From Sourdough to Baguettes, These Are the Best Bread Cookbooks to Have in Your Kitchen (2024)

After a decade of sharing his breadmaking expertise on his award-winning website, Maurizio Leo has compiled his most valuable insights into The Perfect Loaf, his debut cookbook. In 2023, the volume won a James Beard Award and an IACP Cookbook Award, and after flipping through its pages of meticulously detailed techniques, recipes, and expert teaching, it isn't hard to tell why. If you've spent countless hours trying to perfect the subtle art and exact science of baking bread, then Leo's groundbreaking guide will quickly become a staple in your kitchen.

Full Title: The Perfect Loaf: The Craft and Science of Sourdough Breads, Sweets, and More | Author: Maurizio Leo | Number of Pages: 432 | Ebook Available: Yes

Chad Robertson won the James Beard Award for Outstanding Pastry Chef in 2008, and his talent and knowledge show in this cookbook. If you’re looking for an easy read, this is not it. If you’re looking for a bread cookbook to teach you step-by-step the ins and outs of every aspect of making bread — get ready for a life-changing baking experience. Robertson's basic recipe is explained with numbered steps right from the beginning. But pay attention because the steps aren’t repeated, meaning you’ll have to master them before moving on.

Full Title: Tartine Bread | Author: Chad Robertson and Eric Wolfinger | Number of Pages: 304 | Ebook Available: Yes

If you live for bread baking, you may find yourself bored at times, making the same few loaves. The Hot Bread Kitchen Cookbook is a beautiful collection of recipes, including loaves, baguettes, enriched breads, conchas, bialys, and more from around the world. There’s a feel-good factor as well. The bakery employs, educates, and empowers immigrant women, bringing recipes from their homelands and, in turn, empowering and educating them.

Full Title: The Hot Bread Kitchen Cookbook: Artisanal Baking from Around the World | Author: Jessamyn Waldman Rodriguez and Julia Turshen | Number of Pages: 224 | Ebook Available: Yes

For more than 30 years, James Beard and IACP Award winner Peter Reinhart has been considered one of the world’s leaders in bread and bread baking. This cookbook starts with in-depth tutorials, theories, and techniques from the master himself and then goes into extremely detailed recipes. Not only will you learn some delicious bread recipes, including sourdough and old-school New York bagels, but you’ll also learn information on why you use certain ingredients and what they do. In addition to the rich content, there are more than 100 photos to help visual learners nail their creations.

Full Title: The Bread Baker's Apprentice, 15th Anniversary Edition: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread | Author: Peter Reinhart | Number of Pages: 336 | Ebook Available: Yes

If you’ve ever had truly exceptional pizza, you’ve probably noticed the quality of the bread — yes, bread — the other ingredients are perched on. I know that when I bite into a slice, I can tell if there’s apple juice used instead of water. In this book, Forkish goes into granular detail on how to make bread rise in the best possible ways. And if you adhere to his rules and instructions, your bread baking will be on par with the pros. One thing to keep in mind is that this book goes through a lot of flour in pursuit of the perfect leaven (the fermented starter many artisanal bakers rely on for peak tang in the completed bread).

Full Title: Flour Water Salt Yeast: The Fundamentals of Artisan Bread and Pizza | Author: Ken Forkish | Number of Pages: 272 | Ebook Available: Yes

Lahey is the creator of the famous no-knead dough technique, which involves mixing flour, yeast, salt, and water together quickly, then leaving the ingredients alone for 12 hours before baking in a Dutch oven. While it sounds like a very unusual technique, it’s a great way for beginners to start to understand the fermentation process. This cookbook teaches you how to nail this innovative bread-baking method and features tons of images and tips on what to do with all that bread you’ve baked but didn’t eat, such as making breadcrumbs from stale bread.

Full Title: My Bread: The Revolutionary No-Work, No-Knead Method | Author: Jim Lahey | Number of Pages: 224 | Ebook Available: Yes

Since the pandemic, sourdough has become increasingly popular for both new and seasoned bread bakers. Not only is it tasty, but it’s also easier to digest than other breads, making it an appealing option for health-conscious folks. Even if you’ve already perfected the prep process, you can go beyond starters with this fantastic resource for creating whole grain, sprouted fermented bread. This cookbook features 101 recipes using sourdough starter in savory and sweet baked goods, including peach and lavender crumb muffins, jalapeño cheese bread, and chocolate buckwheat cookies.

Full Title: Sourdough: Recipes for Rustic Fermented Breads, Sweets, Savories, and More | Author: Sarah Owens | Number of Pages: 320 | Ebook Available: Yes

The story of Pain D'Avignon is very touching, with a group of friends fleeing war-torn countries to create a bakery revered by foodies and chefs alike. This book is an adventure story and a complete masterclass in baking the types of loaves people will talk about weeks after your latest dinner party.

We asked Uliks Fehmiu what made him share the formerly top-secret recipe. “Long gone are the days when expert bakers hid their recipes and methods as top-secret government classified documents,” he says. “Recipes and baking techniques are now more easily accessible. Our desire is to share that passion and joy for the bread making process with everyone. If we could do it, you can certainly as well.” And don’t be overwhelmed by all the steps involved. Fehmiu says, “if you like to cook or bake, you already know how enjoyable and rewarding the process can be.”

Full Title: The Pain d'Avignon Baking Book: A War, An Unlikely Bakery, and a Master Class in Bread | Author: Uliks Fehmiu | Number of Pages: 352 | Ebook Available: Yes

One frustrating thing about cookbooks is how challenging it can be to find one at your skill level. And sometimes you’re deep in a recipe before realizing it’s so advanced that you can’t keep up with the instructions, much less create anything to match the images. Thankfully, Josey Baker Bread (and who doesn’t love a great aptonym?) gives clear, almost chatty instructions, timetables, and walk-through photos of every step. It’s also written in order of difficulty, starting off with a basic bread recipe and moving on from there.

Full Title: Josey Baker Bread: Get Baking - Make Awesome Bread - Share the Loaves (Cookbook for Bakers, Easy Book about Bread-Making) | Author: Josey Baker | Number of Pages: 224 | Ebook Available: Yes

In Living Bread, lauded dessert maker and James Beard Award winner Daniel Leader takes readers through wheat farming practices and advances in milling to sourdough starters and the mechanics of mixing dough. His recipes are a mash-up of bread and desserts and include vegan brioche, chocolate sourdough babka, and pompe à l'huile, a sweet bread unique to the South of France.

Full Title: Living Bread: Tradition and Innovation in Artisan Bread Making | Author: Daniel Leader and Lauren Chattman | Number of Pages: 368 | Ebook Available: Yes

If you’ve ever hoped to master some of the more complicated breads (beyond laffa or pita) coming out of the Middle East, this cookbook is for you. Scheft is the owner of Breads Bakery in New York City, home of award-winning baguettes and babkas. He takes inspiration from his grandmother’s recipes as well as his Scandinavian heritage, European pastry training, and Israeli upbringing. It’s important to note that the portions are pretty large, so you’ll be left with several servings to share with others.

Full Title: Breaking Breads: A New World of Israeli Baking--Flatbreads, Stuffed Breads, Challahs, Cookies, and the Legendary Chocolate Babka | Author: Uri Scheft and Raquel Pelzel | Number of Pages: 352 | Ebook Available: Yes

In this book, Instagram-famous baker Bryan Ford focuses on North, Central, and South American bread making practices as opposed to European. "Most people think of sourdough as a Tartine country loaf, a specific-looking bread that has specific ingredients," he . "Let's be more inclusive. Let's accept that pan cubano is also sourdough, and pan de coco is sourdough, and look at it as such." Ford also ties in his Honduran and New Orleans roots to further flesh out this eye-opening redefinition of naturally leavened bread.

Full Title: New World Sourdough: Artisan Techniques for Creative Homemade Fermented Breads; With Recipes for Birote, Bagels, Pan de Coco, Beignets, and More | Author: Bryan Ford | Number of Pages: 160 | Ebook Available: Yes

Depending on who you ask, bread machines are either the best or worst inventions since sliced bread. For the past few months, I’ve been experimenting with almond flour or spelt flour bases in my Zojirushi Home Bakery Mini Breadmaker. There are times when the fresh bread comes out perfect and other times, it’s a crumbly mess. I started thumbing through The No-Fuss Bread Machine Cookbook and liked the fact that there was a variety of ways to use your bread machine, along with the nutrition information as well. A huge bonus is in the introduction, which helps explain why some breads fail. This is an excellent cookbook for beginners or anyone wanting easy bread-baking tips for their bread machine.

Full Title: The No-Fuss Bread Machine Cookbook: Hands-Off Recipes for Perfect Homemade Bread | Author: Michelle Anderson | Number of Pages: 236 | Ebook Available: Yes

The popular duo created a cookbook not only filled with gluten-free recipes but also a plethora of options that take about five minutes of prep time. It’s nice to know that you can get the richness and weightiness of true bread without wheat flour or other ingredients that might be difficult for some bodies to process. One thing to keep in mind, five minutes of prep time doesn’t mean slopping together a bunch of ingredients and hoping for the best. The key to creating a gluten-free bread alternative with a great crust or the right level of crumb is meticulously following the instructions.

Full Title: Gluten-Free Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Baking Revolution Continues with 90 New, Delicious and Easy Recipes Made with Gluten-Free Flour | Author: Jeff Hertzberg M.D. and Zoe Francois | Number of Pages: 304 | Ebook Available: Yes

If you come home from your travels marveling about the quality of bread served, check out this cookbook. While many bread chefs explain the science behind their methods, not all break down the regional ingredients as well. For instance, in this book, you can find out how to use fresh milled and whole grain flour. You can also learn about local and regional wheat varieties, so you can use the exotic wheat you pick up on your travels, along with how to use essential tools like a bread-proofing basket. There are also easy-to-understand instructions to use whatever flour you have handy to adapt any of the recipes. Plus, it includes some wonderful interviews with grain farmers and bread bakers from around the nation.

Full Title: Mastering Bread: The Art and Practice of Handmade Sourdough, Yeast Bread, and Pastry | Author: Marc Vetri | Number of Pages: 304 | Ebook Available: Yes

Whether you want to make ciabatta, biscuits, sourdough, or rye, Beranbaum's classic cookbook will see you through from start to finish. And with over 600 pages of valuable bread-baking wisdom, there's a reason it's called The Bread Bible. With her "Ten Essential Steps of Making Bread," you'll be introduced to the 10 commandments of the craft — from fermenting, kneading, and proofing to slicing and storing your loaves. Plus, she includes helpful tips for success throughout the book to help you understand the techniques and ingredients involved in each recipe, so you can't go wrong.

Full Title: The Bread Bible | Author: Rose Levy Beranbaum | Number of Pages: 640 | Ebook Available: Yes