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

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.