****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
This book only has baked goods, breads, pies, cakes, cookies but it has the CLASSICS we enjoy around here (I live in Amish Country; the Amish bakery is actually within walking distance...uh oh.) I like to bake and the recipes here are the classics you NEED if you enjoy baking. If you have supplies (hey, COVID19 shortages of yeast and flour!) then you are going to find the homey recipes you always need. So this book is a fine reference.There is also the historical and cultural background of the baking and its place in Amish culture. That's nice too, makes for good reading as you scan for recipes.So what's in here and do you need this book?1. The classic "we made 20 loaves to last the week on the farm" white bread and an interesting aside about the shift from homebaked to store bought (preferred for sandwiches!) back to homemade (less expensive) but not as favored for sandwiches (probably the drier or denser texture compared to bagged bread?)The white bread recipe here is the one we get locally from our Amish bakers. It's fine for sandwiches, just make sure you have a serrated knife or use a slicer, if you have one. The bread is excellent toasted and I like it simply buttered with an egg for breakfast. Good with jam and peanut butter, especially.The whole wheat is similarly useful for sandwiches and toast.Potato bread and rolls are the hot items around here, everyone loves them, especially for hamburgers and sliders. I didn't see hamburger buns here but you can adapt the potato bread yourself. The dinner rolls are almost on everyone's Thanksgiving table, we serve those and not the "Parker House" or "crescent type" more often in our region.Cookies: Sugar cookies and molasses cookies, those big soft, sweet, sugar coated hold-you-til-dinner-kid treats with milk or a mug of tea. These are the ones you remember from growing up in the Fifties (us Boomers.)Also included, the variations of "Whoopie Pies" which are large soft cookies (chocolate, pumpkin, vanilla) sandwiched with creamy filling and wrapped up as a soft but substantial handheld dessert. These are hugely popular here, because it's like your own private little cream cake. Lunchbox favorite. I'm not big on these (too sweet) but if you like cream filled soft cakes, these will be a hit.Pies: Explaining the dense pies of the past, Shoofly in particular. It's really a coffee cake in a pie crust, the crust is there to protect the pie against the hot oven of bread baking. And to hand-hold at breakfast for a quick bite with coffee before harnessing up the mules for a day in the field. Grab and go. I have to say, as a coffee cake, it's a favorite and you should try it. I love it (too much...) There are some variations of shoofly that are ones I didn't know about like lemon. (Oh, great..sigh.)There is also apple, dried apple (schnitz pie--schnitz is German for slices) and how to dry apples. Again, a dense pie but tasty. Lemon meringue and others fill out the series. Again, the basic pies. If you have orchards nearby, and a dehydrator, here is a project for you and the kids, dry up apples and store them for the winter. I love dried apples, just eaten out of hand as a chewy snack, but they are surprisingly tasty as pies.The cakes include angel, both vanilla and chocolate and others. I thought the cake section not so interesting but I actually do not like cake, so perhaps I skimmed over it.The book is useful for Americana style basic bread and cookies, in my opinion, and the classic pies. That's all you need, really.
