Sunday, February 26, 2012

More Great Books!

Since beginning my adventures in baking with whole grains, I've received my share of books on the subject as Christmas and birthday gifts from supportive friends and family members. This past year proved to be especially fruitful, introducing some new favorites to my collection.

My favorite of these favorites is definitely Make the Bread, Buy the Butter by Jennifer Reese of The Tipsy Baker. For people who don't mind spending a bit of time and effort on their food, this book is not only a fun read, but also a great resource. Taking time, money, health and taste into consideration, Jennifer offers simple advice: what to make yourself (ie. bread), and what to buy from the store (ie. butter). This book has inspired me to make yogurt, hummus, mozzarella, sauerkraut, vanilla extract, thousand island dressing, marshmallows, and graham crackers, all homemade, and all delicious.


Another favorite is Baking Illustrated from the folks over at Cook's Illustrated. Just like the magazine, this book details each ingredient and recipe step of every cookie, cake, pie and brownie you could name. Unfortunately, these cooking masters haven't crossed over into the whole grain world just yet, so I haven't been able to enjoy too many of the recipes. For me, this book is a great reference for details, methods, and ingredients.

For those of you looking for a convenient way to add whole grains to your diet, I'd recommend the following three:



Lorna Sass' Whole Grains Every Day, Every Way is filled with mostly savory recipes containing a range of whole grains, from barley to triticale. I was disappointed to see that, like most of my whole grain cookbooks, many of the recipes for baked goods contain white flour. However, I appreciate the interesting flavor combinations and wide range of recipes presented in this book.



Kim Boyce brings us Good to the Grain, which takes you on a baking tour of whole grains, including: whole wheat, amaranth, barley, buckwheat, corn, kamut, oats, quinoa, rye, spelt and teff. Her "Sand Cookies" are a great, easy introduction to Kamut, which was easy to find in Seattle, but a challenge in the Bay Area. My only complaint is that some of the recipes seem to include just a bit of the featured grain, while still relying heavily on wheat flour, making it hardly worth the effort it may take to find these specialty ingredients.

Lastly, Maria Speck's Ancient Grains for Modern Meals is a surprise favorite. Also containing mostly savory dishes, the innovative flavor combinations in this book are inspired by Maria's mixed northern European/Mediterranean heritage. One of the only books I've come across that features baked goods entirely made of whole grains, I give it 5 stars!