Customer Reviews

Hodgson Mill Whole Grain Baking: 400 Healthy and Delicious Recipes for Muffins, Breads, Cookies, and More

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I bought this book on first sight, after deciding that I wanted to do more whole-grain baking. I like and very much trust Hodgson Mill products and I thought that this cookbook would be an excellent resource. I was right, to a point.

This cookbook is filled with good recipes for all kinds of baked goods, using whole-grain products produced by Hodgson Mill. This is to be expected since every manufacturer that distributes any kind of recipe always specifies that their product is the one to use. That in itself is not an issue here, but what IS an issue is that many of the recipes contained therein require special boxed mixes. It is one thing to specify a particular brand of flour; it is quite another to require a specialty mix that is manufactured by no one else.

Many of these special box mixes are not readily available on store shelves but require a mail-order purchase. The end result is that many of the recipes in this book are not something that can be thrown together on a whim but require advance planning. Often this kind of planning is not done and as a result many of the recipes likely will go unused.

Now, all of that said, there are a good many recipes in this book that do not require special mixes or mail-order ingredients. Of those that I have tried there have been no duds - each resulting loaf/batch of muffins/etc. has turned out to be excellent with my family disappointed when the last is eaten. In that regard this book has been a huge success.

An interesting aspect of this book is the inclusion of gluten-free recipes. For those with gluten intolerance, this is a blessing and will put great-tasting breads on the table for all. Granted, some of these still require special mixes but this is a small price to pay in such a circumstance.

This cookbook is a good choice for people who like whole-grain breads and are willing to sift through a collection for recipes that do not require specialty mixes. For those with access to those mixes, the value of this collection goes up dramatically.

First, I agree with the previous reviewer who stated this cookbook is like a Hodgon product usage manual. Many recipes call for their muffin mixes, gingerbread mix, etc. I live in Oregon and have not seen Hodgson products. Also, the recipes aren't always clear. The Carrot Cake Muffins caught my eye, but it calls for an 8 oz can of pineapple and doesn't note if you should include the juice or not. As far as gluten-free (GF) - most of these recipes just substitute rice flour. Anyone who has tried GF baking knows baked goods made with straight rice flour go right into the garbage - you only make this mistake once. You need a mix of different types of flours to make GF baked goods edible. If you have access to Hodgson's products and aren't buying this for GF recipes, it might work for you. It seemed like some of the recipes came right off the back of their muffin mix boxes.

This cookbook is fine -- but many of the recipes incorporate specialty Hodgson Mill mixes and other products, and therefore do not readily lend themselves to someone who may not have these items on hand or want to get them. This is a Hodgson Mill product usage manual as much as it is a cookbook.

I returned this as all the recipes call for specific ingredients that are specific Hodgson products. This was very offputing and not quite what I was expecting.

Great recipies. Have tried a couple already. However,was disappointed that there were so few photos in the cookbook.