Great Scandinavian Baking Book

by Beatrice Ojakangas

Book Overview

Recipes for savory and authentic morsels from the north country, now in paperback Food is the heart of a Scandinavian home: scrumptious pies, delicate pastries, millions of cookies, and, of course, savory breads. Each country--Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland--has its specialty and no one goes hungry. In this mouthwatering collection, Beatrice Ojakangas calls on her own Scandinavian heritage and wide-ranging knowledge of baking to produce...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0816634963
• ISBN13: 9780816634965
• Release Date: August 1999
• Publisher: University of Minnesota Press
• Length: 332 Pages
• Weight: 1.16 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.4" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

A treasure for bakers!

I bought this book when I first moved to Minnesota, figuring I ought to learn how to bake like a Minnesotan. What I didn't anticipate was how much enjoyment I would get from this book - the delightful scents of cinnamon and cardamon, the pleasure of a warm coffee cake laced with almond paste and fragrant with vanilla, complementing my morning coffee. Every recipe I have tried has turned out well (though my cakes don't look as beautiful as the pictures, but I'm no artist); I think so highly of this book, I recently bought copies to give as gifts to friends who love to bake. In fact, though I have lots of recipe books, this is the one I usually turn to when I want to bake something homey and delicious.

the Bible of Nordic baking

In my Norwegian-American family, baking well is considered a high art form. Christimas wouldn't be Christmas without the seven kinds of fresh-baked cookies, and the whole point of our Sankta Lucia celebration is the Lucia buns, fragrant with cardamon and saffron. And where would we be without home-baked rye bread? Although most of these recipes came down through the family, I now always double-check with Ojakangas' book. She's accurate, clear, easy-to-understand, and everything we've ever baked from this book has turned out just as well, if not even better than when we use the family recipes. I always measure the quality of my cookbooes by how grungy they get from spilled incredients, etc. Well, this one's a winner, with the pages automatically falling open to all our family favorites.

The Great Scandinavian Baking Book

This book is a fantastic compilation of recipes. It brought back heart-warming memories of my Great Grandmother in the kitchen. I absolutely recommend this to those who enjoy staying in touch with their ancestory, and those curious about scandinavian cooking.Enjoy!

True Minnesota

Being from Duluth, Minnesota, hometown of Ms. Ojakangas, and a fan of baking, this book is one of my favorites. I believe that it captures true Minnesota and Scandinavian baking. Every recipe is wonderful and well written. I have had the opportunity to meet Ms. Ojakangas and to watch her bake and she is wonderfully inspiring.

One of the best baking books I own!

I bought the older hardcover version of this cookbook that was issued in 1988 and there probably is not a lot of difference between the two versions. I highly recommend this cookbook for two reasons. First of all, it is written by Beatrice Ojakangas who, in my opinion, is the queen of all recipe book writers:) I own a number of her cookbooks and she writes in a very clear, concise way. All of her recipes are accompanied by a cultural anecdote or an informative note or two about the recipe so that you feel that you own more than a cookbook - you gain an insight into the Scandinavian culture and way of life.Secondly, and just as important, the recipes in this book are simply delicious. They run the gamut from breads and rolls to mouth watering pastries, both sweet and savoury. I had seen the many shapes that Danish pastry came in and they looked somewhat daunting to prepare but, in her book, Ms Ojakangas provides easy to follow diagrams that made them a breeze to shape. Being a chocoholic, I never thought that desserts could be tasty unless they were loaded down with the stuff. I stand corrected!:)Again, I highly recommend this book. The recipes are delicious and it is an excellent book for anyone who has ever felt daunted by baking. Well done!