If you’re ready to take your baked creations to a new level, you’ll need the best baking books in your arsenal. Whether you’re new to the bread world or consider yourself a baking pro, no matter your baking abilities, there’s a cookbook for everyone. From vegan baked goods and chocolate-heavy recipes to classic baking and new twists on old classics, we’ve compiled a list of the most salivate-worthy books to take your taste buds on a culinary adventure. The hardest choice you will have is picking one.
If you need help figuring out where to start when it comes to choosing the best baking book or advice on how much you can expect to spend, keep scrolling. Our buying guide tells you everything you need to know about what to look for in the best baking books and recipe guides to tantalize your taste buds. Below, you’ll find our picks from a range of baking subgenres.
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Best Baking Book: At a Glance
How to Choose the Best Baking Book for You
Where to start when choosing the best baking book?
When it comes to choosing one baking book over another, there are a few things to keep in mind.
First of all, what are you looking to cook? Do you want a baking book that covers all the bases (think: cakes, breads, pastries, etc.)? Or are you looking for a specific cooking guide on how to create vegan stars, for example?
Also consider the level of your baking skills. If you’re just starting out, it might be a good idea to invest in a baking book that reflects this. For example, some of the best baking books in our guide have just five ingredients and easy-to-follow recipes, while others have longer ingredient lists and longer-to-follow methods. All have their well-deserved place on our baking shelves, but it’s all about choosing something that will work for you.
Are there cookbooks for specific dietary needs?
The days of second-best choices for those with special dietary needs are over. Whether you’re gluten-free, living a vegan lifestyle, or deciding to ditch sugar for unprocessed sugar, recipe writers, chefs, and nutritionists have you covered.
Some baking books on shelves today are specifically for people with dietary needs. This includes the likes of lactose intolerant recipes and vegan options. Others in our roundup include a mix of these, as well as some with dedicated sections on how you can adapt the recipes to suit your lifestyle choices. In 2022, the world is literally your oyster.
How much should I spend?
It all depends on your personal preferences. But just note: you don’t have to spend a fortune to enjoy a brilliant baking book you’ll use now and love forever. Many of the books in our guide will set you back around £20. However, you will find other books costing between £18 and £30. The best baking books are a wealth of knowledge, and like most things in life, the more you spend, the more you get.
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The best baking books to buy
1. One Tin Bakes Easy by Edd Kimber: The Best Baking Book for Beginners
Price: £18 | Buy now on Amazon
Baking doesn’t have to be difficult, but don’t just take our word for it. Edd Kimber’s aptly named latest book – One Tin Bakes Easy proves it. Expect foolproof cakes, platters, bars and bites, from gluten-free to vegan and beyond.
Kimber was the very first winner of the Great British Bake Off, so he knows a thing or two about creating creations with no soggy bottom in sight. In the book, there are around 70 easy-to-master creations, some of which can be made in one bowl, others with just five ingredients. There’s a mountain of ideas that will have you salivating just thinking about it, including a rhubarb and custard pavlova and a grapefruit and poppy seed cake. There’s also a delicious chocolate bark recipe with puffed rice and seeds – which comes in vegan and gluten-free, like many recipes.
And, if you needed even more convincing, the best thing about Kimber’s book is the fact that they’re all made to be baked in the same 9 x 13 inch pan. It’s a book that has something for everyone, even if you’re short on cooking supplies.
Key Details – Cooking Type: Easy cooking; Format: Hardcover and Kindle; Year of publication: 2021; Editor: Kyle’s Books
2. Sweet by Yotam Ottolenghi: The Best Baking Book for Special Occasions
Price: £30 | Buy now on Amazon
This is Yotam Ottolenghi’s third cookbook, and this time it’s got a very modern take on over 100 desserts you’ll want to devour. Who knew we should add tahini and halva to brownies and cinnamon and rose water to pavlovas? Ottolenghi’s latest book covers everything from cookies and cakes to custards and sweets, and comes with his much-loved Middle Eastern take on sugar, spices and all good things.
Our favourites? The pistachio roulade with raspberries and white chocolate and a lemon and blackcurrant stripe, which looks almost too good to cut. You heard it here first: these are the baked goods to serve at your next dinner party, special occasion, or just a midweek celebratory meal.
Key Details – Cooking Type: Middle Eastern pastry; Format: Hardcover and Kindle; Year of publication: 2017; Editor: Ebury Press
3. Gail’s Artisan Bakery Cookbook by Roy Levy and Gail Mejia: The Best Baking Book for Bread
Price: £25 | Buy now on Amazon
Hopelessly devoted to bread? U.S. too. If you’re thinking of making your own sourdough starter, focaccia or brioche, Gail’s artisan bakery cookbook will help you meet the challenge. The award-winning bakery’s bread-based book is essentially a one-stop-shop on how to bake bread (and other mouth-watering treats).
As well as a range of “how-to’s” for shaping, kneading, mixing and rising your dough, there is a wide range of bread recipes, puddings and time-tested classics, which are also served at the much-loved patisserie. These pastries are so devoted to deliciousness that lucky tasters of your creations will shower you with compliments.
Key Details – Cooking Type: Bread; Format: Hardcover and Kindle; Year of publication: 2014 ; Editor: Ebury Press
4. The Little Book of Vegan Bakes by Holly Jade: The best vegan baking book for beginners
Price: £20 | Buy now on Amazon
If you’re new to the vegan lifestyle and haven’t heard of this book, you’ll soon wonder how you ever lived without it. Holly Jade’s Little Book of Vegan Baking is new to baking libraries for 2022 and, in our very humble opinion, covers all the best cakes to devour – just with a veggie twist. From Victoria sponge to sticky caramel puddings, who said vegan dishes were boring, bland or basic?
At the start of the book, the recipe guide lists the most used key ingredients throughout the book, so you can get an idea of the ingredients you’ll need to stock up on ahead of time and make sure no product goes wrong. be wasted. Even better, there are easy-to-follow cooking tips to make cooking vegan masterpieces simple – what more could a beginner ask for?
Key Details – Cooking Type: Herbal; Format: Hardcover and Kindle; Year of publication: 2022; Editor: Ebury Press
5. Baked to Perfection by Katarina Cermelj: The Best Gluten-Free Baking Book
Price: £22 | Buy now on Amazon
Question: what do you get if you combine gluten-free baking with science? Answer: The recipe for success. Recipe developer, food writer and photographer, Katarina Cermelj’s Baked to Perfection is the gluten-free book that’s been missing from our shelves.
With recipes for fluffy cinnamon rolls, coffee cream puffs, and strawberry and cream pie, it turns out you don’t need gluten to create magic on a dessert plate. . But there’s more: in the book, there are practical and fun explanations of the whys and wherefores of gluten-free baking. If that’s not enough, Nigella Lawson has described this book as “the only gluten-free baking book you’ll ever need.” If it’s good enough for Nigella, it’s definitely good enough for us.
Key Details – Cooking Type: Gluten free; Format: Hardcover and Kindle; Year of publication: 2021; Editor: Bloomsbury Edition