5 Must-Have Retro Cookbooks For Bakers

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Many home bakers lovingly keep treasured cookbooks that have been passed down from parents, grandparents, and other loved ones and are sauce-splattered, dog-eared, and filled with margin notes scribbled by cooks who have gone before. These well-worn and well-used manuscripts have provided the blueprint for many happy eating occasions and lots of delicious memories.

If you're interested in adding some other vintage cookbooks to your collection to adorn the shelf beside these prized volumes, a glance backward in time reveals some great retro finds that every home baker should consider. Some of their covers feature famous names that just about anybody with a whisk and a KitchenAid has become familiar with, and their pages are filled with instructions and recipes that set the industry standard in their day and still shine as go-to guidance in today's culinary realms.

Whether you're a seasoned baker or just dipping your spatula in for the first time, there's much to be gained from these vintage books and the experts who penned them. You'll encounter classic, tried-and-true recipes that have been devotedly passed down for generations; insider tips to help you bake like a pro; and answers to perplexing questions of cookery, like, "Is it really the end of the world if you don't chill your cookie dough before baking?" Take a look at five of these old-school cookbooks that are must-haves for anyone who loves baking. You may have to do some hunting to find some of these retro volumes — but trust us, they're worth it!

It was 1931, and a recently widowed housewife with no publishing experience and dubious cooking acumen undertook writing and self-publishing a cookbook to financially support herself. This unlikely beginning led to the creation of what would become one of the most influential cookbooks ever printed, selling around 20 million copies over the course of nearly a century.

While Irma Rombauer's "Joy of Cooking" isn't exclusively a baking guide, it's chockful of recipes that have become go-tos for generations of bakers, helping them deliciously conquer notoriously difficult baked goods with aplomb. There are lots of standouts within the book, like the foolproof All-Butter Pie Dough, which lays out a guide map for executing scrumptious pastry and sidestepping the common mistakes that ruin pie crust. Rombauer's New York cheesecake recipe is a mainstay, as is her banana bread recipe, and Brownies Cockaigne is heralded by fans as the best brownie recipe of all time.

There have been multiple editions of "Joy of Cooking," and the book has never been out of print since its debut. While some later versions have included updates and new recipes added by Rombauer's descendants, a 1998 Simon and Schuster reprint replicated Rombauer's original manuscript and is still widely available for purchase. Whichever version of the seminal book you opt for, you can rest assured it will reward you with fantastic recipes and a veritable "easy button" for a host of foundational baked goods.

Another time-honored, standard-setting guidebook is "The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book" by Fannie Merritt Farmer, later retitled "Fannie Farmer 1896 Cook Book: The Boston Cooking School" and various other name variations that have appeared with different editions. As one might suppose, the "1896" in the later title refers to the year the volume was originally published. 

Though well past its 125th year now, this book is, incredibly, still in print. That's because it has been, and continues to be, the quintessential cookbook for countless individuals across generations — both culinary experts and novices alike. Fannie Farmer helped establish the use of standardized measurements in cookery and brought a host of recipes to Americans that have become mainstay dishes.

Spanning social media, bakers sing the book's praises again and again, crediting Farmer and her creation for teaching them how to cook. In particular, users praise the baking section of the volume. This is perhaps unsurprising, since Farmer is noted for giving the world its very first brownie recipe — certainly an achievement chocolate lovers everywhere are grateful for! In fact, her original manuscript contained two brownie recipes — both of them feature nuts, incidentally, settling the age-old debate of nuts versus no nuts, at least in that pioneering baker's evident opinion. Granting access to those original brownie prescriptions and hundreds of other seminal recipes, this book is a standard culinary work that deserves a place in any kitchen library.

Ancient wisdom tells us that bread is the staff of life. If you're interested in perfecting the art of baking this most foundational of all foods, James Beard's "Beard on Bread," published in 1973, is an authoritative work that is a must for anyone who wants to become adept.

Credited as being America's first foodie, Beard hosted the first cooking show ever broadcast on American television and went on to become an authoritative voice in the U.S. culinary scene. Of the many books he authored, this volume was the cooking icon's bestselling work during his lifetime.

The publication contains virtually everything a baker needs to know to execute bread and do it well. The volume also contains 100 tested recipes, offering a broad, mouthwatering array of breads that can literally keep a cook busily occupied for months. The offerings cover the full gamut of varieties, ranging from basic yeast bread, rolls, and soda breads to sweetened breads, fried breads, egg breads, and more. "Beard on Bread" is still in print and is available for purchase on Amazon and from other retailers in paperback, hardback, and Kindle versions.

The words "Betty Crocker" and "baking" have become practically synonymous over the course of more than a century since the Betty Crocker character was created. That's right — created. Betty Crocker isn't a real person but rather a fictional persona invented by the Washburn-Crosby Company, a predecessor of General Mills, Inc. The now-iconic cooking matriarch, christened the "First Lady of Food" by Fortune magazine in 1945, became the name and face of homemaking and cookery for millions. 

The name "Betty Crocker" originated as a "Dear Abby"-style pseudonym for Washburn-Crosby employees to use when replying to customers' letters. Ultimately, though, it became the moniker at the forefront of a powerhouse General Mills brand. Various fictionalized portraits of "Betty" have been used over the years to depict the character on products (with many ready-to-make baking mixes among them), in advertisements, and on the covers of cookbooks.

Of the many Betty Crocker cookbooks that have been published over the years, virtually all have become go-tos for countless home cooks, passed down from one generation to the next. While there is certainly no shortage of volumes to choose from, one standout among them focuses on (you guessed it) baking. Published in 1979, "Betty Crocker's Baking Classics: The Best Gold Medal Flour Recipes of 100 Years" is a rather unique collection, paying homage to Gold Medal flour and a century's worth of delicious baked goodies featuring the Gold Medal brand. Some of the featured recipes go back as far as 1880. In this compilation of more than 500 recipes, you'll find detailed instructions for baking various breads, cookies, main dishes, desserts, and special holiday creations.

Another source that has become a household name for all things cooking is Better Homes and Gardens. The brand began with its famed magazine in 1922, originally monikered Fruit, Garden and Home before changing two years later to the name under which it has become renowned. Following the launch of that foundational magazine, BH&G expanded into cookbooks and has trotted out a host of guides over the years covering virtually all aspects of cookery, from salad making and spicy foods to international cuisine and slow cooker meals. In the baking realm, the brand has published various cookbooks focused exclusively on baked goods. One of them, a vintage offering originally printed in 1978, serves up a uniquely varied collection of over 170 recipes. 

The contents of "Better Homes and Gardens Treasury of Baking Recipes" range from instructions for executing standard baking fare, like basic layer cakes, doughnut twists, biscuits, and muffins, to a rather exotic array of international recipes from countries like Germany, Yugoslavia, Portugal, and Mexico. There are also tips from the Better Homes and Gardens Test Kitchen throughout the volume, offering expert guidance for properly executing cakes, cookies, pastries, and more. Overall, the publication is a great mix of foundational instruction, popular mainstay recipes, and some more unique baking creations you may have never encountered before.