Great Scandinavian Baking Book

by Beatrice Ojakangas, Rudy Luoma (Illustrator)

Recipes for savory and authentic morsels from the north country, now in paperback!Food is the heart of a Scandinavian home: scrumptious pies, delicate pastries, millions of cookies, and, of course, savory breads. Each country—Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland—has its specialty and no one goes hungry. In this mouthwatering collection, Beatrice Ojakangas calls on her own Scandinavian heritage and wide-ranging knowledge of baking to produce the definitive cookbook for this rich cultural heritage.Because Ojakangas stresses ease of preparation, even novice bakers will be able to make filled Danish pastries, Christmas buttermilk rye bread, or a few dozen pepparkakor, better known as gingersnaps. This handy reference highlights Scandinavian traditions too. There are recipes for sweet breads to be served with morning, afternoon, and evening coffee; for trays upon trays of cookies to serve as holiday or everyday treats; and for savory meat-and-vegetable pies.The Great Scandinavian Baking Book will warm your heart and fill your stomach.Beatrice Ojakangas is the author of more than a dozen cookbooks, including Great Whole Grain Breads (1993) and The Finnish Cookbook (1989). Her articles have appeared in Bon Appétit, Gourmet, Cooking Light, Cuisine, and Redbook, and she has appeared on television’s Baking with Julia Child. She lives in Duluth, Minnesota.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Nonfiction, Food, Scandinavian Literature, Food and Drink, Reference

332 pages, Paperback

First published August 8, 1988

About the author

Beatrice Ojakangas has a rich background in Scandinavian cuisines, traditions and history. She and her husband, Richard, are second-generation Americans. All of their grandparents came from Finland. As they visited in Finland, Beatrice, known as "Peaches" to her friends and relatives, became interested in the foods and traditions of all Scandinavian countries. She has a special knack for making friends, and now has many acquaintances throughout Scandinavia. She is known for the sumptuous smorgasbords she prepares and serves in her home. If you visit in northern Minnesota, you may find her teaching cooking classes in her large, well-stocked kitchen. Or she may be assisting with Scandinavian heritage-appreciation camps. Beatrice has authored a Finnish cookbook and numerous articles on Finnish and Scandinavian cooking.

Reviews

[Nikki · Rating 4 out of 5]

It would be a wonderful project to bake one's way through this book -- especially if one were to have a bunch of people around to eat the results! Many of these baked goods were familiar to me from being married to a Danish-American and living in Minnesota for 30+ years, where one also meets people with roots in Sweden, Norway, Finland and Iceland. The book covers everything from everyday breads to Christmas cookies, Danish pastry, coffeecakes and pancakes. So far I haven't tried the recipes but in the past I've found Ojakangas's recipes to be well-tested and accurate. Each chapter has an introduction with a bit of travelogue or memoir and something about the place of each food in Scandinavian life. Recommended for bakers old and new.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beatrice is a well-known cook and baker and I have followed her recipes for years. My current interest is especially baking breads. This volume has some very good recipes for limpa, julekake and other Scandanavian breads. It's a library book, but i will buy it.

[Carla Fournier · Rating 5 out of 5]

To honor my Swedish and Danish heritage, for several years I hosted a Scandinavian holiday buffet for my friends. This was my go-to book for a variety of baked desserts. All were well-received.

[Jes · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is definitely not written as a "modern" cookbook or baking book, and it carries all the ambiguity of old school Joy of Cooking with it's cup measurements and lack of pictures. But it has a magic to it, with wonderful descriptions and the air of testing that implies years of familiarity rather than a few tweaks prior to a publishing deadline. Solid and cozy.

[Dray · Rating 4 out of 5]

I know almost nothing about Scandinavian baking. I have been to Iceland several times but didn't pay particular attention to the breads and rolls and cakes there. My mistake! The book well represents Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Iceland. Cookies, buns, breads, cakes and more. Great resource.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I purchased for the history of family recipes lefse and sandbakkels. I like the book for the stories and recipe origins info, as well as the recipes themselves.

[S Ninn · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fabulous treasure!

[April · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've always wanted to learn more about Scandinavian cooking in general because of my Swedish ancestry, so when I saw this book on amazon and read the great reviews I had to buy it! The majority of the recipes have simple ingredients and are easy to make, but can be quite time consuming. They use a lot of butter, eggs, almonds, cardamom and raisins. Cardamom seems to be used like American's use vanilla, in almost every recipe. I also found several recipes from my childhood, including a gingerbread house.

The Contents:

Introduction
Ingredients
Mail Order Sources (I was able to locate the more hard-to-find ingredients, like pearl sugar, golden syrup and almond paste online.)
Baking Tips
Bread For Meals
Breads For Coffeetime
Cookies And Little Cakes
Cakes And Tortes
Pastries And Pies
Savory Pies And Filled Breads
Index

The book doesn't include pictures, only illustrations on how to shape the different breads, cookies, etc. Before every recipe the author includes information about the history of the recipe and how it's used today. Very interesting and the recipes are great.

[Kierstin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome awesome encyclopedia of Scandinavian breads, pastries, cookies, and cakes. Beatrice Ojakangas has a simple, but informative presentation style, coupling basic techniques with some historical anecdotes to support the recipe's nuances. And, her recipes are simply the best: In two separate test kitchens (kransekake and krumkake) comparing multiple versions of recipes, Ojakangas' recipes were the easiest to accomplish, the most consistent in outcome, and the best tasting.

Caveat: You have to love almonds, cardamom, and rye to in any way value this book. Also, it helps if you had a nice Scandinavian grandma feed you hard cookies and vodka-flavored bread in your youth. Some of the flavors and textures require some repeat tastings to appreciate.

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

My main reason for rating this book so low is that it is including both Icelandic and Finnish recipes. Neither of the two are Scandinavian countries. Scandinavia is Norway, Sweden and Denmark. Finland and Iceland only come in when we speak about The Nordic Countries.

There are some good recipes in here. As well as some that made me go "Huh?"

I don't think I have ever seen a Champagne bottle inside a Kransekake in Norway, for example, and when I try to do an internet search for it, the only pages that come up are American "Scandianvian" recipes...

Overall, I could well imagine trying some of the recipes from it.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this book on a whim, because I wanted another baking book and I love the flavor of cardamom, which this book uses in abundance. I've made several recipes and they've all turned out great. The pulla bread (cardamom coffee bread) was my favorite--it was my first successful attempt at yeast bread. The directions were easy to follow and it turned out perfectly. The Swedish sugar cake was also wonderful, and a great use for a fancy bundt pan. It's made with whipped cream as the main liquid, and you can taste the smoothness and creaminess in the finished cake. I look forward to baking many more delicious treats from this book.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

Don't know why, but Scandinavia is fascinating to me. So are their baked goods! Various breads shaped like giant donuts- rad! Major usage of almonds, cinnamon, and cardamom- killer! The recipes look very easy to follow. And, there were interesting tid bits of facts written alongside the recipes.

[Alissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

i sat down in a borders the other day to surf through this book. It has some cool recipe's in it. that's EXCITING!

[Tressa · Rating 4 out of 5]

wish I had time to bake more! makes me miss the Midwest.

[Tiffiny · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this cookbook!! I can't wait to make everything in it, yum!!

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

These recipes sounded awesome!! I can't wait to try them :)

[Diana Thayer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice recipes, including for smorkage and julekage.

[Dejah · Rating 5 out of 5]

most accurate baking book for Nordic foods!

[Bridget · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great recipes!