From fresh breads to French sweets, these cookbooks will keep your kitchen warm all season long.
1. Breaking Breads
By Uri Scheft
Uri Scheft, the baker behind the celebrity-status chocolate babka at Breads Bakery in New York City, is bringing a different side of his baking knowledge into the limelight in Breaking Breads: A New World of Israeli Baking. Drawing from his Israeli heritage, childhood love of freshly baked bread, and global travels, Uri makes the international classics, such as seed-studded challah and tomato-topped focaccia, and lesser known European, Israeli, and Middle Eastern breads—like Jachnun and Cheese Bourekas—accessible for the home baker. With a mix of recipes and tips, dramatic photography, and step-by-step how-tos to creating beautiful loaves, braids, and rolls, this cookbook is truly a bread baker’s guide to Europe and the Middle East.
Can’t Wait To Make: Kubaneh, a rich Yemenite bread that is a cross between a brioche and a flatbread, shaped in a bouquet of swirls to pull apart like monkey bread
2. Art of the Pie
By Kate McDermott
Nothing brings on waves of nostalgia like a fresh-baked pie. In her book Art of the Pie: A Practical Guide to Homemade Crusts, Fillings and Life, Kate McDermott shares her secrets for savory and sweet combinations of pastry and filling, explaining each step in painstaking detail from mixing the perfect flaky crust to the final bake. Though Kate learned this tasty art from her grandmother, many of her recipes are anything but traditional. From a hearty ratatouille pie to a decadent combo of banana, rum, caramel, and coconut, this cookbook for the modern palate comes with a sprinkling of classic comfort. Kate aims to make readers see that baking this sideboard staple really is “easy as pie.”
Can’t Wait To Make: Chai Pie, a creamy, slightly sweet creation filled with warm cinnamon, cardamom, and ginger
3. Better Baking
By Genevieve Ko
A simple ingredient substitution while baking Butter Balls became the inspiration for Genevieve Ko’s Better Baking: Wholesome Ingredients, Delicious Desserts. She realized that whole grains, seeds and nuts, healthy fats, and natural sweeteners added deep flavor and texture she didn’t realize she was yearning for in her baked goods—and others agreed. While she previously collaborated on cookbooks with world-renowned chefs—including Mark Bittman and Jean-Georges Vongerichten—Genevieve’s first solo cookbook shares her full-flavored discovery with 400 pages of ingredient guides, substitution tips, and hundreds of recipes. Filled with photography by Romulo Yanes highlighting every delicious crumb, this book will inspire you to expand your ingredient repertoire and embrace new flavors.
Can’t Wait To Make: Pomegranate-Pistachio Baklava, an extra-crisp version of the decadent Mediterranean treat with warm, fruity notes
4. French Desserts
By Hillary Davis
Take your taste buds on a journey to France with the surprisingly simple recipes in Hillary Davis’s French Desserts. After years of living the Paris life, Hillary aims to demystify French baking by showing that the treats baked in French homes, while delicious, are rarely the complex creations gracing the pâtisserie display cases. Her cookbook is filled with easy recipes for cakes, cookies, breads, pastries, and more, sorted by category and length of preparation. Featuring bright photography (by Steven Rothfield) of the countryside, cities, markets, and of course, the recipes themselves, French Desserts transports you, if only for a moment, to warm and welcoming home kitchens in the heart of France.
Can’t Wait To Make: Plenty of Pears Salted Caramel Loaf Cake, fall pears are complemented by salted caramel, with just enough batter to hold the cake together
5. The Rye Baker
By Stanley Ginsberg
In the United States, rye is often overlooked as nothing more than the base of a Reuben sandwich. But in The Rye Baker: Classic Breads from Europe and America, author Stanley Ginsberg brings this ancient grain into the spotlight. He traces the history and ancient baking methods of this humble grain from its first appearance 13,000 years ago in eastern Turkey to its role in the Medieval European diet and more. He also shares recipes from around the world, separating chapters by region, from the immigrant breads of America to the sweet and crisp loaves of Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. Featuring more than 70 recipes, plus tips on how to steam and scald like pros of the olden days, this tome is the go-to for rye enthusiasts of all skill levels.
Can’t Wait To Make: Salty Rye Rolls, slider-size balls of crunchy, salty outer crust encircling a delicate inner crumb, best enjoyed with a slathering of European butter
