7 Best Baking Cookbooks for Beginners

Baking is among the greatest ways to spend time with friends and family. It may appear a simple task, but baking can be complex and tasking if you aren’t familiar with its basics.

Are you a beginner looking to try a hand at baking? Would you want to learn baking in a simplified manner?

Then look no more for the best baking cookbooks for beginners. These books will help you access various easy-to-follow baking recipes, producing delicious outcomes.

7 Best Baking Cookbooks for Beginners

#1. The King Arthur Baking Company’s All-Purpose Baker’s Companion

Revised and updated in 2021, The King Arthur All-Purpose Baking Companion is a foundational cookbook. The book comprises illustrated step-by-step baking guides, techniques, and recipe explainers.

Each chapter in this book offers clear explanations of the essential components of a dish, their necessity, and how the components collaborate.

Further, you will access iterations of various baked products from different places. For instance, you will find Hawaiian malasadas and New England doughnuts in the fried doughs section.

This book is among the best cookbooks for just-starting-out bakers because it explains all measurements and ingredients in depth.

The book has over 350 recipes contained in 592 pages. It was revised and updated in 2021, making it up to date with the latest baking recipes.

Additionally, the revised version of this book includes modern ingredients, baking recipes per recent studies, additional measurement conversions, and revised recipes. This book will help you feel comfortable with the how, why, and what of your baking sessions.  

#2. Bread Baking for Beginners: The Essential Guide

Bread Baking for Beginners is a sought-after best bread baking cookbook for beginners.

This book offers techniques, equipment, key terms, and bread baking recipes from savory to sweet. It has 176 pages and uses a hardcover, spiral-bound, paperback, and kindle format.

This book can be an essential asset if you want to begin making homemade bread. It comes with must-know details such as key terms, equipment, and techniques. However, you may require some baking background to benefit more from this book.

Bread Baking for Beginners: The Essential Guide is uniquely compiled to form the best bread baking cookbook for beginners and anyone wishing to boost their bread baking skills.

#3. Bake Up! Kids Cookbook

Bake Up! is a great cookbook designed for kids between 6 and 12. The book is easy for a kid to follow, divided into four skill levels, and has a specially designed section for holiday treats.

It has over 60 recipes in 182 pages, just enough for kids. The book is available in paperback or kindle formats.

If you’re reading this article, the chances are that you’re looking for a book for your little baking beginner. Your kid must be a baking enthusiast, and this book will boost their interest. Your child will be glad to have this kind of life skill in the future, and you will be a proud parent/guardian.  

This book presents essential content for kiddos interested in whipping up some muffins and cookies. The book is designed for beginner, beginner plus, intermediate, and pro levels that allow your little baker to level up as if playing a video game.

Interestingly, Bake Up! comes with various pictures for different recipes to stir up children’s interest. With the content targeting kids between 6 and 12, little bakers can use this book to appease their baking interests and get their hands dirty.

However, some of the recipes contained in this book may appear difficult for kids to follow and hence require the help of adults. This drawback may not be big since most parents and older siblings wouldn’t mind lending a hand.

#4. Beginner’s Baking Bible

Beginner’s Baking Bible teaches baking basics such as whipping and kneading and contains savory and sweet recipes; it is well-structured and easy to follow.

The book has over 130 recipes included in 208 pages. It is written in paperback or kindle format.

Some people think that this book requires them to have some religious background. However, you only need to have the passion, some ingredients, and a dream to become a better baker using the book.

The Baking Bible contains more than 130 recipes that can satisfy your savory and sweet tastes. You can find almost all the recipes you need for baking in this book.

Interestingly, the Baking Bible is available in paperback, and both old-school and technological readers can utilize the kindle format.

Unfortunately, the Baking Bible does not contain a lot of pictures compared to other cookbooks. The lack of photos may be a shortcoming, especially for readers that prefer cookbook styles with many pictures.  

#5. 100 Cookies: The Baking Book for Every Kitchen

The Baking Book for Every Kitchen is an exciting cookbook for bakers interested in preparing cookies.

It contains various versatile flavor options and key techniques. The book has over 100 recipes included in 304 pages. It is available in hardcover, Kindle, and spiral-bound formats.

Baking cookies is among the most straightforward procedures in the kitchen. However, you can go wrong in various ways if you lack the necessary baking skills. Unskilled cookie bakers are challenged by things like uncooked innards and burnt edges.

Would you want to avoid such challenges? Buy this cookbook, and these challenges will be a thing of the past. This book presents 100 different cookies with their baking procedures. Most of these recipes have a picture to illustrate the expected end products.

Also, 100 Cookies contains essential content on cookie-baking skills such as pan-banging. This book will carry you through a journey of interesting cookie baking recipes, whether you enjoy lighter cookies with fruit or ooey-gooey chocolate cakes.

Some reviewers claim that the book contains some labor-intensive recipes. Others do not like recipes with more sugar than they would prefer. If you are one of them, remember you can skip some recipes or tweak some and still enjoy the book.

#6. Dessert Person: Recipes and Guidance for Baking with Confidence

Do you enjoy desserts? I bet you are. That’s the reason you’re reading this piece. Remember, it is not enough to love dessert. Creating desserts might be more enjoyable for you. That is why I feel the Dessert Person cookbook can be helpful for you.

This book has unique and classic recipe combinations with procedural photo instructions, practical don’ts and dos, different skill levels, and problems and solutions for all the recipes. The book has 368 pages and is available in spiral-bound, Kindle, and hardcover formats.

Some reviewers didn’t like the digital Kindle format of the book; hence, this article recommends purchasing spiral-bound or hardcover options for better experiences.

#7. Chloe’s Vegan Desserts

Chloe’s Vegan Desserts contains completely vegan desserts, easy to follow, and versatile recipes for night and morning. The book has over 100 recipes included in 272 pages. It is available in paperback or Kindle formats.

The number of people going vegan has been rising; hence vegan desserts have more demand now than before. You are probably opting to go vegan or have already embarked on the journey. Cool, this is a perfect place for you.

This basic baking cookbook will help you in your vegan program, especially if you wish to satisfy your sweet taste buds. For instance, the New York Style Crumb Cake recipe is perfect for your winter mornings, especially when coupled with a cup of coffee.

Some readers noted that various recipes in the book had too much fat and sugar, against their preferences. However, you can swap these ingredients to the amounts you prefer.

Things to Consider Before Buying

Any of the books presented in this article will serve your baking needs to the core. Now that I believe it is challenging to get all of the seven cookbooks mentioned above, you might need to consider the following factors when choosing which one of them you should acquire;

Type

Choose the type of cookbook that matches your baking needs. For instance, those opting to go vegan can choose Chloe’s Vegan Desserts cookbook.

Format

Do you prefer spiral-bound, paperback, or Kindle? Choose the one that goes well with you.

Number of Recipes and pages

Not everyone would want a cookbook with many recipes that takes over a year to finish. Acquire a book whose number of recipes and pages will conveniently work well for you.

Pictures

You could be among the readers that prefer recipes accompanied by pictures. Some bakers do not mind so much about the lack of pictures. Depending on your preference, choose a cookbook that allows the best experience.

Final Thoughts

If you read the baking books for beginners presented in this article, you will become a baking pro.

Ensure you purchase at least one of the basic baking cookbooks discussed above to boost your baking skills—all the best in your baking journey.

Alternatively, you can get free baking books for beginners from other sources, but most of the recipes in these books are impossible to follow.