A lot of cookbooks pass through my kitchen, each with their own specialness and things that make them lovable. But every so often, there is one cookbook that stops me in my tracks. That's what Home Baked did to me. This book of Nordic breads is something completely different and totally intriguing. Heavy rye breads crusted with seeds, ring-shaped loaves bursting with dried fruits, crispy coarse-grained flatbreads for piling with cured fish and herbs — can you blame me for carrying this book from kitchen to couch to bedside table like a new favorite toy?
Quick Facts
• Who wrote it: Hanne Risgaard
• Who published it: Chelsea Green Publishing
• Number of recipes: 75
• Recipes for right now: Pumpkin Seed Bread with Buttermilk, Pear and Sourdough Bread, Celebration Buns, Swedish Baguettes, Honey Bread, Cappuccino Cakes, Rosemary Bread, Apricot Bread
• Other highlights: I've been really getting into rye breads lately, and this book has them in spades — not to mention breads with spelt flour, barley flour, and wheat flour. There are so many intriguing combinations here! Breads with lavender, rolls turned green with stinging nettles, sourdoughs enriched with buttermilk. These flavors speak to a Nordic culinary tradition that is completely foreign to me, which of course makes me all the more eager to get into the kitchen and make them myself.
The recipes in this book fit right in that cozy middle ground of challenging-yet-achievable. It's not a book I would recommend for someone who has never picked up a package of yeast, but neither are the recipes so technical that a home baker might feel intimidated. If you are an enthusiastic, curious baker, you will love this book.
One thing you should know is that the recipes in this book are given entirely in grams, so be sure to have a scale handy when you make them.
• Who would enjoy this book? Bakers of all kinds, cooks interested in Nordic cuisine
Find the book at your local library, independent bookstore, or Amazon: Home Baked: Nordic Recipes and Techniques for Organic Bread and Pastry by Hanne Risgaard
Apartment Therapy Media makes every effort to test and review products fairly and transparently. The views expressed in this review are the personal views of the reviewer and this particular product review was not sponsored or paid for in any way by the manufacturer or an agent working on their behalf. However, the manufacturer did give us the product for testing and review purposes.
(Images: Emma Christensen)
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Oh wow. I would love to cozy up with this book and bake a few of those beautiful loves pictured on the cover. Such gorgeous docking designs.
What is the basic baking book you recommend ?
I received this cook book as a present and am just getting into the recipes. The ciabatta recipe and the method of working with slack dough is something I had not found elsewhere, but it is now my new favorite. With that success behind me and needing a new sourdough I turned next to the White Sourdough Starter. It is different than other sourdoughs I've raised in that the quantities are significantly greater, but the one thing that struck me was the effect the honey has on the consistency of the starter at the "second feeding". I can't help but wonder if I haven't done something wrong. At the end of the first feeding I had a stiff dough, but at the end of the next 24 hour ferment I had a very stiff honey-like (sticky, runny, drape from the scraper) batter.
If anyone has tried the white sourdough starter and similar, of different experience, I would love to hear your experience.
I am continuing now after the second feeding with the final fermentation steps. I hope the sourdough starter recipe is as surprisingly successful as the method for working with slack dough proved to be.