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

I’m a German-American always on the lookout for authentic German recipes. I saw the article in the Boston Globe and thought I’d give her baking book a shot. Of the five recipes I tried only one turned out right and as expected. I’m an experienced baker and a stickler for measuring and process I’m sure this is not just my not getting it…Many of the recipes use European high-fat butter and quark. In Germany where the author lives you can buy those in every supermarket and cheap. European high-fat butter is not easy to find in the US. Plus it is expensive. For quark, luckily there is now Greek yogurt everywhere in the US and reasonably priced and it works great as a substitute for quark. The author does not mention this. She leaves you the choice of buying quark at $10 a pound (if you can find it) or gives you a long and involved process making buttermilk in the oven for 8 to 12 hours plus 2 to 5 hours draining.If you already envy the author because she can just go out and buy German butter and quark cheaply in a supermarket around the corner you might want to move to German when she writes that red currants canes grow like weeds in Germany. That is simply not true.The other issue is yeast. The recipes with yeast tell you to use only a small amount of yeast which is generally OK, I prefer less yeast too but then you absolutely need a longer rise usually overnight. But the book does not say that. For example, the Roasted squash bread Kuerbisbrot I made ask for 1 teaspoon instant yeast for 4 cups/500g flour and then the author gives you the option to let it rise for two hours, OR overnight in the fridge. After 2 hours it barely rose so I let it sit overnight in the fridge and it was alright the next day. If I had taken the two-hour option, I’d have an orange frisbee, flat and dense. Looking at some of the other recipes with yeast they seemed to have the same problem. And Weiss says ¾ ounce or 20g fresh yeast equals 1 teaspoon. But in fact both in America and in Germany 20g fresh yeast equals 7g or 2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast (exactly the amount in one package).About the selection of recipes, there is Sachertorte in the book and some other Austrian and Swiss recipes but no Kaesesahnetorte and no Frankfurter Kranz which I grew up with and are German classics.I made the Cocoa-meringue alphabet cookies Russisch Brot which I always buy and bring home when I visit Germany. I was excited to finally have a recipe. I paid very close attention to the baking time but the letters came out rock hard, completely inedible. I don’t know what is added to Russisch Brot from the supermarket to make it light and crisp but whatever it is, that secret ingredient is missing from the recipe. Maybe it is just one of those things that you cannot get right making it at home.I also tried her almond paste recipe which I usually make with confectioner sugar. The recipe uses regular sugar and to process it until powdery, an extra step I do not understand but for the heck of if tried it anyway. I processed the sugar until dust clouds were coming out of my food processor but it was still grainy, not smooth like when I use confectioner sugar. Also, adding 2 teaspoons almond extract for 1½ cups almonds would have been totally overpowering. I used 1 teaspoon and it was more than enough for my taste. The Almond crescents I made with the almond paste turned out fine.I also made the Candied orange sandwich cookies Gefuellte Orangentaler which are nothing like Taler cookies in Germany which look like large coins, shortbread like cookies that are shaped into a log, refrigerated, cut in slices and baked then sometimes glued together as sandwich cookies with chocolate or jam. The ones from the book are not anywhere near that, they are glutenfree chewwy macaroons tasty but a totally different kind of animal.And as other reviewers have also commented I also don’t understand why there are so few recipe photos but so many photos of the skyline of modern Berlin and street scenes in a cookbook about classic German baking. The text with the photo of a package of pearl sugar (which I have never been able to find in America) talks about vanilla sugar. That is confusing.I might try a few more recipes but for now the book goes to the basement and does not get prime time space on the small bookshelf in my kitchen. I don’t think the book lives up to its claim of the very best recipes of German baking so I cannot give this book more than two stars. And it won’t be on my Christmas gift list for my relatives.

Use the metric units or do your own conversions - it has errors in the US unit quantities. Great book.

Arrived on time. Condition was great. Price was awesome.

I thought the book would include recipes that are closer to what we bake at home. Leans more toward what you would buy at the store in a bag. But still a nice book.

This is a wonderful, inspiring cookbook for experienced bakers.The cookbook relies on fairly old fashioned baking techniques: beaten egg whites; yeast; and simple ingredients. These aren't foolproof, and will depend a lot on the temperature of your kitchen, the size of your eggs, the age of your yeast, and so forth. As other reviewers have noted, following this cookbook to the letter may lead to disappointing results. I wouldn't hold this against Luisa, since these classic techniques rely on the baker using their eyes and noses to make the recipe come out right. In fact, one of the reasons why I love this cookbook is that it reminds me of baking from my great grandmother's recipes. If she had been German, I imagine her recipe box would have been much like this book.I would say that if you don't feel confident judging when egg whites are at stiff peaks or when something is fully kneaded or risen, then I wouldn't really recommend this cookbook. If you do, then you will find no end of beautiful, simple recipes that you can really adapt and make your own.My two procedural comments are 1. that when the book says that something keeps for a day, it really does only keep for a day. I don't feed an army of Germans tea, so a 9x13 pan of yeasted cake is way too much for me. However, the recipes scale down easily.2. The recipes rely on pantry staples that substitute easily, particularly the recipes that call for fruits and jams. We made kugelhopf with chopped apricots and candied citron, linzertorte with marmalade and with pineapple jam, etc. I also generally add more fruit/jam than called for, because as an American I like the excess.I've made:KirchstreuselkuchenRhabarberkuchenStreuselkuchenPflaumenstreuselkuchenGugelhupfSachertorteLinzertortePflaumenmus

This is an absolutely wonderful book that I look forward to baking from for many years to come. Not only is it a look into the best, most cozy parts of German (and Swiss/Austrian) culture - the recipes really are great. It has opened my mind to a new world of baking. It's hard to go back to American cupcakes and brownies after cooking from this book - they feel far too heavy and sugary-y.I would say I'm a medium-level baker and cook, but this book has already made me better. Favorite recipes in their English versions: butterkekse (the German version of animal crackers); saxonian glazed streusel slices; sunken apple cake (so delicious and easy!); simple rhubarb cake; yeasted plum cake with streusel; braided almond-cream wreath; creamy leek tart (perfect on a cold winter's night); easter bread with raisins and sugar cubes; iced spice cookies (pfeffernüsse!; I haven't had the chance to try some of the "harder" recipes like strudel, sachertorte, and some of the cake rolls. I'm also dying to try things like the lemon cakelets, pretzels, cinnamon-sugar buns (a cross between a croissant and a cinnamon roll - ?!?!), whole wheat raisin rolls -- as well as the classic breakfast rolls and sweet quark rolls. I could go on and on about this book - I have not tired of it after almost a year of owning it. Sometimes I read it before bed (along with other cookbooks!) because it's so comforting and I love the stories.Thank you, Luisa Weiss, for this wonderful, delightful, delicious book!

I love the concept of this book, handed down recipes for authentic German baking; yielding traditional results, I can't fault it.The actual book though doesn't quite deliver. You'll have to use a great deal of knowledge and common sense to fill the gaps left with poor descriptions, extensive suggested bake times and on some occasions recipes which are just wrong.I love the idea of the items I've made, but found that with the poppyseed roll the dough is less than half the amount needed, the likes of the marble cake bake time is about 20 minutes too long, etc etc.Overall there is insufficient description of the method and how the final product is to look; the recipes really need thoroughly checked, description and volumes reviewed and additional pictures.Only buy this as a base; you will need to review and adapt the recipes yourself on a one by one basis.

I’ve tried a couple of recipes so far, just relatively basic Christmas biscuits, and followed instructions to the letter.Unfortunately there seems to be key elements of the instructions missing, perhaps an assumption that if you’re an experienced baker you will know what to do, but here’s the thing, most of us buying books aren’t experienced bakers, so the recipes just don’t work.Currently I’m in the middle of trying Zimtsterne - the recipe suggests to make the meringue topping to start whisking the eggs and then add the icing sugar and whisk until stiff. That doesn’t work, you need to whisk the eggs until stiff and then add the sugar. Also the cooking time is totally off - 4 minutes and they came out barely cooked and with the topping starting to brown, so I looked at someone else’s recipe which says 30 mins at a lower temperature. I’m now trying that and the biscuits seem to be cooked.Overall, i’m really disappointed with this book and I don’t know that I’ll bother trying anything else as it’s going to be a waste of time.If I can, I will return the book to Amazon.

On the surface this is an attractive and engaging book with a well written introduction by the author. However, on further inspection all the recipes are in American ie cup sizes and I looked in vain for a conversion chart. There was none. OK I could look it up and work it out for myself but decided that was too much hassle. If you are writing a cookery book then all and I mean all measurements and weights should be made clear else it will not sell.There are also some rather nice photographs of scenery etc but hardly any illustrating the subject of the bake.I am really surprised that a good editor at the publishers did not make these points to the author.I have returned it as it is really no use to me at all

So many interesting recipes, especially in the yeasted section. My only complaint is the overuse of arty photographs of streets and doors and suchlike instead of photographs of the food. I'm not familiar with many of the recipes and it would have been much more helpful to have photos to know what to expect. Instead I'm reduced to doing a search online to find out more, and I might as well have done that in the first place instead of buying the book. Okay, slight exaggeration. Still, I do think photos of the food would have made the book much more user friendly. Other than that, I look forward to using the book and producing some delicious food.

Written wonderfully, lovely photos but all the recipes are not quite right. They all need a bit of tweaking to work - ratios are wrong, there's too much sugar in everything and be warned all the bakes are massive. I halved all the recipes and many were still far too much for a family of four. Interesting no strong flour is used for any breads - this actually worked.