Baking Cookbooks To Add to Your Collection

Ready to rise from baking newbie to MVP? Tasty Dessert gives you the lowdown on baking basics, from building a fuss-free pantry to mastering easy-as-pie twists on old favorites. You’ll stuff, layer, frost, and meringue your way to the cherry on top of pretty much every meal. If Confetti Birthday Soufflé, No-Bake 16-Layer S’mores Cake, and Sour Cherry Fritters don’t float your boat (are you feeling ok?), here are 75 recipes for any hankering, mood, or occasion, whether you’re jonesing for a sugar adventure with friends or having a late-night dessert emergency.

In this updated edition of the bestselling The Bread Baker’s Apprentice, Peter shares bread breakthroughs arising from his study in France’s famed boulangeries and the always-enlightening time spent in the culinary college kitchen with his students. Peer over Peter’s shoulder as he learns from Paris’s most esteemed bakers, like Lionel Poilâne and Phillippe Gosselin, whose pain à l’ancienne has revolutionized the art of baguette making. Then stand alongside his students in the kitchen as Peter teaches the classic twelve stages of building bread, his clear instructions accompanied by more than 100 step-by-step photographs.

Claire Saffitz is a baking hero for a new generation. In Dessert Person, fans will find Claire’s signature spin on sweet and savory recipes like Babkallah (a babka-Challah mashup), Apple and Concord Grape Crumble Pie, Strawberry-Cornmeal Layer Cake, Crispy Mushroom Galette, and Malted Forever Brownies. She outlines the problems and solutions for each recipe — like what to do if your pie dough for Sour Cherry Pie cracks (patch it with dough or a quiche flour paste!) — as well as practical do’s and don’ts, skill level, prep and bake time, step-by-step photography, and foundational know-how. With her trademark warmth and superpower ability to explain anything baking related, Claire is ready to make everyone a dessert person.

With inspiration from a community of millers, farmers, bakers, and scientists, Living Bread provides a fascinating look into the way artisan bread baking has evolved and continues to change — from wheat farming practices and advances in milling, to sourdough starters and the mechanics of mixing dough. Influenced by art and science in equal measure, Leader presents exciting twists on classics such as Curry Tomato Ciabatta, Vegan Brioche, and Chocolate Sourdough Babka, as well as traditional recipes.

The Vetri Cucina Bread Program began over a decade ago and has been part of the American movement to reclaim high-quality bread as a cornerstone of our food culture. In Mastering Bread, Marc Vetri and his former head baker, Claire Kopp McWilliams, show home cooks how to create simple breads with unique flavors in a home oven.

Included are more than seventy recipes for their bestselling sourdough and yeast loaves as well as accompaniments to serve with the breads.

When Nadiya Hussain, the UK’s “national treasure,” began cooking, she headed straight to the oven — which, in her home, wasn’t used for baking, but rather for storing frying pans! One day, her new husband asked her to bake him a cake and then . . . she was hooked! Baking soon became a part of her daily life.

In her newest cookbook, based on her Netflix show and BBC series Nadiya Bakes, Nadiya shares more than 100 simple and achievable recipes for cakes, cookies, breads, tarts, and puddings that will become staples in your home. From Raspberry Amaretti Biscuits and Key Lime Cupcakes, Nadiya has created an ultimate baking resource for just about every baked good that will entice beginner bakers and experienced pastry makers alike.

Cake is the ultimate symbol of celebration, used to mark birthdays, weddings, or even just a Tuesday night. In Zoë Bakes Cakes, bestselling author and expert baker Zoë François demystifies the craft of cakes through more than 85 simple and straightforward recipes. Discover treats such as Coconut–Candy Bar Cake, Apple Cake with Honey-Bourbon Glaze, and decadent Chocolate Devil’s Food Cake. With step-by-step photo guides that break down baking fundamentals — like creaming butter and sugar — and Zoë’s expert knowledge to guide you, anyone can make these delightful creations.

Momofuku Milk Bar shares the recipes for Christina Tosi’s fantastic desserts — the now-legendary riffs on childhood flavors and down-home classics (all essentially derived from ten mother recipes) — along with the compelling narrative of the unlikely beginnings of this quirky bakery’s success. It all started one day when Momofuku founder David Chang asked Christina to make a dessert for dinner that night. Just like that, the pastry program at Momofuku began. With all the recipes for the bakery’s most beloved desserts — along with ones for savory baked goods that take a page from Chang’s Asian-flavored cuisine.

Yotam Ottolenghi is widely beloved in the food world for his beautiful, inspirational, and award-winning cookbooks, as well as his London delis and fine dining restaurant. And while he’s known for his savory and vegetarian dishes, he actually started out his cooking career as a pastry chef. Sweet is entirely filled with delicious baked goods, desserts, and confections starring Ottolenghi’s signature flavor profiles and ingredients including fig, rose petal, saffron, orange blossom, star anise, pistachio, almond, cardamom, and cinnamon. A baker’s dream, Sweet features simple treats such as Chocolate, Banana, and Pecan cookies and Rosemary Olive Oil Orange Cake, alongside recipes for show stopping confections.

More than a decade ago, Chad Robertson’s country levain recipe taught a generation of bread bakers to replicate the creamy crumb, crackly crust, and unparalleled flavor of his world-famous Tartine bread. His was the recipe that launched hundreds of thousands of sourdough starters and attracted a stream of understudies to Tartine from across the globe. Now, in Bread Book, Robertson and Tartine’s director of bread, Jennifer Latham, explain how high-quality, sustainable, locally sourced grain and flours respond to hydration and fermentation to make great bread even better.

Move beyond the same-old chocolate chip, peanut butter, and oatmeal cookies with Jesse Szewczyk’s collection of 100 brand-new, boldly flavored, and intriguing yet familiar recipes. Sophisticated and approachable — many don’t even require an electric mixer — these new classics are divided into chapters by flavors and attributes such as Chocolaty, Boozy, Fruity, Smoky, and Savory.

In Snacking Cakes, the indulgent, treat-yourself concept of cake becomes an anytime, easy-to-make treat. Expert baker Yossy Arefi’s collection of no-fuss recipes is perfect for anyone who craves near-instant cake satisfaction. With little time and effort, these single-layered cakes are made using only one bowl (no electric mixers needed) and utilize ingredients likely sitting in your cupboard. They’re baked in the basic pans you already own and shine with only the most modest adornments: a dusting of powdered sugar, a drizzle of glaze, a dollop of whipped cream. Yossy’s rustic, elegant style combines accessible, diverse flavors in intriguing ways that make them easy for kids to join in on the baking, but special enough to serve company or bring to potlucks.

In the cult classic movie-turned-Broadway production, the eternally optimistic protagonist of Waitress expresses her hopes, dreams, fears, and frustrations through the whimsically named pies she bakes each morning. Sugar, Butter, Flour celebrates this art of baking from the heart, with foolproof and flavorful pies for seduction, pies for mending a broken heart, pies for celebrating new beginnings and pies for all the little milestones that come afterwards.

Popular baking personality and lawyer turned baker Vallery Lomas debuts her first baking book celebrating more than 100 recipes for everything from Apple Cider Fritters to Lemon-Honey Madeleines and Crawfish Hand Pies to her Grandma’s Million Dollar Cake. Vallery shares heirloom family recipes from her native Louisiana, time spent in Paris, The Great American Baking Show (which she famously won!), and of course sweets and breads inspired by her adopted hometown, New York City. Vallery’s “when life gives you lemons, make lemon curd” philosophy will empower legions of bakers and fans to find their inner warrior and bake their best life.  

Nadiya Hussain, winner of The Great British Baking Show, knows that what we bake depends on the day of the week and what mood we’re in. In Nadiya’s Everyday Baking, Nadiya shares nearly 100 simple and achievable recipes for breakfast, dinner, dessert, and everything in between. This stunning collection of recipes, alongside delightful photography and Nadiya’s warm, inspirational voice, is sure to become a new favorite for home cooks and bakers alike.

Claire Saffitz returns with 100 recipes for all dessert people — whether you’re into impressive-yet-easy molten lava cakes, comforting rice pudding, or decadent chestnut brownies. In this all-new collection, Claire shares recipes for icebox cakes, pies, cobblers, custards, cookies and more, all crafted to be as streamlined as possible. (No stand mixer? No problem! You won’t need one.) To keep the recipes straightforward and simple, Claire makes sure each recipe is extra efficient, whether you’remaking a Whipped Tres Leches Cake with Hazelnuts or Caramel Peanut Popcorn Bars. Fans will find all the warmth, encouragement, and deliciously foolproof recipes with loads of troubleshooting advice that they’ve come to count on from Claire.

Nestled on Main Street among the apple orchards and rolling hills of rural Virginia, Red Truck Bakery is beloved for its small town feel and standout baked goods. Red Truck Bakery Cookbook is your one-way ticket to making these crowd-pleasing confections at home. Full of fresh flavors, a sprinkle of homespun comfort, and a generous pinch of Americana, the recipes range from Southern classics like Flaky Buttermilk Biscuits and Mom’s Walnut Chews, to local favorites like the Shenandoah Apple Cake and Appalachian Pie with Ramps and Morels. Between the keepsake recipes are charming stories of the bakery’s provenance and 75 gorgeous photographs of evocative landscapes and drool-worthy delectables. These blue-ribbon desserts and anytime snacks are sure to please!

In A Good Bake, Melissa Weller shares her meticulously honed, carefully detailed recipes for producing impossibly delicious – and impossibly beautiful – baked goods. A chemical engineer before she became a baker, Weller uses her scientific background to explain the whys and hows of baking, so home cooks can achieve perfect results every time. With gorgeous photographs by the award-winning Johnny Miller, and tutorials that demystify all of the stuff that sounds complicated, like working with yeast, sourdough starters, and laminating dough Weller’s book is the one guide every home baker needs.