German Baking Today Hardcover – January 15, 2004

I haven't baked from it yet. Many of the recipes sound delicious. Some would possibly be difficult to make, due to finding the ingredients. But a very good book overall.

My mother is from Germany and has one of the original versions (in German) plus one from her month. While a few things have changed it is very similar and the recipes are delicious. It is what I expected and it is a great addition to any home cookbook library or collection. Please be advised that this is not an all-in one comprehensive cooking instruction. The reader must have some idea how to bake.

Loaded with pictures and detailed steps to make your dessert.

There's not really anything wrong, per say, with this book. Each section begins with some photo illustrations of techniques, and that's nice. But, they take up room, so there's not really a mass of recipes to be had in this book. I will say that I had another Dr. Oetker book (1.000 die besten Backrezepten) and it blew this one out of the water. USPS lost that book for me during a move and I wanted a cheap replacement... big mistake. The way the recipes are written (I got the 80s edition, FYI) is pretty strange and awkward. If you can read German, kindly avoid this one; do yourself a favor, and buy the 1000 recipes. You'll be glad you did.

I really like this cookbook a lot. I am a home baker, and have no previous experience with German baking. So far I have made 3 desserts and all have come out very well. The marble cake had a lovely cocoa taste and a wonderful crust. The puff pastry with curd cheese was different, but tasty. The Peach slice cake was a hit with my friends. And there are several more recipes I plan to try. Most of the desserts have accompanying color pictures which I love, because I have never seen many of these recipes and need to know what they look like. You must read the directions carefully. Sometimes you use a sheet pan for the cake, sometimes a bundt works. He has cooking times for convection ovens as well as standard (he calls the convection a "fan oven") and I've baked using both & his cooking times are accurate. I took off a full star for this: the ingredients often include products that are hard to find here in the US. Curd cheese, common in Germany (also known as Quark) is not easy to locate and no substitution is listed, nor how to make your own. Not to mention he didn't even call it Quark. I had to do my own googling to figure that out. You will have to find a German market or bakery or restaurant that sells it, or else google how to make it, which looks time consuming, but not too difficult. I got ahold of some Quark and, to me, it is extremely similar to Italian ricotta cheese & would be willing to bet you could substitute that for the curd cheese/Quark but that's up to you. It's just one possibility.Also, he calls for other things like "vanilla sugar" & "powdered custard". Apparently there is a line of baking products by "Dr. Oetker" (company) that you can buy and those two things are in his product line. Once again, I had to go out of my way to find them because I have no idea how you substitute for that. His vanilla sugar is available on Amazon but when I tried to purchase it, the order was canceled because the seller did not have it. I ended up finding it and the powdered custard (which is actually called Dr. Oetker's vanilla pudding powder) in the store at Cost Plus World Market but you can also buy online at Cost Plus. You cannot substitute instant pudding mixes sold here in the US, for his custard powder, they are different, from what I read from one German baker. He also lists things like, 3 drops vanilla essence, or rum essence or lemon essence. I substituted extracts for those and used a standard US amount of 1 tsp which is what US cakes seem to use. I want to make the recipes using the ingredients he lists so that I can get the full effect of German baking, which is new to me. But it is not a simple task with this book. However, there are outstanding recipes in here. I bought this cookbook, used, from a vendor here and it was in excellent condition but was inscribed from someone to the owner. Can't understand why anyone would part with this cookbook unless they just don't like sweets or baking. To me, it is a gem! Many excellent cakes, pastries and the like. If you like German baking or love baking and want to try something new, I recommend this cookbook. Just know you will have to spend some time finding a few of the ingredients. Once you have them in your cupboard you will be ready to go. One last thing, the struesel topping recipe seems off in the cookbook. Like too much flour or not enough butter. People still enjoyed it but I know better. I plan to use a different recipe for the streusel topping, which is called for in several of the desserts. The links for the vanilla sugar is Dr. Oetker Vanillin Sugar (10 Pack) and for one such custard powder it is Dr. Oetker Cream Pudding 3 Pack. However, there is a vanilla pudding powder in a blue package that I couldn't find here and found at Cost Plus in the store.

I used Dr Oetker cook and bake recipe books in German. When people love a cake and ask for the recipe I can't really share because I use German products and the European measuring system. I have a German food scale and measuring cups. One of the most popular cake recipes I'm asked about is Linzertorte (Linzer Cake). I now have the recipe in English, with US measurements! I now have to make the cake using it to see if it comes out the same. How fun!

Beautiful book and great recipes. Any recipe I have used, come out the way they said or look like on the picture.I bought quite few book from same store and I am just very happy the way they look- like new and they delivery very fast.Thank you so much for great books.

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