Amish Baking: Traditional Recipes for Bread, Cookies, Cakes, and Pies

This book only has baked goods, breads, pies, cakes, cookies but it has the CLASSICS we enjoy around here (I live in Amish Country; the Amish bakery is actually within walking distance...uh oh.) I like to bake and the recipes here are the classics you NEED if you enjoy baking. If you have supplies (hey, COVID19 shortages of yeast and flour!) then you are going to find the homey recipes you always need. So this book is a fine reference.There is also the historical and cultural background of the baking and its place in Amish culture. That's nice too, makes for good reading as you scan for recipes.So what's in here and do you need this book?1. The classic "we made 20 loaves to last the week on the farm" white bread and an interesting aside about the shift from homebaked to store bought (preferred for sandwiches!) back to homemade (less expensive) but not as favored for sandwiches (probably the drier or denser texture compared to bagged bread?)The white bread recipe here is the one we get locally from our Amish bakers. It's fine for sandwiches, just make sure you have a serrated knife or use a slicer, if you have one. The bread is excellent toasted and I like it simply buttered with an egg for breakfast. Good with jam and peanut butter, especially.The whole wheat is similarly useful for sandwiches and toast.Potato bread and rolls are the hot items around here, everyone loves them, especially for hamburgers and sliders. I didn't see hamburger buns here but you can adapt the potato bread yourself. The dinner rolls are almost on everyone's Thanksgiving table, we serve those and not the "Parker House" or "crescent type" more often in our region.Cookies: Sugar cookies and molasses cookies, those big soft, sweet, sugar coated hold-you-til-dinner-kid treats with milk or a mug of tea. These are the ones you remember from growing up in the Fifties (us Boomers.)Also included, the variations of "Whoopie Pies" which are large soft cookies (chocolate, pumpkin, vanilla) sandwiched with creamy filling and wrapped up as a soft but substantial handheld dessert. These are hugely popular here, because it's like your own private little cream cake. Lunchbox favorite. I'm not big on these (too sweet) but if you like cream filled soft cakes, these will be a hit.Pies: Explaining the dense pies of the past, Shoofly in particular. It's really a coffee cake in a pie crust, the crust is there to protect the pie against the hot oven of bread baking. And to hand-hold at breakfast for a quick bite with coffee before harnessing up the mules for a day in the field. Grab and go. I have to say, as a coffee cake, it's a favorite and you should try it. I love it (too much...) There are some variations of shoofly that are ones I didn't know about like lemon. (Oh, great..sigh.)There is also apple, dried apple (schnitz pie--schnitz is German for slices) and how to dry apples. Again, a dense pie but tasty. Lemon meringue and others fill out the series. Again, the basic pies. If you have orchards nearby, and a dehydrator, here is a project for you and the kids, dry up apples and store them for the winter. I love dried apples, just eaten out of hand as a chewy snack, but they are surprisingly tasty as pies.The cakes include angel, both vanilla and chocolate and others. I thought the cake section not so interesting but I actually do not like cake, so perhaps I skimmed over it.The book is useful for Americana style basic bread and cookies, in my opinion, and the classic pies. That's all you need, really.

Love this cook book! Great easy recipes. Love things made from scratch! You would love this too!

Great information and recipes, but I haven’t tried any yet, lol I need to get to it

The simplicity of Amish baking is revealed, excellent starter book for beginners.

I absolutely LOVE this cookbook it’s definitely a keeper I found so many recipes I am going to try.

First of all, I was fascinated with the history of the Amish people... Having visited Lancaster, PA, many years ago that part brought back many memories. And, then when I got into the sections for the breads, cakes and cookies, I thought of my Mom so many times. (I still have the board she used for making pies, etc, and am unable to part with it although she passed away in 2003..). And, a collection of her recipes which I treasure.. And, yes, they too have those little gobs of food on them~The book itself is divided into breads, pies, and cakes and cookies. At the end is a conversion chart for the readers.The bread section is at the beginning and white bread, wheat bread and yeast buns are included. There is even one for glazed donuts which sounds so good to me.The recipes for the cookies I will need to cut the quantity in half. Other than that, they sound absolutely delicious. Will make the one for the Pinwheel Date Cookies as I have never had those before.In the pie section, there is a large assortment of pies ...including how to make a pie crust. *Once again, memories of Mom surfaced*. There are recipes for a lot of fruit pies including apple, cherry and rhubarb. And, even one for grape. The one for lemon meringue sounds excellent, as well, but the meringue would take some practice for me~~~ I will make the custard pie as that sounds so good to me. (wish me luck...). That one has few ingredients and seems as though I can make this one without a 'fail'.Also, included in the pie section is one for mincemeat pie. Mincemeat is still made frequently in Vermont where I live. Most people don't make mincemeat anymore and purchase it in a store. I do have a neighbor that still makes it so will ask her for enough to make this pie.The cake section has a lot of recipes but living alone, it is difficult for me to eat an entire one. Once again, the recipes sound delicious.I almost forgot to mention the Schnitz Pie. I will make this one soon as I do have dried apples on hand for the winter months.All in all, this in an outstanding collection of recipes. I will recommend this to my cousin who is always baking something...Most highly recommended.

However, they are written for large families. I find making 10 dozen cookies not practical for my situation. I will attempt some of the cookies by halving some of those recipes. The other problem was the amount of eggs called for. I already have some of the instructions in the shorter format with only small variations. I will consider a purchase of the cookbook in the hard copy form. The ingredients are found in most kitchens, just the amounts are for munch bigger batches.

Like the recipes.

Nice book and easy to followThanks a lot

There are so many recipes in the book that I will actually make. They are made with ingredients most people commonly have in the house. A great book