The Baker's Survey: What book is foundation to your baking?

November 05, 2025

For Corner of the Month: Baking, we asked our favorite bakers in Philly to answer a series of very important questions. The result is The Baker’s Survey.

What book has been foundational to your baking?

Rae Krueger, The Underbite Bites: Dessert Person by Claire Saffitz was a book that made me rethink and deepen my relationship to baking, I met her and got a copy of her next book signed. I have a used copy of Professional Baking by Wayne Gisslen & Le Cordon Bleu which has been so helpful in expanding my pastry knowledge.

Hsin-Hui Chen, 30 Percent Patisserie: The first cookbook I got was called The First Book of Baking for Beginners by a Taiwanese chef named Carol when I was maybe 13 years old. It was where I learned the foundations of baking as a teen with no baking knowledge, trying to teach herself.

Dayna Evans, Downtime Bakery: Mooncakes and Milk Bread by Kristina Cho; Southern Ground by Jennifer Lapidus; The Bread Baker's Pocket Companion by Andrew Janjigian; Bread by Jeffrey Hammelman.

Michael & (Molly, David, Kaddie, Amal), Dead King Bread:
“The Bread Builders” - Daniel Wing & Alan Scott
“Open Crumb Mastery” - Trevor Jay Wilson
“A Lapsed Anarchist’s Approach to Building A Great Business” - Ari Weinzweig
”What are People For?” - Wendell Berry

Britt Ross, Bask Bakery: My favorite ingredients to bake with are fruits of all types, so I get a lot of inspiration from Dappled by Nicole Rucker — every recipe contains fruit, so it’s sort of my dream book!

Jackie, Big Heart Bakes: The Better Homes New Cook Book was the first cook book I ever used (aside from my grandmas Rolodex of recipes) and I it really laid the foundation for me getting so excited and curious about cooking/baking when I was just 9 years old!

Suerim Lee, Seaforest Bakeshop: Good to the Grain by Kim Boyce. I started baking with whole grain flours through this book, and it helped me understand how to use various flours for their distinct flavor rather than health benefits and and also how ingredient substitutions really affect the final baked good.

Howe Wang, Tang's Bakery: For foundations, it's Professional Baking by Wayne Glissen. It's a great book that walks through so many basics and even complex recipes and provides different units of measurements and even ratios.

For personal joy, Claire Saffitz's Dessert Person is a phenomenal book. She does a lovely job of helping beginners through challenging recipes and provides a table of complexity x time required too.