Book Reviews

I love books, especially cookery, baking and food related books. I regularly post reviews of books I have purchased or been leant.

ISBN-10: 1856267628 ISBN-13: 9781856267625 Format: Paperback Size: 255 x 225mm Pages: 160 RRP: £15.99 Publishers Website Link Author: Richard Bertinet "Dough" has sold over 100,000 copies and has been translated into 7 languages. "Dough" won the Julia Child Award, the IACP Best Cookbook of the Year Award, a Guild of Food Writers' Award and a James Beard Foundation Award. It was shortlisted for an Andre Simon Award and a Glenfiddich Food & Drink award. The book comes with a free 30-minute DVD gives additional guidance on techniques as well as showing recipes step-by-step. Each of the five chapters begins with a slightly different dough - White, Olive, Brown, Rye and Sweet - and from this 'parent' dough you can bake a vast variety of breads really easily. Try making Fougasse for lunch, bake a Ciabatta to impress, create Tomato, Garlic & Basil Bread for a delicious canape or show off with home-made Doughnuts - the recipes are a delight. This book was lent to me by a friend and I have now added it to my Christmas wish list. As soon as I looked at this beautifully presented book I knew that I had to start trying some of the different recipes. First off were the doughnuts and then the puff balls, wow what fun! The step by step techniques and skills are shown with excellent photographs and supporting text. There is no need to try and puzzle out what the author is trying to describe you can see exactly what he means! Why can't more books be like this one? The copy I was leant also came with a DVD of the basic techniques which really does support and supplement the text. I highly recommend this book for the novice and the experienced home baker. It looks so good you can almost smell the yeast and fresh bread as soon as you open the cover. Mmmmmmmm.

Product Details

Length: 208 pages
Illustration note: Includes colour photographs and illustrations
ISBN: 9-781-8620-5882-8 
Dimensions: 251 x 194mm
Weight: 990g
Binding: Printed Laminated Cover (no jacket) Handback

This is the kind of book I have been looking for for a long time!  I have only had the book a few days and already I have tried  a few with really impressive results.
I have mainly concentrated on the cordials (excuse the pun) because these reap result almost instantly.  Having obtained a box of 32 lemons for £1 I was able to make a lovely lemon cordial which we have been drinking hot, cold and with fizz added. the lavender cordial has made of an interesting addition to our collection with its beautiful cottage garden flavour.
The recipes are clearly laid out and easy to follow. The supporting pictures temp you to try something new simply because it looks good, the quality of the photographs is outstanding. Unlike many other books this one does not look as if it is a rewrite of something from the 1970's and the Good Life!
The section on the equipment is lacking any pictures for the novice to identify what is required but this is a minor criticism.
This book will see a lot of use in our kitchen during all months of the year.
Well done Doug and Sara, most impressive.

This is one of the best books I (and many others) have come across about foraging. It simply is a wealth, no a treasure trove of knowledge, advice and guidance. It is almost an encyclopaedia of British plants found in out beautiful countryside. The detail of the information contained in this beautiful guide is outstanding. It is not a book to lug around in your back pack but one to sit and use in research, planning, identifying and simply find out what you can and cannot do with specific plants, roots, fruit, nuts, berries and much more. The whole book is divided into logical sections enabling the user to identify quickly and easily. The book also contains pictures which at first I found disappointing as they were not in colour as one has come to expect these days. However the beautiful photography in black and white actually makes identification easier. I should point out that this book is not a field guide and is not designed as a sole source for such activities.

One of the areas of the book that I have enjoyed using the most are the recipes which are different, varied and interesting. I even found one written by an ex-student of mine (page 278 Rose Hip and Orange Panna Cotta), well thats was it I just had to make it!