The Nordic Baking Book

by Magnus Nilsson

Nordic culture is renowned for its love of baking and baked goods: hot coffee is paired with cinnamon buns spiced with cardamom, and cold winter nights are made cozier with the warmth of the oven. No one is better equipped to explore this subject than acclaimed chef Magnus Nilsson. In The Nordic Baking Book, Nilsson delves into all aspects of Nordic home baking - modern and traditional, sweet and savory - with recipes for everything from breads and pastries to cakes, cookies, and holiday treats.

No other book on Nordic baking is as comprehensive and informative. Nilsson travelled extensively throughout the Nordic region - Denmark, the Faroe Islands, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden - collecting recipes and documenting the landscape. The 100 photographs in the book have been shot by Nilsson.

Genres: Cookbooks, Food, Cooking, Nonfiction, Cuisine, Reference, Food and Drink

576 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2018

Reviews

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Received as a present. Very interesting reading. However all the recipes use fresh yeast which is apparently available everywhere. Stores, gas stations, news stands etc. not like that here.

[Amanda Knox · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an incredibly rich collection of Scandinavian recipes. It was well researched and is a lovely volume. For those reasons I give it 3 stars. Personally, I give it 1 star because it is extremely technical. It requires a lot of knowledge of bread making (it's a Scandinavian thing, I get it) and I'm simply too lazy to be bothered with the recipes. Also, the information is scattered all over the book, so the recipes can make reference to several different pages in order to further explain the ingredients that are required... Just too much work for me, but is probably a better fit for someone with more baking skill and a stronger interest in Scandinavian baking.

[Joice · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my all-time favourite cookbooks. In pre-COVID times, I travelled extensively around the Nordic countries every year because I have friends in Finland, Sweden and Denmark. I became mesmerised by the traditional treats which I sampled in bakeries all over the region. Nordic baking is sincere, cosy, unfussy, and not overly sweet - qualities which I prefer over the sugar bombs found in some parts of the world.

When COVID struck, I brought those bakeries into my own home by buying this book. It has turned out to be the single greatest investment in my baking skills. Magnus Nilsson not only discusses timing, but also teaches how to judge the completion of each recipe step based on textural and visual cues. The knowledge gained from this book has enabled me to confidently tackle less detailed recipes from other sources.

Do not be daunted by the sheer volume of the book, or the lack of pictures. Had more pictures been included, the book would have been two thousand pages long. If you want to better visualise the items, I recommend checking out the following Instagram accounts: @valhallabageriet, @vettekatten, @kannistonleipomo, @godtbrodtrondheim, @sct.pedersbageri. These are some of my favourite bakeries in the Nordic region, regarded as leaders in the art taught by this book.

Yes, some of the recipes in this book are complex, but there are actually many simple recipes too. If you are looking for the easiest starting points, I recommend: the porridge section (pp. 242-251), the muffins (pp. 366-370), most of the soft cakes section (pp. 399-435), coconut dreams and coconut pyramids (p. 324), chocolate oatmeal balls (p. 388). As for the bread recipes, I think the easiest ones are the small wheat buns (p. 115) and rundstykker (breakfast buns, p. 116).

For more experienced bakers, there is definitely plenty to explore. I am having so much fun playing around with the different flours, grains and seeds, as well as learning traditional knotting and shaping techniques.

This book saved me as well as the recipients of my baking from going crazy during hard lockdown. I promise that you, too, will be everyone's new best friend if you make any of the delectable treats from this book!

[Anna Nesterovich]

I went to the library for the first time in two pandemic years, because my little one really wanted to pick up a knitting book. Well, the knitting section is quite close to the baking section... And there was that huge Nordic looking book at my eye level... Anyway, now we're baking Nordic things.

p. 130 - 2 stars - Finnish Rye Bread - I never quite liked even the proper Finnish bread sold in Finland, but my version of it based on this recipe was by far more dreadful. Whatever meant to happen, baked and wrapped in towels, to "slowly soften" them did not happen. They were hard as rocks the next day.

p. 242 - 4 stars - Dry Porridge Made from Toasted Oat or Barley Flour - It sounded very much like mămăligă, only with oats, so I was sceptical about serving with "rendered fat on top", instead I just fried balls of it in the fat left after the pork. Then the balls were happily eaten and a second helping looked for.

p. 328 - 1 star - Cut Oat Cookies - Those are the most dreadful looking oat cookies I've ever made.

p. 368 - 4 stars - Coconut muffins - What can I say, they are muffins. It's easy enough to bake muffins without any recipe at all. I followed the recipe though and either my muffin cups are considerably smaller or something, but instead of 10 muffins I got 14. And they were baking twice as long as the recipe says, for no reason I can understand. But they are good muffins.

[Kate D · Rating 4 out of 5]

Can’t wait to try 1 of the recipes out in my next Fika.

[Gabington · Rating 5 out of 5]

Should really be called the Nordic Baking Encyclopedia, such is its bread-th. A thoughtful approach to the regional variation and history of recipes. Enjoyable contrast from the persnickety narration of Magnus Nillson who is quick to identify his likes and dislikes.

Not all the recipes have a photo, but this is a hefty tome so I can see why. Most of the photos are actually of beautiful Nordic wilderness, adding darkness and drama to a book of sweet treats.

On my to bake list are: crisp eggless waffles, every cinnamon and cardamom cake, Swedish apple cake, gingerbread almond tart, blueberry soup, and more.

[Kate]

Surprisingly chatty headnotes. A fair amount of stuff I won't bake (blood pancakes? ehhh), but I took a photo of the recipe for peperkake and plan to make it before Christmas. If I was still into making bread I'd be much more excited about this one.

[Tam G · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the history of Nordic (Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway) baking and the thoroughness of this book. More than a few recipes. Lots of stuff here including black breads, porridges, and flatbreads alongside the expected wheat breads, pastries, cakes, and cookies.

This does side with the availability and use of products and measuring in the Nordic countries. Fresh yeast is used in all recipes. He does have a helpful front section with how to find fresh yeast or substitute instant yeast, but it is mixed in the intro section so some might miss it.

[Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this book, even though I will probably not make anything from it--although the Swedish Gooey Chocolate Cake is tempting. The photography is gorgeous --and very little of it is of food. Fascinated by recipes for Dried Bread Baked with Blood and Rye and Pine Bark Bread and Camping Bread. This book really has me longing for Fika in a Swedish cafe.

[Beverly · Rating 4 out of 5]

You never really finish a cookbook, of course. This one is full of fascinating information and background, recipes I have been looking for, and information on culinary history (Scandinavian of course). Happy to have it on my cookbook shelf

[Christopher Farrell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Magnus’ deep look into the baking world of Scandinavia is facinating, deep and rich. The recipes are easy to follow and quite frankly, are delicious. Next Christmas is going to be cookie nirvana in my house.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

An exhaustive, thoroughly researched tome of Nordic baking. I enjoyed Nilsson's short introductions to each chapter and I think he did a wonderful job of setting a lighter, more personal tone for what could have been a very dry instruction manual.

[Weston Lindberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't bake everything in the book but the recipes I attempted were clear and yielded a good result. I enjoyed learning about the food culture of the region and the pictures are strikingly beautiful.

[Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you get this book be prepared to make some math conversions and know that large amounts of yeast are needed.

[Vera · Rating 5 out of 5]

A gem of a book. Amateur bakers and Scandinavian (cuisine) lovers, you've found your bible!

[PoligirlReads · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very lovely read. This is my first introduction to Magnus Nilsson, and he did not disappoint. He has an enjoyable writing style that is informative. This book has just about every Nordic baking recipe you could imagine. In a twist from the usual cookbooks, Nilsson includes gorgeous pictures of various locations across Scandinavia. I looked at some of the recipes I'm familiar with making, and the recipe ingredients and amounts seemed consistent.

There are, however, two issues with this book. While there are a lot of beautiful landscape photos, there are not nearly enough pictures of the actual baked goods. Some of the recipes are complicated, and it would have been nice to see some of the steps along the way, and in some cases, the completed product.

A second issue is the way the index works. It's a bit of a mess. I had a hard time finding the Swedish recipes by name, the way things are organized. For example, if you go to the bread section, you won't find Honokaka, but you will find a generic English title of "soft wheat and rye cakes." Not helpful!

Overall though, once you find the recipe you're looking for, this is a great collection of Nordic baking recipes. I can see myself making a lot of tasty treats from this book.

[Jesse Carlson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Magnus Nilsson seems like a really wonderful person, and an incredible chef. I think this book is a breathtaking anthropological work of a regions traditions of baking. All that being said, if you actually want to bake anything in this book you will struggle. I’m a professional baker who works in a kitchen every working day. I was excited to pick up this book and find some unique breads that I could start messing around with. There are many good ideas here, but it might serve better as a place to jump off from rather than being the resource you may need. As an example, there’s a recipe for Norwegian Twice-Baked Bread on page 107. It sounds very interesting. I’ve tasted some long baked breads, and the flavor is incredible from the Maillard reaction. However, we’re given no recipe. It’s just a description. And a poor one at that. We have no temperature, no time, no mention of the oven that’s used just a “… very hot oven for just long enough, usually a few minutes.” That is literally the most detailed instruction in the whole recipe. I’ll be waiting for Nilsson to release a more traditional cook book that focuses on the depth of recipes instead the of breadth of the whole work.

[Aurora Jonathan Goga · Rating 4 out of 5]

I leafed through this at a dinner party and want to read it and make a lot of the recipes in it. I generally skip the extra notes and stories anyway, so they don’t bother me, and I liked that they included the names of each dish in each of the Nordic languages it appears in. I was thrilled to see my favourites that I grew up with as a Norwegian and my new favourites that my Danish and Icelandic friend has made for me. Loots of good recipes and a logical division/categorisation, but mediocre pictures between sections.

[Beka · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to love this book, but it just wasn't easy for me to get into. It's got over 400 recipes, but it's so text-heavy and picture-short, that I found it hard to get a sense of the recipes. I think I'd probably like to eat anything in here, but I wasn't drawn to keep any of the recipes. That being said, if you're wanting to study breads, pastries, and more from the far north, this is definitely a useful book.

[Sam Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full of charming essays about Nordic Baking and culture, historic and current, along with an exhaustive collection of recipes that manages to be inviting instead of just dry. I love the chapter layout, and the recipes I've tried so far have been delicious and a great break from my American roots

[Grace Pruszinski · Rating 3 out of 5]

Why such big book so little pictures? So little colour. I like pictures and colour :(

Very interesting book with some great recipes but it is a bit overwhelming. A lot of the recipes seem very similar just each slight different variations. But I am keen to try a few of them.

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too stream-of-consciousness for me. Way too wordy.

[Stacie Maheurin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great insight and info

[Juli Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

An incredible reference on the topic.

[Donna Robinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting baking book featuring Nordic recipes.

[René Paquin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un des livres de cuisine les plus intéressants que j'ai consultés dans les derniers mois! Dans ce remarquable ouvrage, ce ne sont pas les illustrations qui retiennent l'attention (il y en a très peu), mais l'impressionnante recherche documentaire sur laquelle il s'appuie. Et le mot « boulangerie » doit être pris dans son sens très large, soit tout ce qui est fait à partir de farine: pain, brioche, dessert, gaufre, etc. Un incontournable pour qui s'intéresse à la cuisine du monde, à classer aux côtés du premier livre de Magnus Nilsson paru chez Phaidon en 2018, mais aussi avec LA CUILLÈRE D'ARGENT, bible de la cuisine italienne.

[Mills College Library]

641.815 N712 2018