This cookbook will have you salivating at the word go! I was raised on the fringes of German cooking. Mom's Dad was second-generation American from a German immigrant. His wife, my grandmother, was also raised second-generation from the Alsace Region, which is also a great French/German region with similar foods. One should be aware that the varying regions of Germany, like dialect, differ slightly in their cooking.

In my early adulthood, I spent some time in Europe, living mainly in Germany. I was even more drawn to their cooking! Heavy at times, it still embarks a sense of home and peace, tranquility to me, pulling me back in time to an era before I was even thought of.

It was with great enjoyment I opened this cookbook on my Kindle. Sumptuous kuchen and brotchen recipes were assailing me. I could remember my Oma's kitchen smelling so wonderful!

Spicy pfeffernuse was my first recipe tried. My husband wasn't real thrilled with that. It's sweet, but not as sweet as say an American cookie. But I was smitten with all of the recipe's I was going to try! I haven't tried them all, yet, but I will eventually! They all look amazing!

I give this book my highest recommendations! Recipes are easy to follow, easier still for an intermediate cook, or an experienced cook. Ingredients are not too hard to find (I purchased everything I needed from our local Kroger grocery store. ( )

Anyone who has tried to bake a German cake knows that it takes about 2 weeks to do it the correct way. All right, that is exaggeration, but baking German cakes and breads is often a long and involved process. And so rewarding.

I grew up in Germany, and had easy access to the amazing breads, tortes, cakes and cookies, damfnudeln and Schneeball, lebkuchen and Laugen brot and OK, OK I could go on for a while. Not sure why I put the dampfnudeln in there... At any rate, I appreciate and miss the lovely perfection with which the perfect baked goods were created. This is not an objective review. Merely having photographs of Brotchen and Pretzels and Sachertorte and Bienenstich would earn a three star rating from me.

Luckily, this book really is great! I love that Luisa Weiss takes the time to explain how to tackle each process. She tells you how the dough should look and feel at different stages, she adds helpful tips in recipes, and explains why she is recommending something that might seem unusual or unnecessary. She offers multiple variations for recipes that are hotly contested in differing regions of German. Her reverence for German baked items shines through.

Recklessly, I have been inspired to attempt two of the recipes this very week, to truly get a sense of their effectiveness. These recipes are not all challenging, just be aware that many are, and it takes a commitment to attempt those more difficult recipes.

I would recommend that those who enjoy baking read this book, it is great. Also, fans of German baking. There are a lot of Swabian recipes, but whether that is a positive or negative point is for you, dear reader, to decide.


**eARC Netgalley** ( )

If you're interesting in German Baking, as far as I'm concerned, this book is a must! Every recipe sounds delicious.

My husband and I frequent a German bakery in one of our favorite vacation spots. The unique goodness led us to try our hand at German cooking. That said, there's been a lot of setbacks along the way (old, unclear books and recipes).

Classic German Baking is a clear and easy-to-use cookbook. Its contents are divided into: Cookies, Cakes, Yeasted Cakes, Tortes and Strudels, Savories, Breads and Rolls, Christmas Favorites, and Basics.

All ingredients listed are easily found at your local grocery. Names of recipes are in German and English. Measurements are given in cups and grams.

My only complaint: more pictures needed! I like for each recipe to have a photo, an image for me to double-check and go by. A lot of the images in this book are landscapes or a single ingredient used in the recipe.

Otherwise, a great addition to your cookbook collection and holiday recipes to share with guests.

I received this book from the Blogging for Books program in exchange for this review. ( )

Written with love and very yummy!
This one is Classic German Baking The Very Best Recipes for Traditional Favorites, from Pfeffernüsse to Streuselkuchen by Luisa Weiss. The cook book will be published this Oct 18th b Ten Speed Press.


Luisa introduces herself saying that, no, she didn't have any kind of German heritage. Half italian and American she grew up to Berlin and later Boston. In this melting pot atmosphere she tasted various diversified German recipes thanks to a bakery store located close to her school.
She discovered, eating these delicious German desserts that her main inspiration was the one to become a good baker, and here she is.

Married with another baker from Saxony, she started to discover important stories regarding German cuisine.
And Luisa is right when she says that German baking is the base of American bakery.

Christmas cookies, doughnuts and other recipes are German recipes adapted once the people arrived in the New World.

She is an enthusiastic, Luisa and she explains that most of these recipes are old decades or sometimes centuries. Some of these recipes require calm and before to see the final result it's necessary to wait also long time, but Luisa remembers that each recipes is for every occasions the most informal one or the special event, like it can be a feast, Christmas, Easter, or a birthday.
The book, after a first and sunny introduction at the main ingredients and how to treat them from eggs, to butter, passing through vanilla extract, yeast powder etc, the sections I guess will intrigue the most: cookies for starting.

You can try the butterkekse the most common but delicious butter cookies.
I love to bake them and once someone said me that they have the taste of childhood and this is true!

If you have some almonds go the Sandy Almond Sugar Cookies.

If you search for a touch of winter goes for the Cardamom Snap Cookies.

In the section you find also pretzels, bars and other wonderful and delicious treats.

Then it's the turn of cakes.

Many apple cakes for all the tastes, but also various cream rolls recipes, and fruits cakes.

The section of Yeasted Cake is for very consistent cakes. We find a sugar cake, a butter-almond cake, if you want to die of sweetness goes for a honey-almond caramel cake ;-) There are chocolate cakes as well.

A characteristic of Germans are strudels. Strudel is the most known and baked sweet treat during the Christmas time.
In tortes and strudels an apple strudel recipe, and some jam and fruit strudels and tortes.

Savories a portion of the book dedicated to salt recipes.

Breads and rolls will introduce you to the richness of German breads and rolls, made with a lot of ingredients, salt and sweet again for all tastes and occasions.

Christmas Favorite opens with the Lebkuchen the old-fashioned German gingerbread. Then you can find the sweet Christmas Bread, and many other recipes for a sweet Christmas.

I fell in love for this cook book immediately after I downloaded it. One if the first I requested to NetGalley. Many thanks again.

The author has put all her love, all her joy in writing it and you can see it reading it.

Recipes are explained with great enthusiasm. It's like to read a book "alive" thanks to the strong connection that the author is able to create with the baker or potential one.

It can be a great Christmas gift and it will become one of your favorite cook book! ( )

This is a fabulous compendium of German baking! All my favourites from my student days in Munich and Salzburg were easily found, as well as some recipes for biscuits, cakes etc I had seen in bakeries on holidays since, but never actually tried. I was particularly pleased that Weiss included such a range of recipes - from staples to more complicated, celebratory confections, and recipes which are distinctly Austrian, or from various German Länder.

The notes at the beginning are extremely detailed, and some readers may be tempted to skip over them, but I found them very useful, particularly in explaining some ingredients which are not readily available outside Germany/Central Europe.

I have no doubt that this book will become a family favourite.

I received a digital copy of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. ( )