King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking: Delicious Recipes Using Nutritious Whole Grains (King Arthur Flour Cookbooks)

If you do a lot of baking, I strongly encourage you to consider getting this book. It is a comprehensive 612 page tome of whole wheat baking. The writing style is just to my liking - the recipes aren't so long that you can't follow them, but all of the necessary tips to really make your recipe a success - and allow you to continually learn more about baking along the way - are there. Longer introductions to some sections make for enjoyable reading on the couch. The recipes use just as much sugar, butter, and eggs as their all-purpose-flour versions, so moderation is still called for. However, you will instantly be able to substantially increase the amount of whole grains that you eat, and will most likely very much enjoy the process. I just bought the book last week and have made bread, coffee cake, and banana bread, all of which were delicious. The loaf of bread literally took me back to my grandmother's dinner table, very surreal and appreciated. Each bread was very moist and the flavor is deeper than regular bread, but in an addicting satisfying sort of way that makes you wonder if "regular" bread will ever stack up again. With this book, you can make yeast and sourdough breads, flat breads, crackers, tortillas, pita bread, quick breads, muffins, coffeecakes, biscuits, scones, doughnuts, pancakes, waffles, oatmeal, granola, crisps, cobblers, puddings, cookies, bars, cakes, pie, and quiche. I suppose there are some folks who might not like whole grains in any form, but these recipes are nothing like the stereotypical dry, boring whole wheat recipes you might associate with whole wheat flour.[If you bake just a few times a year, you may want to stick to the free recipes on King Arthur's Website - this book will take up a lot of room on your shelf!]Practically speaking, King Arthur recommends that you use their brand of whole wheat flour, or adjust the water content as needed in their breads. I already use their flour so that wasn't a big deal. King Arthur sells two main kinds of whole wheat flour - regular whole wheat and white whole wheat (slightly less fiber and bakes lighter) - available in most grocery stores and on their website. The cookbook also calls for a dozen specialty flours/items. If you're just dipping your foot into the water, you can make many of the recipes just with regular whole wheat flour; it is used in 360 of the recipes, though many of these also call for another kind of specialty whole grain flour in combination (you can still make 63 of them with ONLY whole wheat flour). White whole wheat flour is called for in 28 additional recipes; 57 recipes call for either type of WW flour; and in three of them you can substitute barley flour. To really get the most out of this book, however, you will (eventually) need to purchase some other flours.The main specialty flours that the book calls for are Whole Wheat Pastry Flour (77 recipes - many of these also call for another type of flour), Barley Flour (36 recipes), Spelt Flour (26 recipes), Whole Cornmeal (26 recipes), Pumpernickel/Whole Rye Flour (24 recipes), Oat Flour (23 recipes), and Potato Flour or Potato Flakes (15). I found all of these except potato flour in my natural grocery store, and they are also all sold at King Arthur's website. Bob's Red Mill and Arrowhead Mills also make many of these types of flour. They store fine in the freezer, so you can always pick up a few bags of specialty flour at a time to increase your recipe options.A bit more on the practical stuff... There are also some ingredients used in just one to five recipes each: almond flour, barley malt extract, brown rice flour, cracked wheat, Turbinado sugar, durum (semolina) flour, fennel seeds, steel-cut oats, malted milk powder, malted wheat flakes, medium rye flour, white rye flour, millet, oat bran, vital wheat gluten, wheat berries, wheat bran, and buckwheat flour. But don't be intimidated. Your natural food store may have more of these items than you would think (mine sure did), King Arthur sells most of them also, and if you really can't track it down, there will only be a few recipes that you can't try.But really, this isn't about the practical stuff, it's about the REALLY GOOD FOOD that you will be enjoying in short time!!In sum, the bakers at King Arthur have done all the hard work for you in perfecting these recipes, and we can just sit back (or start baking) and enjoy the results! We know that whole grains are better for us, but who knew they would be so delicious?Update: After cooking from this book regularly for 8 years, I finally completed my goal of making all of the recipes within! While I have found some recipes that I didn't like, there are so many good ones. So many amazing breads and desserts. It's got quite good variety for a baking cookbook. And I still prefer brownies from this book to those made with white flour. Our very very favorite recipes include:Breakfasts: Spelt Pancakes, Orange Cloud Pancakes, Banana-Oat Pancakes, Hazelnut Waffles with Pear Compote, Wheat Granola with Walnuts & Apricots, Baked Oatmeal, Blueberry Oatmeal, Banana-Walnut Oatmeal, Cranberry-Apple OatmealQuick Breads: Sour Cream Muffins, Cranberry-Orange Spelt Muffins, Gingered Oatmeal Muffins, Sailor Jacks, Moist Bran Muffins, Pumpkin Bread, Cream Cheese and Molasses Bread, Banana Crunch Cake, Peach Coffecake, Honey-Whole Wheat Biscuits, Cinnamon-Pecan Scones, Eggnog-Oat Scones with a Whiskey Glaze, Macadamia Oat Scones with Orange GlazeFlatbreads & Crackers: Two-Corn Pizza, Whole Wheat Pita, Cheese Crackers, Wheat Thins, Graham CrackersYeast Breads: The Easiest 100% Whole Wheat Bread Ever, 100% Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread, Golden Malted Wheat Bread, Sprouted Wheat Sandwich Bread, Naturally Sweet Wheat Bread, Irish Porridge Bread, Honey-Oatmeal Sandwich Bread, Granola Bread, Oat Rolls, Wheat Rolls, Wheat Baguettes, Going with the Grain Wreath, Whole Wheat Challah, Limpa, Raisin-Pecan Rye BreadSourdough: Pain au Levain with Whole Wheat, Whole Wheat Multigrain Sourdough Bread, Maple-Oat Sourdough Bread, Rye with Whole Wheat Levain, Whole Wheat Sourdough Waffles, Chocolate-Chocolate Chip WafflesCookies & Bars: Chewy Oatmeal Cookies, Iced Orange Cookies, Scottish Shortbread, Cinnamon-Pecan Shortbread, Double Fudge Brownies, Cinnamon-Apple Bars with Peanut Butter Glaze, Classic Date-Nut Bars, Lemon-Oat SquaresCakes: Legacy Apple Cake with Brown Sugar Frosting, Coconut Cake's frosting, Chocolate Stout Cake, Pumpkin Cake, Raisin-Spice Pumpkin Cake, Sweet Plum Cake with Rum Frosting, Buttercream, Chocolate Whipped CreamPie & Quiche: I must admit that I don't like the whole wheat crust, so I sub my regular pie crusts here (lol); Caramel-Apple Pie, Blueberry Pie or Fresh Blueberry Pie, Pecan Pie, Blueberry Cream Pie (LOVE the oat crust here!), Golden Pumpkin Pie, Cran-Apricot Surprise Pie, Asparagus and Scallion QuichePastry: Sweet Palmiers, Nectarine Galette, Cinnamon-Sugar Croissants, Cheese and Apricot Croissants, Spinach Croissants, Whole Grain Danish Pastry Dough, the Peanut Butter eclair filling, Molasses Doughnuts, Western DoughnutsHappy Baking!

I am a good cook, and not afraid to try any recipe for any kind of food, but when it comes to baking, I am definitely in the category of "non-baker" -- that is someone who bakes cakes, pies and cookies with great satisfaction, but is scared to death to delve into the world of yeast baking. Forget the fear. I have had this book for two years and had not used it, then I got tired of looking at the pictures and decided to dive right in. This is a great book for any baker - beginner or expert. The information contained in it has been invaluable to me. After I purchased the book, I purchased the basics from KAF online because we have limited sources up here in Michigan's Upper Peninsula and I reasoned that if I started with the best and failed, it had to be me and that would be the end of that. No worries. I purchased KAF whole wheat flour, bread flour, rye flour, their SAF instant yeast and regular active dry yeast and some other flavorings and enhancements and set out to bake. The next two things I bought were an OXO digital kitchen scale (from Amazon) fantastic and highly recommended, and a very good, large pizza stone, which was very reasonable and came with a beautiful, huge pizza peel (Cooking.com.)I started out simply with a recipe from the book I had wanted to make since I purchased it - Whole Wheat Pita Bread. I was raised on good pita bread and my husband and I both love it, but a good variety is impossible to find up here. I remembered going to to middle eastern bakery in the Eastern Market in Downtown Detroit when I was a child, but could this be the same bread I saw come out of the huge oven all puffed up and smelling fantastic? After years of purchasing only so-so immitations up here, I decided to bake my own. The recipe in the book seemed almost too simple. Could this actually be the bread we have been missing and craving? Voila! After a few minutes in the KitchenAid Mixer and a short rest, I was ready to bake my pita. Weeks after my first real "baking from scratch" experience, I am still amazed at the fantastic results. No more store bought immitations. This recipe was absolutely delicious. Good ingredients are important, but the real kicker is the pizza stone. After preheating it at 450 degrees for about 1/2 hour, and following the recipe, the bread baked in a matter of minutes and - surprise! - pita bread with a wonderful texture, a flavor to die for and a pocket! Believe me, this recipe alone is worth the price of the book (which is very reasonable on Amazon) and the equipment.I now bake pita at least once a week. The recipe makes eight loaves and in this house, they go fast because it is our bread of choice for sandwiches and all middle eastern cooking. I even divided the dough into 16 pieces instead of 8 and made mini-pitas, which I serve with appetizers. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful.I have since been encouraged enough to buy a bread maker (I can highly recommend the Cuisinart Convection Breadmaker) and made my first loaf of rye bread with great success! The KAF flours and the rye enhancer they sell make your home smell like the local bakery and the flavor is outstanding! Makes the most wonderful toast, not to mention sandwiches. That aroma alone is worth the price of the bread maker. My next adventure making simple whole wheat bread, without the breadmaker, was a complete success as well. Pizza dough recipe from the book is outstanding and perfect for oven or grilling.So, now I am an amateur baker instead of a non-baker and am working my way toward good baker, hopefully on the way to expert.Good flours and good equipment are essential. Bob's Red Mill flours are also very, very good.The other things I learned from my baking books is that even the most popular measuring cups -like the Pyrex we all have been buying for years - are as much as 14% off in accuracy. Hence, the OXO kitchen scale. You can place your large KitchenAid mixing bowl on it, (zero it out) add your flour (zero it out) add your next flour or ingredient (zero it out) and keep repeating even with liquids, until you get the entire recipe in the bowl for mixing. It's amazing. If you put in too much of a dry ingredient, just take out a little at a time until you get the measurements exact. Very easy and the results are very gratifying! This book, compibed with good equipment and good products can make a baker out of anyone, and I am living proof.Once you have this book, come back to Amazon and order The Art and Soul of Baking by Sur La Table. Another excellent must have baking book. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

I recently bought a load of wholegrains which weren't used for their intended purpose. I wondered if I could do something with them, and I searched for inspiration.Most of the books available didn't make me want to rush out and buy wholegrains. They included recipes for granola, and obviously healthy things, supporting the image that I had in my head (and from past experience) of what wholefood food was like.I noticed this book because it had a sandwich cake on the cover, and it looked like a "normal" sandwich cake. I read through the book description and decided this sounded like my sort of book. I was tempted to wait for the paperback version, which was a lot cheaper, but I wanted it **now**.It's amazing. It's huge. I had no idea it was going to be such a thick book... if I had, I think I would have bought the paperback version. It's got hundreds of recipes, ranging from the sort of thing one would expect to find in a wholefood cookbook, to a whole host of lighter ("normal") foods. The bread section, as might be expected, is incredible. I bake all my own bread anyway, and this has given me some great inspiration.It's an American book, the quantities are given in both cups and ounces (don't forget here are only 16 fluid ounces in a US pint -not 20 as in the UK - by the way). At the beginning there is a list of exaclty what they mean by butter, milk, etc. It's really well thought out.It's beautifully presented, with one page (or more) per recipe. Lots of tips on preparation and freezing. Later in the book there are pages of colour plates.It really is a pleasure to look through, and I'm raring to get started on the recipes.

I bought this book so I could get some whole grains into my son’s snacks. I was already doing a 50/50 white/whole wheat blend in cookies and muffins so thought it was time for a proper whole grain book.So far I’ve made the oat bread (yum) and the sour cream muffins. The instructions are detailed and there are lots of categories of bakes. I read this book just for fun to see what I might make next (next up is chewy chocolate chip cookies — I normally use a modified King Arthur white flour recipe so it will be interesting to see how this compares to it). The recipes use a lot of different kinds of grains.

I am very happy with this cookbook! It is well made and has so many whole grain recipes. Many of the recipes use a portion of white flour, but it is packed with loads of recipes for different whole grains. I tried the coconut scones! Delicious!!! Can't wait to try some recipes.

Book is as new. Excellent packaging.Book is tremendously thorough resource on baking with whole grains. There is an extensive selection of recipes and interesting background information in each chapter.

I love the fact that the book stays open at whatever page. I love the fact that it is easy to read. I don`t mind that the language is american. I love the variety of recipes and the hints and tips. Too much sugar in some but I don`t mind, I just avoid those, plenty of other choices. I bought a brand new hardback and paid less than half price, was a fantastic bargain and I will use it a lot