I've been looking for a book that covers classic German baking for years, mostly because I love cinnamon and any sort of apple cake, but perhaps not entirely surprisingly there aren't many to choose from in the UK. It's probably no coincidence that the closest thing I've had until now (Tante Hertha's Viennese Kitchen) is also an American imprint. I do rather wish someone would write one specifically for the UK market. Not because of the measurements, which are all given in grams as well in this book, but because supplier lists in this case are tantalisingly unhelpful.
That and the language barrier... I'm not quite sure what instant yeast is in America (I assume it's the same as the stuff we get in little sachets here, but is it?), do we have high-fat European style butter as a matter of course (there's a low fat butter?) Is cornstarch the same as cornflour? Is all purpose flour plain flour? Non of these questions will be hard to get answers too, and this is in no way a criticism, it's just easier (for a kitchen pedant like me) not to have to think about this stuff.
The important thing is the book is here, it covers exactly the things I've been looking for, and there's plenty of history and cultural observation along with the recipes which gives them context (always a bonus). I couldn't ask for more variations on the Apple cake theme - well maybe I could, because it's the sort of thing that's easy to get obsessive about, but there are plenty of really good looking options. They don't call for a mountain of sugar either, or at least not in the way that some Other recipes do.
The Christmas favourites chapter could almost make me cry with vexation that I just can't imagine finding the time to really explore it this year (12 days off between now and Christmas with a lot to do already without going on an unscheduled baking spree). Next year.
I'm really keen to explore the breads and yeasted cakes as well, and the biscuits - and all of it really. Now let's see just how long it takes me.
I love this book! I had an advanced copy through Netgalley and was baking from it all summer but it is so much nicer to have my own, physical copy now. Except I failed spectacularly with my first attempt at a yeasted cake. And the second. From this I have concluded instant yeast is evil (like most instant things) and I must use fresh yeast.
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to find the time to use it (how I wish I could dump work got a few days to bake). I've really been enjoying reading it though, and have tagged lots of things to try. My grandmother was German, though she never said much about her childhood, she wasn't much of a cook either. It's a country I've still to visit, but at least I can explore a bit through baking.
DeleteI will buy this for the bread recipes alone - a decent loaf is almost impossible to find here in Lanarkshire.
ReplyDeleteSame in Leicestershire - at least if you want anything out of the ordinary. Making bread is one of life's great pleasures though, so it's something to look forward to.
DeleteHello desperate Reader,
ReplyDeletenow you can feel how it is for a native german speaking Austrian to cook and bake with an english recipe book. Self raising flour? What's this. And I am still searching for a plain receipe for Flapjacks.
Kind regards
Braunelle
I think what you're doing sounds much harder. I don't have a second language so the idea of cooking in one is daunting. the instructions in this book seem admirably clear, but yes - I absolutely sympathise with the confusion that an unfamiliar name for an ingredient, or an ingredient common in one country but unknown in another, can cause.
DeleteThank you for telling me about German Baking. The subject fascinates me. I have recurring dreams about the most beautiful bakeries, some with teashops and coffee shops attached.
ReplyDeleteIt must be memories from my Glasgow childhood in the 1950s and Sixties. There were home bakeries everywhere, as well as tearooms.
Then there are my later memories of visiting the patisseries in France (there is one in the French film The Red Balloon) as well as Belgium, Germany and Austria.
I wish my city had a place like Bewley's in Dublin where you can enjoy tea, coffee and delicious baking.
We had a wonderful baker's and tearoom called Bradford's in Sauchiehall Street. Established as a small family chain in 1925, it closed forever a few years ago.
Jack Haggerty
Bewley's is wonderful, as is good baking. Hopefully someone will open something good in Glasgow soon - it's the kind of thing that seems to be making a comeback.
ReplyDeleteGlad you like Bewley's, Dublin, which is undergoing refurbishment.
DeleteI used to enjoy being seated upstairs and gazing down on the busy world.
Bewley's opened a branch in Edinburgh, but it did not survive, alas.
At Bewley's, Dublin, one always saw nuns in rainmates coming in to enjoy tea and those delicious currant buns. The 'crack' on Saturdays was grand.
The Charles Rennie Macintosh Tearooms in Sauchiehall Street is closed for long-term refurbishment too.
Small bakeries are making a comeback.
Cottonrake at 497 Great Western Road, Glasgow, for instance, has wonderful bread and delicious tarts. It's close to two great bookshops, Caledonia Books and the somewhat hidden Voltaire and Rousseau.
I have a recurring dream of a kind of Swiss patisserie standing in George Street, Edinburgh. It has a swanky upstairs tearoom. No such place exists, but maybe my dream is precognitive.
The Swallow Bakery in Cheltenham is a great place to sit and look down across the tree-lined Promenade. There I sat this summer and last remembering P.J. Kavanagh.
Jack Haggerty