SWEET & SALTY!: KING ARTHUR BAKING COMPANY’S COOKBOOK FOR YOUNG BAKERS, by King Arthur Baking Company, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, Sept. 30, 2025, Hardcover, $21.99 (ages 8 and up)
Bakers rejoice; there’s a new cookbook for young bakers in town: Sweet & Salty! from the King Arthur Baking Company.
Who doesn’t want to learn how to bake a Giant Chocolate Chip Cookie? Or snack on some Pizza Party Buns? Or learn how to make five different frostings to top off your favorite cupcakes? Well, this book has recipes for all different tastes and three different skill levels, plus an introduction to terms and techniques that will get you ready to bring the fun into the kitchen. Sweet & Salty is here to share the joy of baking with everyone and bring fun to the kitchen for the whole family! —Synopsis provided by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers.
I’m a big fan of King Arthur Baking. I regularly turn to The King Arthur Baking Company’s All-Purpose Baker’s Companion, a massive (almost 600 pages) baking book with more than 350 recipes. But as much as I love it, that book is too much for my 11-year-old, who wants to do things in the kitchen ON HER OWN.
That’s where Sweet & Salty comes in. It’s straight-forward recipes are geared toward younger bakers, and, in some cases, palates. While my kid isn’t a complete novice, I did go through the first recipe she tackled with her.
Her first choice: Fast Focaccia.
With only seven steps, Fast Focaccia is considered “easy.” We did have to slightly alter one step as we don’t have instant yeast, but it was a good way for my kid to learn about blooming active dry yeast. Other than that, we followed the rest of the instructions to the letter, and it turned out great. More importantly, my kid loved it, and she’s confident she could do it on her own.
Sweet & Salty is divided into two parts — sweet and salty. There’s a greater emphasis on the sweet, but I don’t think kids will mind. Each recipe is clear and concise and there are highlighted boxes throughout that explain why you use certain ingredients — bread flour vs AP — and what certain ingredients do — cream of tartar. And I particularly like the Ten Quick Lessons for Baking Success at the beginning of the book.
My one quibble is that the index is organized by types of recipes only. That means you need to know that focaccia is a bread, jeon are vegetable pancakes and profiteroles are pastry. This could be frustrating for some younger bakers.
Sweet & Salty is one of the better cookbooks I’ve come across for young bakers. I wouldn’t hesitate to give it as a gift or recommend it to a friend.
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