Loads of really lovely-looking recipes in this. It's laid out in the typical cookbook format, but it has a fab bit at the beginning about sourdoughs. I tried out the first recipe in it(spelt sourdough) and it's fab, I definitely recommend it.

A lovely book, full of gorgeous wholesome recipes from start to finish. The sourdough starter is amazing - have tried this before and it hasn't been very successful, but this one worked! (and keeps on working). Everything looks heavenly, and will certainly continue to work my way through it. Had not heard of this author before but would definitely read more from him.

Review of a preview digital copy from the publisher.

A great book on healthy baking , loved each and every recipe.......

Eating Healthy is trendy; more than ever we are using different grains in our baking – both new and ancient - as well as being introduced to healthy foods that may be foreign and new to us. Healthy Baking: Nourishing Breads, Wholesome Cakes, Ancient Grains and Bubbling Ferments is the perfect primer for all of us who are wanting to get on the bandwagon and change to healthier eating. Jordan Bourke, who is a veteran cookbook writer from the UK, focuses on natural ingredients that are not only healthy, but delicious. Here is a book that will introduce new foods that will counteract the boredom in our meals, while at the same time, help us be healthier and happy with innovative, unique food.

This isn’t your typical cookbook with a laundry list of breads made from strange, hard-to-find ingredients (although there are some excellent ones); rather Bourke introduces all kinds of different dishes made from unexpected ingredients like Korean Kimchi (The Kimchi, Egg and Avocado on sourdough is innovative and delicious), Harissa – his recipe is excellent, and Labneh, which is excellent Middle Eastern strained yogurt. There are recipes for flavored oils, condiments, and fermented vegetables which add variety and flavor to dozens of dishes.

If you love to bake bread, a visit to the health food store or bulk food aisle in a larger grocery store (mine has everything in the recipes I wanted to make) is all that is necessary. Bourke’s recipes are well-written and easy to follow. Of course homemade sourdough takes a bit of time, and as busy as most of us are nowadays, it may not be something we want to spend the time to make. However, there are non-sourdough breads that are great. Rather than spend the extra time with Bourke’s extra steps (which obviously will make the bread better), I dumped the ingredients in my auto bread machine and set it to the dough setting, then formed the bread as directed. The Olive and Herb Yeasted Bread and the Rye, Pecan, and Date bread both were delicious done this way.

The book includes recipes for yummy cakes, tarts, and cookies, too, and they are worth making. All told, if you are interested in new dishes using healthy ingredients, you’ll want to pick up a copy.

Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying a review copy of this book.

would like to thank Orion Publishing Group for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book, via Netgalley, in exchange for an open and honest review.

If I was allowed to name this book, I would really call it the ‘Great Big Baking book of Everything’ as it covers such a wide range of recipes and dishes.

It starts out as I had expected with sourdoughs, yeast breads and other baked goodies that had me want to own my own paper copy of ‘Healthy Baking’. But there is then just so much more to this cookbook than bread, pastries and pizza! Oh so much more. We get into main meals - I am a sucker for roast whole head of cauliflower recipes and so need to try that one. And then into preserves, fermentations and more. I simply loved this book.

And no, no I didn’t get a chance to try any of the recipes… Yet. But from my 30+ years of cooking, making and baking I know how to read a recipe and I know what I would like to make and what I would avoid. I also know a well-constructed and tasty meal idea when I see one. And yes there were a few too many allium rich dishes within ‘Healthy Baking’ to have me want to try everything. But there was enough other ideas to try and I can see myself opening this book and trying them.

Oh, and for the record - whoever tries a recipe in a cook book at the shops before deciding to buy it and take it home? Anyone? Yes, you can see I am still bemused by a recent accusation I can’t really comment on or review a cookbook if I’ve not tried any of the recipes… but hey, I am giving you my opinion as if I saw this book in the shops. I would go through it (not read it cover to cover like I actually did mind you) and judge whether or not it was something I would want to take home and cook from. So those who tell me I can’t review a book without having tried everything in it first… you’re so funny! I don’t kill people before reviewing cosy crimes either, maybe that’s why the comments were left by ‘anonymous’… so there would be no volunteers to ensure I review murder books appropriately too? ;-)

Anyhow, back to ‘Healthy Baking’. Loved it, I did say that though. So here is why I loved it. I can’t eat wheat - I have a medically diagnosed wheat protein intolerance (not coeliacs) that means a lot of wheat, barley or rye makes me sick. So a bread book that relies on spelt, dairy free options and unrefined sugars - all how I live and eat - was just a dream come true to me!

Yes there were all the allium issues, but I am just so used to people never thinking of the allium allergies and intolerances I just let it slide. Especially as ‘Healthy Baking’ never states it is a diet specific cook book. It is just a cook book demonstrating… Healthy Baking. Yeah, its title pretty much explains it all - nailed it.

For the formatting side of things - gorgeous, enticing and clear pictures draw the reader in and make us want to see more. A great deal of helpful information is provided for each section and some of the recipes too - I do like those personalised touches as to why a recipe is important enough to the author to appear in their work. And the recipe layout and other essential information was clear and precise too. Being a cook book made in the UK, no conversion to metric issues either.

Would I recommend this book to others?

Yes I would. In fact, I already have been. There are a lot of people out there who aren’t just on the kale drinking, raw vegan, “hippy food” bandwagon as it matches our shoes. We have legitimate allergies and intolerances that seem to be overshadowed by foodisms and gimmicks. ‘Healthy Baking’ is NOT one of those foodism gimmicks. It really does come across as one of the open and honest cook books wanting to help everyone eat better and therefore feel better through whole foods and great recipes. So people with or without food allergies and intolerances will all enjoy this book. Maybe not every recipe… but there are enough there to keep us all amused.

Would I buy this book for myself?

Yes I would. It’s already on my Amazon wish list and I have been shopping around the various online bookstores to find the best deal on where to get it. ;-) Yes, this is really one of those books where I will happily put my money where my mouth is and hope to own my own copy very, very soon.

In summary: This is indeed a great book about Healthy Baking, and then some. Highly recommend.

I was initially put off by the title (and I still think it could be improved upon) but Jordan Bourke's introduction does emphasise that what is meant by this is an emphasis on scratch cooking, decent ingredients and the teaching and adoption of good techniques.

I learnt a lot from him and the fact that the author is a trained chef affords him legitimacy in a world of cookbooks written by under-qualified, under-researched and gimmick-led people.

The choice of alternative forms of sugar in his recipes is a predominately flavour-based one.The same applies to fats too, with olive, avocados and coconuts liberally used. Yes, these are more expensive and this is not a book for people on low budgets in the main but it does encourage us to step outside of our comfort zone when it comes to baking and Bourke is a good teacher. I am also cheered by the 'wheat is not the devil' chapter and he makes no ridiculous health claims for coconut oil or coconut palm sugar (two examples). There's tips on equipment and on breadmaking technique and sourdough starter maintenance to start you off on a decent footing before you get stuck in.

So what about the recipes themselves?

A kimchi sourdough caught my eye and not just because it was at the beginning of the book. Having spent some time in S Korea, I need no encouragement to whack a load of kimchi into pretty much anything so this loaf was the first one I made and very good it was too. I don't make much bread so I think I am as good a test as any regarding the doability of these recipes. Hazelnut coconut caramel tart uses a spelt and coconut oil-based sweet pastry base with coconut palm sugar to sweeten the topping. | preferred my own pastry recipe for the base but the topping was really good.

Some of the recipes are 'healthier' versions of well-loved treats (berry pies, tarte tatins, crumbles) whilst other,savoury meals (baked leeks, almonds and aioli, lentil and freekeh soup with chorizo) were entirely new. The beghrir pancakes with nectarines and honey made with semolina and spelt flour were particularly delicious and better imo than British pancakes (which I am no fan of, most being terribly flabby and anemic).

So, all in all, a good book, especially if you are already familiar with the techniques and looking to make some ingredient changes. But those less skilled will benefit from Bourke's confident and teacherly manner which cuts out the waffly distractions of other, more verbose, recipe writers.

I am always looking for baking books especially healthy baking so this one seemed perfect! I love the food photography within this book. I was most interested in the section about sourdough starters as I've wanted to start one for a while and it was definitely useful! There are so many recipes that I really want to try - a great book for baking fans!

Here are some interesting recipes, but no effort has been made to translate them from their British origin for the American kitchen. You'd better have a scale that does grams and a good understanding of the English names for various types of flour and sugar and other ingredients and their US equivalents. Not to mention temperatures in Celsius and measurements in cm. AND the willingness to acquire such things as spelt flour and barley flour and coconut oil and so on. What's healthy about all this is open to discussion.

Take "baking" broadly, as many of the recipes are not for what we think of as baked goods but for other baked/roasted dishes.

This book is called healthy baking and as far as I can see you get that, but you get so much more! This is an incredible book, you get recipies for baking bread, for baking cake, for baking all kinds of "pizza", but you also get recipies for baked vegetables orsous and salds and you even learn how to make your own kimchi, amazing!

I very much enjoyed this book. I think it was a breath of fresh air in comparison to most 'healthy'- branded cookbooks these days. The cover is beautiful and gives a good idea of what one can expect to find inside - gorgeous artisan loaves of bread and wholesome, simple recipes.
I quite liked how the emphasis in most recipes was not on using a plethora of ingredients, but on pure components, which play well together. Essential to a good recipe.
The beginning of the book was informative and valuable to me, as it gave me a reason to want to read this particular book. From the get-go, I knew that it would offer a different perspective on familiar, simplistic recipes. In the first pages, we see a recipe for sourdough starter, which I have been extremely unsuccessful in making. But I saw that there was an addition to the basic recipe, and that was raisins. And it makes sense if you think about it (fermentation and all), only I never had until I saw it. From that moment I knew that I would be purchasing the hardcopy of this book ASAP.
The book claims to contain wholesome and nourishing recipes, and that is true. Beyond bread, it ventures into sweet and savory baking, snacks and entire meals. I am beyond excited to try some recipes and review them on https://spicesandbooksblog.wordpress.com/

This is a lovely cook book full of gorgeous pictures, lovely readable chat, and great ideas for recipes.
What I particularly love about this book is that though the author like using what are a lot of fashionable ingredients (coconut palm sugar etc), he is by no means wedded to them and telling you this is the only way, instead acknowledging that it is about preference. He also doesn't fall into the trap that a lot of sourdough bakers fall into which is getting far too snotty about their bread. Instead this is an encouraging read that will push you to try out different bread recipes, as well as some other things that some how fall into the catagory of "baking", a lose term in the second half of this book.
I have already tried a few out, and have found them really successful and tasty. This is a great book.

This book was an interesting read. Although the author says many things are easy, they seem very intimidating to me. But after finish reading the book, I am game to try some of the things (now sure making sourdough is something I’ll be able to do though) but making some of the recipes from the sweet baking chapter I can do, especially the Italian strawberry and chocolate chunk cake and the peach, pistachio and coconut cake (the parsnip cake looks interesting too). Some of the ingredients are a bit exotic and can be expensive to purchase but may be worth it to try, at least once…you never know. From the intro, it was definitely an eye opener as far as what I thought about eating breads and grains in a healthy diet. Many times we have been told that we should stay away from breads, but I am encouraged from this book that I may be able to make some of these breads and still eat healthy. There was one thing that would be beneficial to the reader and that would be to put the instructions on how to sterilize bottles to the beginning rather than closer to the end in the ferment and preserve chapter. Since a lot of the recipes before that talks about storing things in sterilized containers.

I liked this book. It was an informative read and I enjoyed it, but wouldn't purchase it for myself.

This is a beautiful cookbook, showing simple recipes for making mouth-watering sweet and savoury bakes. These bakes centre around breads, tarts, biscuits and cakes, including an extensive section on the fermenting process. I will definitely be attempting the ‘Hazelnut Coconut Caramel Tart’ and the ‘Roast Fennel, Squash, Chorizo and Basil Frittata’ soon.

The recipes are balanced and provide healthy alternatives to the sugary, wheat-based bakes that you would find in most cook books. Jordan introduces most recipes with a personal anecdote, which doesn’t seem forced or fabricated, and each recipe is accompanied with a rustic photo of the finished product.

If you are looking to improve your baking repertoire with simple, healthy recipes; then this is the book for you.

I was lucky enough to receive an ARC from Orion Publishing on Netgalley

I am so thrilled with this beautiful book! I have been really focusing lately, on healthy, homemade foods for my family; especially different breads. I love all of the wonderful information that the author included in the beginning of the book, the recipes sound amazing and the book itself was appealing and easy to navigate. It will be a permanent resource in my kitchen for sure.

An excellent and thorough guide to baking several different varieties of bread. Recommended for seasoned cooks with previous bread-making experience, although there are several pages of introduction for those new to the practice. Please note that Americans will need to convert measurements.

Healthy Baking is exactly what it is.
Extremely well detailed, lots of information, huge variety of recipes.

Overall a beautiful baking book.

This book isn't just about flicking through at the recipies like some cook books are.

The content of the book has so much information it's more than just a baking book it educates you.

Before reading this book is wasn't aware of how many different types of flour there are and how much variations of bread can be made ie spelt bread and sour dough to name a few.

Ever chapter is well researched and presented with key information followed by beautiful recipies in UK metric.
Each recipie has full details and a picture so you can see the finished product.

The book is made up of several chapters:
 - a few notes on ingredients
- sourdough and yeasted bread
- sweet baking
- savoury baking
- make a meal with it
- ancient grains
- preserves, dressings, and oils
 - ferments and pickles

Here is just a selection of some of the baking recipies:
- black multigrain seed bread
 - gluten-free sandwich loaf
-  italian strawberry and chocolate chunk cake
- gluten-free chocolate, buckwheat and cardamom cake
- chocolate, cinnamon and pecan babka
 - sweet shortcrust pastry
- gluten-free pastry
- sourdough pizza
 - savoury spelt pastry
-  caramelised onion, sweet potato and rye tart
-  balsamic baked aubergines, mushrooms and farro
-  gazpacho
 - pan con tomate
 - pappa al pomodoro soup
 - couscous with broad beans and pecans
-  quick red lentil and amaranth dhal with courgette and tomato
-  overnight sweet potato oats

As you can see there is a wide selection.
I'm intrigued to try out the pastry as I am always looking for healthier options.

I feel this book is suitable for all types of bakers. Or readers who are interested in healthier alternatives whist being educated about a variety of substitutes for your favourite bakes ie, Chocolate Pastry.

A beautiful cookbook offering a wonderful wide selections of different food options!

I love that it offers a good selection of different grains -not just wheat! which honestly is frustrating to see for someone like me that is allergic to wheat! So heaving a book that doesn't have a huge amount of wheat focused recipes? That is just wonderful!

Its also great to see the different bread recipes, and having a good recipe for starting sourdough and how to keep it on hand. It is not the easiest thing to do -at least for me it was not!- when you start baking your own breads, to get the sourdough right and the recipe i tried from this book worked like a charm!

And since i am already talking about the recipes, i tried more then a handful and everyone worked great and i didn't have to change and amounts or ingredient to make it actually work (as it is sadly the case in some cookbooks!) so to me it seems that this book really offers recipes that you can follow to a T and have it turn out!

There is also a great mixture of recipes, with different levels of difficulty. So you will find a recipe for someone that just starts to bake or wants to learn how to ferment, just as you will find a new idea to try if you are a seasoned baker or fermenter!

The pictures are great as well, nicely focused on the food and showcasing almost all recipes features in this book as pictures, which i personally love because i mostly only do the recipes of my cookbooks who's pictures i can look at. Not sure why honestly but you know... visual person ;) So it is always a good thing to have many pictures of the many recipes in a book to make me actually use the cookbook as much as possible.


All in all this is a beautiful and certainly useful book and one i will be using especially the bread recipes from for a long while and i would highly recommend for anyone that loves to eat their own homemade products instead of buying them!

Healthy Baking may be a decent book, but it is neither appropriate for my needs nor my patrons' needs. I find it incredibly frustrating when I have no alternative to the use of measuring scales. Healthy baking should not be so hard! I can understand the bread recipes being involved, but have no patience for the overcomplication of everything else. The babka was the most appetizing of the recipes. Clearly I am not the correct audience here.