Cookbooks solve practical problems, like what to do on a Thursday when you have 30 minutes to spare, what to bring to a new vegan friend’s potluck, what to cook on the weekends. but baking books are all about pleasure. distract yourself from what you’re really supposed to be doing, celebrate a 91st birthday, make a midnight snack. Below are 21 of our favorite baking books, selected by our staff and community alike. organized alphabetically by title, the list is not exhaustive; We hope you’ll also comment on your favorites in the comments.
1. baked by shirley o. runner
“if you love to bake, read shirley’s bakewise o. corriher is a joy, and will help you understand science much better (and will also give you lots of good cake recipes).” —kristen miglore, creative director at genius
You are reading: Best baking books of all time
Fun fact: Kristen featured Shirley’s Moist As They Can Be Cookies in the Genius Column’s Freshman Year.
2. stella parks bravetart
could i tell you about how bravetart won the james beard foundation award for best pastry & desserts, or how it was a new york times bestseller. but it’s really hard to do this book justice. Needless to say, it includes obsessively tested recipes, as Stella regularly posts about serious eats, like homemade snack aisle favorites (twinkies! nilla wafers! animal crackers!). It also includes deep dives into the history of American desserts, from chocolate chip cookies to brownies to McDonald’s-style apple pies. All of which to say, learning from it is as sweet as baking it.
3. bread by jeffrey hamelman
First published in 2004, this book is a must for anyone who wants to understand (and bake and eat) bread. You’ll cover the basics, then learn how to play around with them, like ciabatta bread with olive oil and wheat germ, and rye bread with raisins and walnuts. “It’s informative, well written, and contains all of my favorite bread recipes. I wish all my textbooks had been written at least half as well. it reset the course of my career from engineering to baking.” —bakerbren, community member
4. dorie cookies & 5. baking: from my house to yours by dorie greenspan
“At dorie’s cookies, you get all your classics (sablets, linzers, chocolate chips, brownies, world peace), but also some surprising hits (strawberry shortcake cookies, spicy togarashi meringues). And beyond that, Dorie’s wise counsel and his meticulous instruction can turn the most hapless of us (meaning me) into a baker.” —toast yesterday, editorial director.
another honorable mention, also from dorie: baking: from my house to yours, which has 300 recipes, like the cheesiest corn muffins, raisin swirl bread, and caramel peanut covered brownie cake , plus plenty of spin-offs and words of encouragement along the way.
6. the essential new york times cookbook by amanda hesser
“I only recommend this one because it’s not my recipes, but I often turn to my essential new york times cookbook for pre-2000s baking recipes, because there are so many amazing ones that covered the times through the years.” —Amanda Hesser, co-founder.
wait: teddie’s apple pie, no knead bread, flourless chocolate cake, cashew candy bars, lemon cheesecake, pierre herme’s chocolate shortbread and more.
7. great desserts from kristen miglore
“our genius creative director, kristen miglore, uncovered over 100 of the smartest and most iconic dessert recipes of our time, drawn from the biggest names in desserts and the wisdom of the food52 community, plus great tips , mini-recipes, and riffs to make them your own.” —lindsey-jean hard, contributor
8. brooks headley fancy desserts
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“It’s easy to explain the style and composition of fancy desserts as a result of a punk rock drummer becoming a pastry chef. But what brings all the strange, fascinating, and beautiful parts of this book together into a surprisingly cohesive and worthwhile whole is Headley’s reverence for Italian cuisine (and those who have passed it on), his focus on simplicity, and flavor over presentation or pretense, and his desire to make the book a collaboration rather than a self-indulgent chef’s manifesto.
“headley’s recipes are more italian than fancy. although he writes a recipe for fennel cake garnished with pickled green strawberries (the latter he borrowed from rené redzepi), and asks you to use a dehydrator a few times, headley’s recipes share more DNA with those of an Italian nonna than with the kind of chefs who turn fruit into foam.” —Toro mariano, contributor
9. the intrepid baker by erin mcdowell
Over 100 pounds of butter went into the bakers’ intrepid photo shoots, giving you an idea of just how good is in this sprawling collection. Erin, who has been contributing to food52 since 2009, shares countless pro tips for upping your baked goods, from peach coconut macaroons to black-bottomed crème brûlée, all in her you-got-this voice, which is as inspiring as it is. it seems .
10. alice medrich flavor flours
“we’ve come to trust alice medrich for superlative desserts: the chewiest cookies, the darkest chocolate, the purest flavors. she’s an obsessive baker and a diligent student, whose cleverly written recipes quickly become classics. In flavored flours, Medrich has taken eight “alternative” flours, from teff to oatmeal to rice, and found a way to bring out the best in each: the best texture, the best flavor, the most complementary spices and toppings. Medrich has tested, worked, and mastered eight types of flavor flours, turning them into crackers, cookies, cakes, and pies that feel like new discoveries rather than an exercise in substitution. it’s a discreetly gluten-free book, more focused on flavor and innovation than diet.” —marian bull, collaborator
11. happiness is baking by maida heater
Our co-founder, Amanda Hesser, loves Maida Heatter’s Best Dessert Book “For Proven Home Baking.” First published in 1990, this cookbook cemented the warmer’s status as “queen of desserts.” More recently, Happiness is Baking is “a modern classic collection” of the late author’s best-loved recipes, like her Budapest Coffee Cake, her Palm Beach Peppermint Brownies, and East 62nd Street Lemon Cake. . many colorful and cheerful illustrations included.
12. hot bread kitchen by jessamyn waldman rodriguez
this book won the piggy back in 2016 (psst: have you heard about our new cookbook extravaganza? here’s the scoop) and we haven’t stopped coming back to it ever since. Hot Bread Kitchen is a New York-based nonprofit organization that serves as a small business incubator and culinary training program for women facing financial insecurity. their menu (and cookbook) are inspired by their bakers, who hail from all over the world, producing a diverse collection of recipes like m’smen, challah, lavash, omelettes, paratha, and more.
13. how to be a domestic goddess: baking and the art of comfort cooking by nigella lawson
“Anyone who’s seen nigella lawson bake on tv knows how relaxing she makes it sound, and I’ve really leaned into that whenever I decide to break out the measuring cups and dive into the flour and sugar. above all: there is a royal icing cupcake in there (the title image) that has made me very popular at birthday parties.” —eric kim, senior editor
14. in regan daley’s sweet kitchen
this book won the iacp cookbook of the year award when it was first published in 2001 and, nearly two decades later, it’s just as beloved: “i have a lot of cookbooks for baking, but i find myself using In the Sweet Kitchen by Regan Daley Frequently.” —wendy, community member.
Expect thoughtful and reliable recipes like Toasted Hazelnut Pound Cake, Pumpkin Breakfast Pound Cake with Fresh Orange Syrup, and the World’s Sexiest Ice Cream. yes.
15. the joys of baking by samantha seneviratne
“this book destroyed me. i have never clung so tightly to a cookbook as if it were a novel. samantha’s words are thoughtful, considerate and graceful. in the joy of baking, the premise is clear Baking is a balm for life’s traumas with every cake, cookie, pie, and other baked treats (like Sweet Potato Cinnamon Rolls with Golden Buttercream Cheese Frosting, Dark Chocolate Malt Celebration Cake, and Chocolate Chip Cookies). Butter Danishes), and through deeply personal essays, she weaves a narrative that tells the story of what happens when we suddenly find ourselves torn apart. As she writes in the introduction, “no one needs a chocolate cake or a delicious piece of candy to survive. that is, until that moment when a chocolate cake is exactly what you need to survive.’” —eric kim, senior editor
16. claudia fleming’s last course
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Written by iconic pastry chef Claudia Fleming, The Ultimate Course was first published in 2001 and went out of print in 2008, as many cookbooks do. but what happened next was different: as daniela galarza recounted for taste, the last dish became legendary among professionals and home bakers, to the point that it began to sell for hundreds of dollars on ebay. last year, luckily for us, it was published again. strong gingerbreads and chocolate and caramel tarts for everyone!
17. patisserie love by joanne chang
“Hailed as the ‘most personal and comprehensive book to date’ from chef, restaurateur and cookbook author joanne chang, this collection of 125 recipes demonstrates more than anything chang’s inspiring passion for ‘baking and sharing with others’ between the eight chapters of the book. is an entire section on candy gifts, aptly titled “I made this for you.” the recipes themselves, many of them gluten-free and made with moderate amounts of sugar, are as enticing and unique as you’d expect: tahini black sesame spiral shortbread, cheesy garlic monkey bread, Vietnamese espresso profiteroles and many more”. —toast yesterday, editorial director
p.s. If you are a fan of Joanne Chang thanks to her bakeries in Boston, you can also get her recipes in flour and flour.
18. rose baking basics by rose levy beranbaum
“the latest cookbook from bestselling author rose levy beranbaum arrived in september 2018. it’s packed with 100 essential recipes, from breads to cakes, pies and more, and has over 600 step-by-step photos to help everyone achieve flawless results, every time.” —lindsey-jean hard, contributor.
note: if you’re looking for something a little more advanced, try the bible of cakes and rose tarts, which our co-founder amanda hesser recommends “for its manic precision.”
19. simple odette williams cake
“This book shows that if you can master a very small and very delicious set of cake and icing/topping ‘formulas’ (no fancy ingredients or mind-blowing techniques here), you can create your way to virtually any cake. imaginable.” —provides yesterday, editorial director
Bonus: For starters, try Odette’s three chocolate milks.
20. the sweet life of kate zuckerman
“one of the most thoughtful and reliable pastry cookbooks I have come across. features delicious recipes, as well as ‘tech tips’ that explain certain processes in more detail (such as browning butter or baking French meringue), as well as ‘beyond the basics’ sidebars that explain some of the science behind the recipes (for how room temperature eggs are different than eggs fresh from the refrigerator, how the alkalinity of baking soda has a positive effect on cookies and cakes, etc.).” —Josh Cohen, host & food writer/recipe developer
21. tartine: a classic revised by elisabeth prueitt & chad robertson
The first edition of Tartine was published in 2006, four years after Prueitt and Robertson opened their namesake bakery in San Francisco. In a relatively short time since then, Tartine has become one of the most iconic bakeries in the country, famous for its croissants, morning scones, and extra-crispy wide-crust bread. this new edition includes more than 50 new recipes, with many variations of whole grains and gluten free.
Check out more responses from the hotline community here, or weigh in with your own picks below!
This post contains products independently chosen (and loved) by our editors and writers. As an Amazon Associate, Food52 earns an affiliate commission on qualified purchases of products we link to.
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