Or, more grammatically titled, "Cook Books with which to Curl."
Foodies know the pleasures to be had in planning, preparing, and serving a dish. All of us return to cookbooks, either to refresh our memories, get ideas, or just have some good reading.
It takes a special art to not only create a cohesive collection of recipes for a specific audience, but to do so in an entertaining manner.
These cookbooks are cookbooks that I return to again and again. They are both reference and entertainment.
America's Bread Book
300 Authentic Recipes for America's Favorite Homemade Breads, Collected on a 65,000-Mile Journey Through the Fifty United States
by Mary Gubser
This is one of my favorite cookbooks. Mary has a wonderful, chatty style of writing. The recipes are organized not by category, but by where she found them. I really like this, because it is apt to kick me out of the rut of flipping straight toward a certain kind of recipe. Shaped and braided breads are much easier for the beginner; her illustrations are crystal clear. Her brief glimpes of the individuals she has encountered are wonderful. This book has yummy recipes and ideas in it, wonderful people, and gives a grand scope of the United States and its cultural and ethnic diversity.
Quick Breads Soups and Stews
196 Delectable Quick Breads and Classic Soups to Pair With Them for an Almost Limitless Number of Superb Meals
by Mary Gubser
Another favorite, not coincidentally also by Mary Gubsner. Organized more traditionally and with less commentary than the other book, it is a fine resource. The book contains yeast bread recipes too; she just specifies using quick rising yeast.
The King Arthur Flour 200th Anniversary Cookbook
Dedicated to the Pure Joy of Baking
by Briana Sands
It's a handbook. It's wonderful. King Arthur flour is available all over the country and by mail order. It's one of my favorite staple ingredients, and their cookbook is one of my favorite staple cookbooks. Not a bad recipe in the bunch, really and truly.
The New Joy of Cooking
by Irma S. Rombauer
It's not devoted to breads, but I don't care. You can figure out how to cook almost anything from the Joy of Cooking, and that includes baking too.
Sourdough Baking
by Susan Draudt
This is a slender little paperback that often gets swallowed by the heftier books on my shelf. It has recipes for several different sourdough starters. It explains the sourdough process in wonderful detail, and the recipes are wonderful. Try the onion-cheese braid if nothing else.
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Cookbooks to Curl up With in
Bread Baking is owned by
Nita Daniel. Permission to republish
Cookbooks to Curl up With in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
