Enter our US giveaway to win one of two copies of Dobre Dobre: Baking from Poland and Beyond by Laurel Kratochvila.

My devotion to baking books is readily known to Members who read my posts. I particularly have a fondness for those titles that feature international flavors. Books of this nature are journeys to beautiful countries steeped in tradition with the added benefit of no pesky jetlag. Today, I must tell you about just such a book: Dobre Dobre: Baking from Poland and Beyond by Laurel Kratochvila, the author of New European Baking. Laurel is based in Berlin and runs Fine Bagels there. She trained in France but tells us that her love of Polish baking came while on a quest for a good pickle.

When she moved to Prague from Boston in 2008, she struggled to find a pickle that wasn’t sweet. Her boyfriend at the time took her to Poland with the promise of a half-sour pickle! It was then she cast eyes upon a Polish bakery and fell hard for the challah she purchased. Sixteen years later, she married the boyfriend and her continued trips back to Poland continued her love of the country’s wonderful baked goods.

In this book, she begins with a section on working doughs that includes 12-picture grids showing how to form doughs. By page 30, we are deep into recipes ranging from matzo, steamed buns, knishes, loaf crumb cake with fruit, coffee meringue triangles to little nest cruller donuts. The book is filled with lovely photography as well. 

I have numerous recipes tagged to make in this title but I have been buried in work for the last few months (James Beard duties and EYB duties). I am looking forward to the holidays where I want to spend time with several of my favorite new books and bake the day away.

There are several online recipes to try now - two entire recipes for:

Shortcrust apple cake (Szarlotka 1)
The image features the word "GIVEAWAY" in a bold, stylized green font.

Special thanks to the publisher for providing two copies of this title in our promotion open to US Members. Entry options include answering the following question in the comments section of this blog post.

Leave a comment on this blog telling us which recipe in the index you would like to make first.

Once you leave your blog comment stating which recipe you would like to make there are three additional options that you can complete for more entries. If you have any questions about this process email me at jenny at eatyourbooks.com directly.

  1. Follow Eat Your Books on Instagram for another entry. Leave a second comment stating you followed and your Instagram name (you may omit your Instagram name if that is set to private, just add “followed”).
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  3. Subscribe to the free CookShelf.app Substack for another entry. Leave a fourth comment stating you are subscribed.

Be sure to check your spam filters to receive our email notifications. Prizes can take up to 6 weeks to arrive from the publishers. If you are not already a Member, you can join at no cost. The contest ends at midnight on December 31st, 2025.