The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Blog Sighting

Debra Wink's picture
Debra Wink

Blog Sighting

Check out this "Top 50" list, compiled by OnlineDegreePrograms.org. That's our own SteveB (Bread cetera) in the Baking and Pastries category. Very nice blog, Steve---Congratualtions!

 

50 Best Blogs for a Complete Culinary Education

Going to culinary school is a dream for some students, but it's not the only way you can learn how to become a great cook. The web is full of food blogs, and the best of the best - outlined here - couple their recipes and food tips with cookbook reviews, gorgeous photo tutorials, travel stories, food news, and behind-the-scenes coverage of celebrity chefs around the world. Here we've outlined 50 best blogs for a complete culinary education, whether or not you've earned your degree.

Cooking Tips and News

Find recipes, cooking tips, food news, and plenty more from these blogs. Subscribe to their feeds for steady lessons in cooking basics and beyond.

  • the Epi Log: Epicurious' blog covers food news and gossip, top 10 lists, cooking books, baking, cooking tips, and other yummy stuff.
  • Simply Recipes: This popular blog lets you browse recipes by type or by ingredient, and there's even a Simply Recipes Amazon store.
  • Cooking with Amy: Amy has been featured in The Guardian, PARADE and other publications for her smart take on presenting original recipes alongside travel notes and food news.
  • For the Love of Cooking: This is another award-winning blog that features a foodgawker cooking gallery and tasty, classic recipes with clear instructions.
  • Closet Cooking: If you have a tiny student's kitchen, you can make the recipes featured on this blog, like apple pie French toast or spinach and feta lasagna.
  • Start Cooking: Kathy Maister's Start Cooking blog adds photos for each step in the cooking process, to help you master each recipe. You can also watch cooking videos.
  • La cuisine d'Helene: Helene clearly has a sweet tooth, but you'll find solid meals and appetizers to make on this blog, too.
  • The Food Section: Get all kinds of food news, from food technology and kitchen tools to celebrity chefs to food trends in other countries.
  • The FN Dish: The Food Network blogs about shows, shares recipes, and talks about other topics foodies love.
  • AllRecipes.com: Browse recipes for every time of day (and in between), plus community blogs, how-to articles, and your own recipe box.

Culinary Schools and Students

These blogs come from culinary schools or culinary students and can help you understand what cooking school is all about.

  • Eric Rivera's Cooking Blog: This fun cooking blog, full of photos, is written by a Puerto Rican culinary school student.
  • The Dish: This culinary student blog discusses cooking basics, "egg week," and more.
  • The Hot Plate: This is the blog from the French Culinary Institute in New York, and it highlights foodie tours around the city, school news, culinary events, and more.

Baking and Pastries

Some culinary students choose to major in the baking and pastry arts. Even if you've chosen a different route, visit these blogs for scrumptious recipes and photos of bread and desserts that will make you drool.

  • Joe Pastry: Get up close shots of Joe's mixing and folding talents as he whips up cakes, macaroons, and more. Joe also shares tips for leavening, mixing, and bread making.
  • Gluten A Go Go: Learn to make fancy gluten-free cannolis and other desserts on this blog.
  • Let Her Bake Cake: She's trying not to eat everything she bakes, but it must be impossible for this blogger since she makes so many tantalizing desserts from scratch. On Let Her Bake Cake, you'll also find baking tips and baking supplies reviews.
  • Cream Puffs in Venice: Ivonne, one of the founders of The Daring Kitchen, blogs and posts photos of Italian desserts and other goodies on this blog.
  • heavenly cake baker: Get recipes for classic but impressive cakes here.
  • Charm City Cakes: The Ace of Cakes team shares news from the shop here.
  • Bread Cetera: Steve is an organic chemist turned bread baker, so you know he gets it right.
  • My Baking Addiction: This baker is truly obsessed: she has 25 posts for cupcakes, and 17 just for cheesecake!
  • Cupcake Bakeshop by Chockylit: Get recipes and tips for making pomegranate green tea cupcakes, Meyer lemon cranberry cupcakes, fig and quinoa cupcakes, and more.
  • Zoe Bakes: Bread book author Zoe is also a pastry chef who has worked with Andrew Zimmern and Steven Brown, and you'll find book reviews and favorite recipes here.

Culinary Management and Hospitality

If you want to learn about running a restaurant, check out these blogs.

Food Science 

  • Bringing food chemistry to life: Head to this blog from Oregon State for open conversation about the components of food.
  • Food Technology: Learn about food safety and technology systems used to package, transport and preserve foods.

For and By Chefs

Get a peek into the lives of some of the world's top chefs, and find tips from other successful cooks who love sharing their secrets.

  • Al Dente: You can find recipes, culinary news and kitchen gadget reviews on this blog.
  • Nigella Lawson: Each day find out what Nigella's cooking, or play around on her site for other recipes and "kitchen wisdom."
  • La Mia Cucina: Lisa, another co-founder of The Daring Kitchen, posts cooking challenges for herself here.
  • The Cook's Tour: Here you'll learn about food, wine, baking and travel.
  • A Moveable Feast: Louisa Chu is a chef and journalist who has appeared as a judge on Top Chef. Check out her blog for cooking show previews, and some of the most intriguing food photographs online.
  • Super Chefs: This blog/online magazine is a terrific resource for finding career tips, chefs and cooking in popular culture, and recipes.
  • Ideas in Food: Aki Kamozawa and H. Alexander Talbot own a consulting business for restaurants and food service companies, and here they share recipes and other food adventures.
  • Chef From Hell: Learn classic American recipes from Chef JP here.
  • Giada De Laurentiis: Food Network star Giada blogs about her foodie and travel adventures here.
  • Cooking Diva: Tropical Chef Melissa DeLeon shares favorite recipes and cooking techniques from Colombia, Panama and more.

Foodie Blogs

These bloggers celebrate food and drink to the utmost. You'll never tire of reading about their love of food, trying out their exotic and comfort food recipes, or scrolling through beautiful photographs of food and travel.

  • Foodista Blog: On Foodista, you'll learn about the history of recipes you read about and get ideas for making all kinds of dishes for breakfast, cocktails, holidays, special diets, and more.
  • Kiss My Spatula: Find tweaked recipes from other blogs, books and newspapers, coupled with striking photos and music pairings for your dishes.
  • Chocolate and Zucchini: This popular, award-winning blog from Parisian Clotilde features recipes, food news, restaurant and cookbook reviews, kitchen gadgets, a recipe index, food glossary and more.
  • Bitten: Mark Bittman writes about food and shares fabulous recipes for the New York Times here.
  • Gastronomer's Guide: Get food book reviews, how-to guides, and food discussion here.
  • Cafe Fernando: Fernando lives in Istanbul, and his colorful, creative blog is filled with fantastic recipes, from muffins and desserts to pasta to Turkish dishes to meat and fish.
  • Serious Eats: Serious foodies congregate on this blog and food community to swap recipes, rate restaurants, take on cooking challenges, and share tips.
  • The Bitten Word: Get tips for mincing garlic while you find recipes for cocktails, holiday meals, party food, sauces, soups, side dishes and more.
  • Orangette: This famous foodie blog is no-frills, but it has over 5 years' worth of recipes, cooking stories, food photos, and tips.
  • Chez Pim: This celebrated blog combines food with travel while sharing recipes and interesting food facts.
  • Mattbites.com: If you, like Matt, are obsessed with food and drink, read his blog for beautiful recipes for entertaining and more.
  • delicious: days: On this blog, you'll get cooking tips and keep up with what other chefs are doing around the world.
  • The Wednesday Chef: If you want to learn how to cook with an international flair, follow Luisa Weiss, an Italian-German editor and home cook in New York City.

Click here: 50 Best Blogs for a Complete Culinary Education - Online Degree Programs.org: Top Online Degrees

ques2008's picture
ques2008

thanks for spotting that, Debra.  Exactly what I need!

LindyD's picture
LindyD

I've picked up some great tips from SteveB's blog and am glad to see it getting such good recognition.  

An interesting list.  Just wish I had the time to read them all.

janij's picture
janij

I will have to check some of those out.  I have been looking for other blogs to follow on baking and cooking.  I follow Steve's and Susan's now.

SteveB's picture
SteveB

Thanks Debra, GrapevineTexas, Floyd, ques2008, LindyD and janij for the kudos.  Time for me to get busy and start posting some new blog entries!

 

SteveB

www.breadcetera.com

 

korish's picture
korish

Thanks for sharing that's a lot of reading for tonight.

 

http://www.ourwholesomehomes.com

LindyD's picture
LindyD

Thanks to your alternative shaping technique, SteveB, my batards are svelte and firm!  :-)

Looking forward to your future updates.  

Paddyscake's picture
Paddyscake

Cheers to SteveB and thank you for sharing so many wonderful baking experiences. I learned alot from you..Kudos are well deserved.

TY

Betty

hansjoakim's picture
hansjoakim

Your unique blog is both educational and highly inspirational - it truly deserves a spot on that list. Well done!

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

It's nice to learn he's still in circulation. I've been checking his blog periodically and had some concern he had switched from bread baking to ... I dunno ... scrimshaw? ;-)

David

SteveB's picture
SteveB

Aye, matey!  I'm still around, shiverin' me timbers.  Argh...   

 

SteveB

www.breadcetera.com

 

Yippee's picture
Yippee

Your blog is exceptional and you deserve the honor!  Thank you for sharing your invaluable experience with us.

Yippee

Judon's picture
Judon

Thanks Debra for sharing this list...and congratulations Steve you really do deserve the kudos.

Judy

JeremyCherfas's picture
JeremyCherfas

Congrats, kudos etc are certainly in order ... but this list is certainly a scam of some sort. Yes, it is a resource for people looking for information on cooking. But the site is basically selling adverts, and by linking back to it you increase its Google ranking. So when people search for bread blog, they are more likely to find this ad-farm than an actual blog about bread.

Of course, you may think that is a good thing ...

Jeremy