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Beard bakes the books

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Baking, probably more than any other form of cooking, relies on strictly following the recipe. So which baking books have the best ones? The James Beard Foundation’s cookbook awards committee chose a baker’s dozen of their favorites. As with all such lists, some, uh, ‘discussion’ is bound to follow. So let’s start here: What are your indispensable baking books?

The Beard choices, which range from contemporary favorites to classics from the 1970s, include Times contributors Dorie Greenspan (for ‘Baking: From My Home to Yours’) and Peter Reinhart (for ‘The Bread Baker’s Apprentice’). Other choices were: James Beard’s ‘Beard on Bread’ (the oldest book, originally published in 1973); Maida Heater’s ‘The Book of Great Desserts’; Rose Levy Beranbaum’s ‘The Cake Bible’; Richard Sax’s ‘Classic Home Desserts’; Alice Medrich’s ‘Cocolat: Extraordinary Chocolate Desserts’; Marion Cunningham’s ‘The Fannie Farmer Baking Book’; Carole Walter’s ‘Great Pies and Tarts’; Carol Field’s ‘The Italian Baker’; ‘Martha Stewart’s Cookies’; Jim Lahey’s ‘My Bread’; and Flo Braker’s ‘The Simple Art of Perfect Baking.’

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The list is the first of what the organization says will be several themed recommendations, following last year’s compendium of 20 books that belong in every cook’s library.

-- Russ Parsons

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