Classic German Baking: The Very Best Recipes for Traditional Favorites, from Pfeffernüsse to Streuselkuchen

by Luisa Weiss

From her cheerful Berlin kitchen, Luisa Weiss shares more than 100 rigorously researched and tested recipes, gathered from expert bakers, friends, family, and time-honored sources throughout Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. German baking has influenced baking traditions around the world for generations and is a source of great nostalgia for those of German and Central European heritage. Yet the very best recipes for Germany’s cookies, cakes, tortes, and breads, passed down through generations, have never before been collected and perfected for contemporary American home bakers. Enter Luisa Weiss, the Berlin-based creator of the adored Wednesday Chef blog and self-taught ambassador of the German baking canon.Whether you’re in the mood for the simple yet emblematic Streuselkuchen, crisp and flaky Strudel, or classic breakfast Brötchen, every recipe you’re looking for is here, along with detailed advice to ensure success plus delightful storytelling about the origins, meaning, and rituals behind the recipes. Paired with more than 100 photographs of Berlin and delectable baked goods, such as Elisenlebkuchen, Marmorierter Mohnkuchen, and Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte, this book will encourage home bakers of all skill levels to delve into the charm of Germany’s rich baking tradition.Classic German Baking is an authoritative collection of recipes that provides delicious inspiration for any time of day, whether it’s for a special breakfast, a celebration with friends and family, or just a regular afternoon coffee-and-cake break, an important part of everyday German life.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Food, Nonfiction, Germany, Reference, Cultural

290 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 18, 2016

About the author

Luisa Weiss was born in West Berlin and spent her childhood shuttling back and forth between her Italian mother in Berlin and her American father in Boston. She started her much loved and highly acclaimed food blog, The Wednesday Chef, in 2005, and has worked as a literary scout and cookbook editor in New York. She lives in Berlin with her husband and sons, and works as a writer and translator.

Reviews

[Dawnie · Rating 5 out of 5]

*I received my e-ARC through NetGalley, thanks to the publishers and the author, in exchange for a free and honest review!*

I have to confess that i was a bit skeptical going into this book.
I am German and having a German Baking book -since i LOVE my traditional German baking especially cakes and cookies!- in english? I wasn't too sure about it.
But i wanted to give it a try, because the cover was very beautiful and reminded me of the cookbook my through-and-through German grandmother often used during the few times that she actually used a recipe, so pretty traditionally German!

I fell in love. With this book. And the author. Because clearly she has to be a wonderful person to keep pretty much the very traditional recipes and really make sure that the "german" is kept in tact. I loved that she named the German name first -so easy for me to find everything being that i actually know all those names!- which will make it very fun for anyone that doesn't speak German to try and pronounce. And then she gave a translated name and/or meaning of that german name.
You do notice that the author is at least partly german, and/or that she really loves the country -which is a good thing not a bad thing! Through that love the recipes are kept more to the classic traditions which make them all the more special in a way!

The recipes are wonderful. Very traditional and still easy to follow and make. I made a few of the recipes and just... i loved this book! It was wonderful! And such a perfect trip down memory lane for me!

I do have one small thing that i have to note... there is not a huge amount of pictures in this book of the food -at least not in the e-arc, maybe that chances for the published book. I would have loved to have some more of the wonderfully done pictures at least every second or third recipe.

But it is not a deal breaker and i loved this book anyways. It would have been even better to have more pretty pictures to look at. Because i am sure i am not alone, but the pictures in a cookbook? Kind of what makes me really want to try a recipe. So the more the better as far as i am concerned, but this book was beautiful non the less. And had quite a few pictures from different parts of Germany sprinkled throughout so there were some pictures.

If you are someone that is looking for a start in baking -especailly in German baking? Look no further! This is the book for you! It has all the important recipes, it is a wonderful starting point. And if you are someone like me that loves to bake? This is a the perfect book to try something that you might not have done and tried before. Or if you are like me and you are from Germany or have German relatives? This might be the best walk down memory lane you ever done. Or at least the tastiest.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Now let there be a critical German voice among these reviews. Overall, I think this is a good recipe book covering many of the essentials of German baking. I got this book so my non-German speaking wife could also understand the recipes and try her luck at some of them in the kitchen. She loves German baked goods, but we seldomly get to eat them, as we live abroad. For the non-Germans, the book will do the trick, but for German speakers there are better ones out there.

I appreciate that the author tried to stick with traditional ingredients and methods, instead of trying to adapt it to the Anglo Saxon supermarket shelf. However, some more care should have gone into testing the recipes. Don’t get me wrong, overall they are good, but sometimes there are important instructions lacking. Also, certain ingredients are used too liberally. The amounts of corn starch suggested in some recipes will result in baking solid concrete cakes. If you are not trying to build a house, that’s not very useful.

[Bethany · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have had this cookbook for a little over a year now, and find it both wonderful and frustrating. One of the best parts of Julia Child's MtAoFC is that she creates the recipes for modern American cooks of the time. In contrast, this book relies heavily on ingredients that are almost impossible to find in American grocery stores (quark, fresh yeast). There are almost no pictures of the baked goods featured in the book, instead opting for cityscapes of Berlin.

Every recipe that uses yeast has no option for using active dry yeast and uses an incorrect measurement for instant yeast. 20 grams of fresh yeast is equal to one packet of instant or active dry yeast, not 1tsp. This inaccuracy is present in every recipe that uses yeast.

The cakes and cookies I've tried have all been delicious and have not needed tweaking, but a finished cookbook should not require the home cook to work as hard as this one does.

[Joy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful cookbook. I would have appreciated many more photos of the baked goods. And I do take issue with the number of recipes from Switzerland and Austria (Sachertorte in a Classic German Baking book?!). But, I’m glad to have the (actual) German recipes in American measurements, and I also really liked how she introduces each recipe with a little story or reflection on where the recipe came from or how it evolved.

[AskNezka · Rating 4 out of 5]

My only complaint is that there aren't more pictures.

[Critterbee❇ · Rating 4 out of 5]

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**

[Maggie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I now know how to make Quark 😋

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

My mother was of German descent and grew up in a family of bakers--both my grandfather and great-grandfather owned bakeries--so there were some German recipes that popped up in our kitchen when I was growing up. I especially remember Springerle and a wonderful cardamom-spiced coffee cake at Christmastime. As a result, when I learned that Luisa Weiss, author of My Berlin Kitchen (one of my favorite books from this year), had written this book, I pre-ordered it from my local bookstore, and once I got it, I ate it right up (ouch; bad pun). The history and cultural information on each recipe is fascinating, and I can't wait to try many of them.

[Lora Milton · Rating 5 out of 5]

This cookbook is in many ways like a travel experience with beautiful color pictures of Germany as well as some of the foods made from the recipes. The introduction gives a good flavor of Germany and is followed by explanation of many of the ingredients specific to Germany, including the different fat content of butter from Europe to that of the US (I'm still trying to find out where England falls on the spectrum) and the use of Baker's Ammonia instead of baking powder as a raising agent and the difference in texture that results.

There are recipes for sweet and savoury foods that have measurements in both weight and volume for an international audience. They are made clear and easily adaptable for people from different countries to try. I'm especially interested in some of the cookies and was pleasantly surprised to find some made with cardamom, which I've found in Scandinavian cookies before.

Overall this book feels like a trip to Germany and an experience of typical fare, including savory tarts and wonderful breads. It's one of the best cookbooks I've seen for experiencing a specific country and I'm very tempted to get a hard copy!

[Kari · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best baking book I've ever gone through. Not only beautiful, thorough, and thoughtful, it's quite comprehensive, with 100 recipes. Hopefully I'll get through all of them in a few years.

[Bita · Rating 5 out of 5]

I made three recipes and they were great. I borrow cookbooks from library and make some recipes. I intend to return this and purchase a copy for keeps.

[Heidrun · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know what to bake first!

[Ajdesasha · Rating 1 out of 5]

I've been doing a lot of baking recently, as have many others locked at home for weeks on end. So you can imagine my excitement when I saw this book of German baked goods. After reading it and testing a few recipes, I became increasingly disappointed. First: Weiss has the extremely irritating habit of glorifying products that I assume are much easier to find in Germany than they are in many other places. And look, I am a big believer that sometimes no substitute can be had, and you need very specific ingredients. Fresh yeast is not one of them. It is just an example of her being fussy and refusing to yield, because of over-glorification of tradition. This ethos just pervades the book in many places. To my mind, if you refuse to adapt for your audience when doing so would make no difference in the final product, why are you writing for English speaking audiences in the first place? Write a cookbook for Germans using ingredients you can find at German supermarkets.

Also, maybe it is just me, but I found some of the stories about how recipes were found to be extremely odd. I'm not a cookbook author, so I am not sure of any ethics behind things. But one recipe mentions how after testing many different recipes, the best version was found on the back of a can, which company's can is left unsaid. Which was apparently used in the book? I did not see any credit given, but maybe it is somewhere buried. I dunno. It would just be weird to me to write an American cookbook for a foreign market, take the recipe for green bean casserole directly from the back of the French's fried onions can, then use it in my book without crediting them for the recipe.

[Lynne · Rating 5 out of 5]

A delicious compendium of German cookies, cakes and breads. I love how they're not too sweet and that there are savory recipes here too! I really want to bake every recipe in this book. Will definitely be buying the hard copy for my collection. Thanks NetGalley for the ARC.

[Laurie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting recipes but this is a baking book that would be vastly improved by pictures of each finished product. I know what some of the cookies/pastries look like, but it would be nice to see what the more unfamiliar ones should look like, too.

[Donna Hutt Stapfer Bell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good, but narrow in scope

The author has favorites. This is a collection of them. The recipes are lovingly described, well planned but the collection is narrow and the author says as much. Good resource but not a comprehensive one.

[Bonnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I lived in Germany during my adolescence and I miss all the wonderful desserts that I could get at the mom and pop bakeries throughout the city. I saw this recipe book on NetGalley and nostalgia hit me so I requested it in exchange for my honest review.

German sweets are a completely different type of animal than American desserts. Upon first arriving in Germany, our landlady would invite us over for "kaffee und kuchen." My family would marvel at the beautiful and precise cakes that she would have only to inwardly groan at the lack of sweetness.

German desserts are definitely less sweet than their American counterparts so it may take some getting used to. Don't get me wrong, I still love sweet sweets but it's nice to enjoy the flavors of cookies and cakes other than just sugar. The kasekuchen in particular is much different from New York-style cheese cake but it's oh-so-nice with a good cappuccino on a cool day.

I loved Weiss's descriptions of the cakes or buns, especially of anything with poppy seeds. I barely even like poppy seeds but she made them sound so appetizing that I know the next time I travel to my favorite kolache place, I'll be picking up a poppy seed kolache in addition to my usual fare. I also liked her enthusiasm of the reader's abilities to do a recipe. I always thought strudel would be too difficult an endeavor but she made it sound easy--well, easier.

It's a good thing that she is so descriptive because there aren't a ton of pictures in this book. I know that pictures are expensive but I picked up this book for the nostalgia factor and I was a bit sad at missing out on some gorgeous pictures, especially since German baked goods can look so pretty. There were some pictures of desserts and of Berlin but honestly, I'd rather forego the city pictures in lieu of more cake pictures.

Overall, it's a wonderful book and would be great for a beginner baker or an expert as it is easy to follow but there are some challenging recipes in it.

[Cyndi Beane-Henry · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

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. Ingredients are not too hard to find (I purchased everything I needed from our local Kroger grocery store.

[Gloucesterina · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you're a cook who's strongly invested in books that use the fixed format of recipe-photo/recipe-photo/recipe-photo [I'd love to know if there's a term in the publishing industry for this format, by the way!] , please know that Classic German Baking may not be your cup of tea. But if you're like me, and are motivated to attempt a recipe based on the writer's voice in the headnotes (Weiss's is warm, inviting, and informative all at once) and appreciate a unique but highly useable book design, you'll take great pleasure in reading and cooking from this volume.

The book intersperses images of food with snapshots of contemporary Berlin, but not in a coffee-table book-ish way--the food and writing reign throughout.

It helps a lot to have a scale to weigh the ingredients in grams, since the recipes' conversion to U.S.-based measures results in odd amounts (e.g. 10.5 tablespoons of butter and 9 tablespoons of sugar for the Checkerboard Cookies, which have become a go-to recipe in my kitchen).

[Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great assortment of European baked goods (most from Germany, a few from Austria and neighboring countries). Measurements are given by weight and volume, though since it is a European-based book, weight is obviously the priority, so there are measurements like 8 1/2 Tbsp of butter. Some ingredients (e.g. Quark, baker's ammonia) would be difficult to find if you're not based in Europe, but the author includes a reference list in the back for where to source them and includes recipes for some as well.

As many have mentioned, this book would be much improved with photos of every recipe. Weiss does a great job describing each item, but in a cookbook, a picture definitely speaks a thousand words.

[Stacy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I borrowed this from the library to see if it was worth the good review blogger German Girl In America gave it. They give recipes in grams but also in cups. They tell you where to find the ingredients. They give you a little history behind the baked item. The one thing that annoyed me is that not every recipe had a picture, or if it did, then it was sometimes a picture of a place in Germany, and not the baked good. But safe to say, I don't care if this is, like fifty bucks. I'm buying it. I need it. I want to make all of the sour cherry dishes, the redcurrant ones, the Kiperfl, the Springerle, the Gugelhupf. This book had a lot of tremendous stuff in it!

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was not my favorite book. I was really excited because I have been to Germany many times and I think the food is awesome. It was not the baked goods per say. I think that it was more of the set up of the book that I really did not like. For as thick as the book is there are maybe 10 pictures in the whole book. The recipe titles are in German with a translation under, however with no pictures it is hard to tell what exactly the item is. Pictures would have been amazing for the book. Then most of the pages consisted of text that looked more like a school text book rather than a cookbook. I had higher hopes for this book and it let me down. I am let down with this one.

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Classic German Baking by Luisa Weiss is a lovely cookbook. I checked it out as a part of our library summer reading challenge. Each section is devoted to a specific baking specialty, such as cookies or cakes. The introduction to each section contains German stories and/or cultural traditions related to the following recipes. Each recipe has a German name with the English translation underneath. I read all of the introductions and scanned the recipes, which looked delicious. The photos of the food and of German cities were beautiful. I loved the book, so I put it on my wishlist and received a copy as a gift. I can hardly wait to try out some of the recipes once cooler weather returns.

[Nikki · Rating 4 out of 5]

I definitely want to make some of these things. A recipe for Brotchen is what every Army brat who ever lived in Germany wants -- those little rolls are one of the most mentioned food items among my fellow Ludwigsburg American High School alumni. I was a bit disturbed that Ms. Weiss claims the cookies will not be any good unless made with European cultured butter (the kind that comes in 1/2 lb. packages for twice as much as American butter.) I may just throw caution to the winds and try them with regular butter. I will update this review once I've actually baked something.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection of more than 100 recipes for treats - ranging from Brötchen to Zimtsterne – is a great introduction to the traditional flavors and feel of German baking. Luisa Weiss collected these recipes from German cookbooks and friends, tested them, and made them work in a modern kitchen. And because many German baked goods use jams and nut pastes, she also includes these recipes, to give you the most authentic taste. (To be honest though, the spiced plum jam rarely makes it into my baking – my family loves it on toast and ice cream!)

[X · Rating 5 out of 5]

The absolute best English language cookbook about German baking I have ever seen.

I can't gush enough about everything it does well.
Covers everything from A-Z with enough cultural history and explanations about why flavors might be unfamiliar, ingredients might seem odd, and works it all together into a smooth cohesive whole that works well as reference book for classic recipes and inspiration for modern variants.

Just read it, gift it to everyone you know and spread the happiness that is this book.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a real treasure for those trying to obtain authentic German baking recipes, as it is difficult to find English translated versions. Many of these recipes are very familiar to me, as my mother used to bake them regularly. So this book is even more special to me as my mother passed away years ago. The only issue I have is I wish there were pictures for every single recipe. This book warms my heart!!

[Susan Wagner · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted this to be great. I love German breads and cuisine. The odd, rather homely photos of landscapes, streets were disappointing. I want pictures of these special treats; there were a few. Lots of uninteresting commentary, interspersed with hints. Why would you create a book using the butter from Europe when your selling it in the states? I take it the flour is different too. Underwhelming to say the least. Glad I only paid $2-

[Stella · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you have Germanic ancestry, you'll probably find some familiar sounding recipes in here. If you've been to Germany and want to recreate some wonderful baked good, there's likely a close approximation in here. Personally, I would have liked a few more photos of the recipes and steps therein, rather than 100 photos of Berlin.

For molded cookies, there are recipes for Springerle and Speculatius, with sources listed in the back for where to purchase molds.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

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!