5 natural and wholesome stars to The Natural Baker! 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟

I’ve been fortunate to review some stellar cookbooks lately, and The Natural Baker is no exception. It includes a nice mix of whole foods-based (not processed) recipes, some of which are vegan, more are vegetarian, and some that have meat.

All of the recipes are pictured in full color photos, and many are two page spreads! The photos are on a bright white, clean background (the focus was on the naturally colorful food), and they have an almost bucolic appearance, which I loved.

After going through the basics of wholesome baking, the book has sections for everything from breakfasts to desserts. It includes much more than just muffins and breads. The ingredients and steps are presented in a clear and concise manner.

I found myself bookmarking most every page, so here’s the short list of what I’m eager to try soon:

~Almond Apple Porridge (baked oatmeal): We eat baked oatmeal regularly because it’s easy to prep in advance, I can stuff it full of fruit, and it’s filling. This one looks like a fresh twist.
~Green Pea, Fava, and Feta Cakes: Oh my!
~Feta, Olive, and Rosemary Soda Rolls: Please don’t notice the feta theme here. I promise I’m not obsessed with feta or anything.
~Polenta, Kefir, Raspberry, Lemon, Coconut Cake with a Rasperry Yogurt Ripple: This sounds like a doozy, but the recipe looks easy enough to follow, and there’s kefir in it! In a cake!
~Pistachio Cranberry Cardamom Sables
~Tahini Honey Tiffin with Figs: These look like brownies! With tahini!
~Coconut Oat Biscuits (Cookies)
~Pumpkin Spinach Ricotta Pie: YES!
~Millet Sweet Potato Kale Cakes with a Sunflower Seed Crust
~Plum Blackberry Blueberry Crumble with Lemon Syrup

So, some of the above may sound “fancy schmancy,” but the recipes seem straight forward and not as strenuous as baking can typically be. I will make sure to update once I’ve tried a few things. Overall, I’m impressed with this cookbook’s presentation and content, and super excited to try some of these adventurous and delicious-sounding recipes!

Thank you to Henrietta Inman, Jacqui Small/Quarto, and Netgalley for the ARC. The Natural Baker is available now!

Fab baking book. The introduction bit is a bit shorter and less detailed than I expected, as I am not an experienced baker I'd love to read some more about basics.
The pictures are really amazing. Caused me instant desire to try this recipes.
There are some really exciting recipes, like Caramelized Red Onion Cheddar and Parsley Scones, Feta Olive and Rosemary bread rolls, Peanut, Rye and Raisin Brownie, fig banana dark chocolate cake, etc. I really liked the cake section, you could easily start your own hipster coffee shop with these cake recipes.
I couldn't believe my eyes, after seeing a Gozleme recipe, which is a traditional Turkish pastry made in villages.

The recipes are detailed and need many ingredients, but I think this is only normal as most of them are quite interesting combination of mouth-watering ingredients... Can't wait to try some of those.

Thanks for the publisher and NetGalley for this copy, in exchange for an honest review.

The first thing you'll notice are the beautiful photographs that accompany the text...they'll have your mouth watering! The author talks about whole food ingredients, and the benefits of each type (eg, the various types of grain and the benefit of each), and then goes on to talk about her experience with whole food cooking. This isn't a health-food book, it's more of a 'better for you' book. The recipes are simple, but elegant, and look really tasty! There are sugars used in them, and plenty of desserts are offered, but it's 'better for you' because, if you're going to eat sugar and dessert, you might as well make it real, and tasty, food.