cooker pear butter?
There are many ways to preserve a strawberry. You can freeze it, dry it, pickle it or can it. Milk gets cultured or fermented and is preserved as cheese or yogurt. Fish can be smoked, salted, dehydrated and preserved in oil. Cucumbers become pickles. There is no end to the magic of food preservation and in Preserving Everything, Leda Meredith leads readers-both new to the art and old hands-in every sort of preservation technique imaginable.
As a child, I desperately wanted a pet. Even if it maybe wasn’t a “real pet” like a rock or an egg. I used my imagination for pet possibilities. When I was researching If You Want A Friend In Washington I was constantly in awe of the strange and unusual pets of the White House. I wanted this list of pet books to be as diverse and unusual as the Presidential Pets. Maybe a Glacier is the perfect pet for you?
Cats, dogs, hamsters, fish, but what about a less expected pet? Maybe sourdough starter as a pet is the perfect start to caring for pet!?! The main character, Cora, promises her uncle that she will keep the pet alive. She does not anticipate how fast her pet will grow. How will she come up with a solution? And fast? This charming unexpected pet book also includes recipes.
Cora promises to keep Uncle JB's Bread Pet alive but didn't anticipate its exponential growth! She needs to come up with a solution -- and fast! This whimsical STEM story of family, creativity and community will inspire young makers to experiment and share their gifts with others. Includes sourdough starter and sourdough bread recipes.
I’ve always been interested in food, even as young as 3 years old I remember wanting to taste everything, and I found the process of cooking fascinating. But I really got interested in food as a topic for research during my time studying Greek culture for my PhD thesis. People on the island of Kalymnos, where I’ve conducted research for 30 years, made a strong connection between food and memory, but it was a connection that few scholars have written about until recently. So I’ve been excited to participate in a new field reflected by all of these books, and hope you will be as well.
This book really debunks many of the myths about how and whether Americans cook today.
I loved the way that the author took us into the thoughts and practices of contemporary home cooks going about their daily cooking. I also found fascinating the comparison and contrast with those who have taken up artisanal production of sourdough bread and other skilled food products.
Home cooking is crucial to our lives but it is not necessary to our survival. Over the past century, it has become an everyday choice even though it is no longer an everyday chore. By looking closely at the stories and practices of American home cooks-witnessing them in the kitchen and at the table-Amy B. Trubek reveals our episodic but also engaged relationship to making meals. Making Modern Meals explores the state of American cooking across all its varied practices, whether cooking is considered a chore, a craft, or a creative process. Trubek challenges current assumptions about who cooks, who…
I used to write a food blog because I love stories about food, be they fiction or non-fiction. Food has the power to bring joy, healing, love, anger, sadness, etc.—you name the emotion and food can evoke it or remedy it. I’ve suffered from depression most of my life and the kitchen makes me feel better. Hearing that my chocolate cookies are amazing heals my heart a little at a time. Food and emotion go together like peanut butter and jelly, and I’m the first to pick up a book that skillfully employs both.
For years, I couldn’t get yeast to cooperate. I just wasn’t patient enough and it was too darn temperamental. One day, the yeast worked. I made a lovely brioche dough and turned that into the stickiest, sweetest, yummiest cinnamon rolls known to man.
I might not have stuck with my fussy yeast if it were of the variety in Sourdough. The starter that’s given to the main character sings, hums, and sometimes glows. It’s alive. I know that all yeast is alive, but this yeast is sentient.
All that being said, the thing I love most about the book is that it is weird. I love weird people and things. I love weird books. What I don’t love about a lot of weird books is that they aren’t as immensely readable as Sourdough. Especially the ones that dance through genres as vastly different as science fiction and romance. But…
From Robin Sloan, the New York Times bestselling author of Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore, comes Sourdough, "a perfect parable for our times" (San Francisco Magazine): a delicious and funny novel about an overworked and under-socialized software engineer discovering a calling and a community as a baker.
Named One of the Best Books of the Year by NPR, the San Francisco Chronicle, and Southern Living
Lois Clary is a software engineer at General Dexterity, a San Francisco robotics company with world-changing ambitions. She codes all day and collapses at night, her human contact limited to the two brothers who run the…
From the beginning of my reading journey, I wished for more stories about women who were courageous, passionate, and in control of their own destiny. I wanted to write books for female readers who loved characters like Zorro, Robin Hood, and Jack Sparrow, but wanted to see themselves shining through them. In the process of researching, I discovered unforgettable characters like Captain Mabbot and Clare Sullivan. The Legends of Vioria series focuses on such women, who use their wit and strength to navigate the world. It is my hope to continue to write stories that will inspire others just as the books in this list inspired me.
Eli Brown’s story is told through travelogues. I was inspired by the love story that blooms between the main character, chef Owen Wedgwood, and Captain Mad Hannah Mabbot. Captain Mabbot captures Wedgewood and forces him to cook for her aboard The Flying Rose. The way that Brown tells the story is equally delicious and creative.
The year is 1819, and the renowned chef Owen Wedgwood has been kidnapped by a beautiful yet ruthless pirate. He will be spared, Mad Hannah Mabbot tells him, as long as he can conjure an exquisite meal every Sunday from the ship's meager supplies. While Wedgwood attempts to satisfy his captor with feats such as tea-smoked eel and pineapple-banana cider, he realizes that Mabbot herself is under siege. Hunted by a deadly privateer and plagued by a saboteur, she pushes her crew past exhaustion in her search for the notorious Brass Fox. Yet there is a method to Mabbot's madness,…
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