A few words about amazing baking cookbooks

Every month, I try to deliver to our Members a comprehensive listing of all new cookbook releases but sometimes I miss a few – either as they are self-published or published in another region where I am unable to search adequately. Today, I want to tell you about a few cookbooks that I love that were not covered in those monthly reviews.

The Irish Bakery by Cherie Denham was published in December of 2023 in Ireland and can be ordered on the publisher’s website, Montgomery Press (our Buy Book button will take you there). The author Cherie Denham is a cook, preserver, baker and author. Having grown up on a farm in Northern Ireland, she now brings the Irish farmhouse way of life to her home in a little village in Hampshire.

This book is brilliantly done and contains roughly 80 recipes that include both traditional bakes and new ideas for the contemporary home cook. The photography done by Andrew Montgomery (the owner of Montgomery Press) is stunning and the recipes are intriguing and include: Wild garlic, nettle, ham and gruyere soda bread; Butterfly buns with damson jam and vanilla buttercream; and Cranberry and apricot lace biscuits.

There are profiles of bakers, artisan purveyors of products such as honey, farmers and dairy producers and more. This title provides a lovely dive into Irish baking and those who bake, grow and produce stellar Irish ingredients. Come sit at Cherie’s cozy Irish table and take a virtual vacation to the beauty of Ireland via its delicious bakes.

Please be sure to follow Cherie on her social media. See her author’s page for those details.

Tales from the Yeast Indies by Christopher Tan is the latest collection of baking recipes from the author of The Way of Kueh: Savouring & Saving Singapore’s Heritage Desserts and Nerdbaker: Extraordinary Recipes, Stories & Baking Adventures from a True Oven Geek as well as other cookery books. I have all of Christopher’s baking/dessert titles and love them! Tan’s three baking books listed above can be purchased from Kitchen Arts & Letters,

Tales from the Yeast Indies contains 60 recipes from breads to buns and a collection of other bakes that include Bumbubaumbullar (think Baumbkuchen “tree cake” – an enriched dough and a spicy-sweet roux laminated together like a log section – the author provides 12 step-by-step photographs to create this magnificent looking bake; Pandan Kaya butterkuchen; and Kumas (Parsi-style sugee cake). I love a baking book that introduces me to exciting and new-to-me bakes. Christopher’s instructions are detailed and he provides helpful notes as well as substitutions for those ingredients that might be hard to locate. Most ingredients that are not available in our markets can be found online.

If you want to open up a whole new world of baking, check out Tan’s fantastic books. You will not be disappointed.

Please be sure to follow Christopher on his social media. See his author’s page for those details.

Chinese Pastry School by Yeo Min is a brilliant guide to Chinese baking written by a pastry chef. The book has been published in Singapore and is available on Amazon.com.au and will be available on Amazon.co.uk on May 31st, 2024. It can also be ordered at other sources in Singapore and Australia. At some point, I am sure this book will make it to the US and other regions.

Yeo Min is a pastry chef and fourth-generation Singaporean Chinese and when not doing food research she freelances as a pastry instructor and plays the cello in a community orchestra. This gorgeous book provides a detailed look into ingredients and equipment as related to Chinese baking. Yeo provides the science into sugar as it is used in the Chinese kitchen; tips on lamination and so much more. Recipes are provided for oils, sauces and pastes used in the desserts in this book. Those desserts include Chewy rice cake; Pineapple buns; Stewed meat in flatbread; Barbecued pork buns and Hong Kong-style egg tarts. Photographs are provided for finished recipes as well as step-by-step photos for various techniques. This is a serious book devoted to Chinese pastry.

Please be sure to follow Yeo on her social media. See her author’s page for those details.