Media: Reviews, Interviews and Resources

"Suitable for those at any level of baking skill hungry for the real deal and prepared to exert some effort. At the same time, this is a fascinating historical and cultural narrative of Ashkenazi Jewish life in Europe and America - scholarly, deeply personal, and highly readable." - Courtney Greene, Indiana University, Library Journal, 11/18/11.

"When you put the book down, you want to both weep and eat, to mourn the loss of a great baking tradition and get a good onion roll." Andrew Coe, New York Serious Eats, 3/22/12

"Three parts flour, two parts water, a pinch of yeast and a handful of nostalgia seems to be the recipe for Inside the Jewish Bakery ... This book will delight baking experts ... but also please novices ... From onion pockets to poppy horns, a danish pastry ring, apple strudel, bear claws, honey cakes, doughnuts, jelly rolls and egg kichels, there is something for every sweet - and savory - tooth to create at home." - Amy Spiro, The Jerusalem Post Magazine, 3/22/12.

"I adored Inside the Jewish Bakery ... [T]his is a real treat of a cookbook, one that will stay on my shelf and in my kitchen." - Joan Nathan, Tablet, 12/19/11.

Inside the Jewish Bakery places the wisdom and skill of a centuries-long Jewish baking tradition in the hands of the reader... [it] is neither the first nor the fanciest book to cover traditional Jewish baking recipes.... But Berg and Ginsberg's particular blend of personal experience, history and practical baking science sets it apart. - Leah Koenig, The Jewish Daily Forward 11/9/11.

"Thank goodness for the appearance of what can only be called a seminal book, Inside the Jewish Bakery: Recipes and Memories from the Golden Age of Jewish Baking. At first glance, it appears to be simply a collection of recipes from a bygone era.... But, in fact, it is so much more. It's a chronicle of how Ashkenazi Jews used to bake in the Old Country and then how they translated those traditions once they settled in North America.... Inside The Jewish Bakery is a must have and a splendid addition to your cookbook library." Daphna Rabinovitch, The Canadian Jewish News, 11/25/11.

"If you buy only one cookbook this year, it must be Inside the Jewish Bakery. The authors, who both grew up in New York City's outer boroughs after World War II, have put together a riveting collection of memories and recipes." - Ethel Hofman, The Jewish Exponent (Philadelphia), 12/1/11.
The Dayton Jewish Observer, 12/2/11.

"This delightful book is part history, part cookbook. It takes readers back to the traditional Ashkenazic Jewish bakeries found in most Jewish communities." - Barbara Bibel, Jewish Book Council, 3/29/12.

"This book is a love song to a bygone era and a disappearing icon, the Jewish bakery." - Elise Thompson, The Los Angeles Beat, 12/26/11.

"I'm giving my 2 thumbs-up on this and encourage you to get one for a nice addition to your cookbook collection. It is a gem of a baking book for all bakers, including homebakers. The recipes in the book were downsized for the homebaker, but the book is lavished with detailed instructions (including the hows and whys) and images of baking steps and finished products. Again, one doesn't have to be Jewish to appreciate this book." - Sarah Lee, celebr-eat-y by sarah lee, 3/1/12.

Ginsberg and Berg bring us back to a time when the bakery was the center of New York Jewish life. They guide those of us wishing to create the breads and sweets of yore in our own kitchens, which is what you'll need to do if you are hungry for authentic versions of these foods.... If you had the good fortune to grow up in a Jewish family in New York, or in pretty much any family in New York, or in pretty much any Jewish family, then Inside the Jewish Bakery will feel like a homecoming." - Jennie Schacht Jennie in the Kitchen, 12/17/11.

"Ginsberg and Norman Berg are co-authors of a new book that brings new life to Jewish bakery standards like onion rolls, pletsl, raisin pumpernickel, rye bread, salt sticks and their sweet counterparts like egg kichels, mohn bars and babka. Inside the Jewish Bakery: Recipes and Memories from the Golden Age of Jewish Baking by Stanley Ginsberg and Norman Berg (Camino Books) is an old-world book inside of a new-world story." - Sandee Brawarsky, The Jewish Week, 12/13/11.

"Ginsberg and Berg have produced an important book that captures the history and some essential recipes from the fast-disappearing world of neighborhood and production Jewish bakeries. They know their subject well and give readers easy-to-understand information and techniques that will, hopefully, inspire a new generation of Jewish bakers." real food traveler December, 2011.

Inside the Jewish Bakery: Recipes and Memories from the Golden Age of Jewish Baking is a very special and seminal addition to personal, family, community, and academic library Ethnic Cookbook collections. - Midwest Book Review - Wisconsin Bookwatch, November 2011

Bialys, bagels, challah, rye loaves and rugelach -- they're all here, bolstered with memories and histories evoking a time when a visit the neighborhood bakery was more than just a latte run. Unlike most other hyped-up baking books of late, Inside the Jewish Bakery is down-to-earth and unassuming visually; the treasures it houses are its words and sincerity, the best kind of all treats. The Oregonian, 12/5/11.

I love this cookbook not just for the great chocolate and bread recipes, but for the historical and cultural insights into Jewish life in America and Europe. I highly recommend Inside the Jewish Bakery to bakers of all levels, as well as historians. You don't have to be Jewish to love it! - Janet Rudolph, Dying for Chocolate, 12/5/11 (includes a guest blog by Stan Ginsberg).

If you love baking and enjoy learning new techniques, this book is for you. - Leah Schapira, CookKosher.com 12/8/11.

Overall, I am very impressed with Inside the Jewish Bakery because it is very comprehensive and yet is written in a manner that can be understood by home cooks of many skill levels. I am excited to don my apron and head into the kitchen with my prep chef (five year old daughter) to make a treat that the entire family can enjoy! - Stacie Vaughan, SimplyStacie.net.

Nice review in Basil Magazine.

Inside the Jewish Bakery is perfection.... This book is recommended not just for those of the Jewish faith, but for anyone who enjoys fine bakery products. This is a 5-star book! - Clark Isaacs, Kingman (AZ) Daily Miner

Reading "Inside the Jewish Bakery: Recipes and Memories from the Golden Age of Jewish Baking is like being invited to go behind the bakery counter to learn the secrets and stories behind favorites such as the black-and-white cookie, pumpernickel bread and more." - Faith Kramer jweekly.com (San Francisco), 11/4/11

"Inside the Jewish Bakery ... will offer a veritable treasure-trove of recipes that may bring the reader right back to "Bubby's" kitchen.... This book is a must for a Jewish home and for holiday celebrations, and it makes a great gift idea, too." - Alison Blackman AdviceSisters.net, 10/31/11.

Inside the Jewish Bakery is an excellent resource for anyone who wants to learn more about traditional Jewish baking. If you want to remember the traditions of Jewish baking - or learn about them for the first time - you're sure to find this book to be both interesting and informative. If you want to try your hand at traditional baking yourself, you'll also find the recipes provided to be educational and written in an instructional, easy-to follow format. - MGWhite, HubPages, 10/26/11.

Advance Comment:

"This is a book of enormous importance both as social history and for its traditional recipes. Stanley Ginsberg and Norman Berg have managed to artfully entwine bread and Jewish cultural identity like the very challah that has become its popular symbol. I learned many things I hadn't previously known and wanted to capture in my own loaves the tears I felt welling in my eyes as I was reminded, through their words, that bread is always more than just bread."
Peter Reinhart,
Author, The Bread Baker's Apprentice

"Not just a cook book, INSIDE THE JEWISH BAKERY will take readers on an intellectually satisfying and sensually gratifying journey not only "inside the Jewish bakery" but to the heart and soul of Ashkenazi Jewish life. Stanley Ginsberg and Norman Berg, in this beautifully written, genre-defying work, offer a fine summary of the scholarly literature as a way to provide a context for this foray into an intimate part of Jewish life in Europe and America, the bakery."
Hasia R. Diner
Paul S. and Sylvia Steinberg Professor of American Jewish History
Director, Goldstein-Goren Center for American Jewish History, NYU
Author, Hungering for America

"INSIDE THE JEWISH BAKERY is your ticket to the sumptuous tastes, techniques, and memories of baking that was and (now) is a luscious amalgamation of many centuries and many countries, united under the banner of Jewish cuisine, a diverse heritage that is as much about what is on the plate as all that preceded it. As Ginsberg and Berg write, 'There is a universality to baking that transcends time and space.' This universality is delectably captured in this one special book."
Marcy Goldman
Food writer & Master Baker, host of www.BetterBaking.com,
Author, A Treasury of Jewish Holiday Baking and The Baker's Four Seasons.

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