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British Baking
A mouthwatering and must-have book of British treats by London's foremost bakers. Includes metric measurements.
281 pages, Hardcover
First published March 17, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
January 25, 2012
I have more baking books than a person could ever need, truly; but I was still delighted to receive this one from my husband on my recent birthday. Its title says it all: British Baking. You will find all of the British standards here, including some home-made versions of commercial favourites like "jammy dodgers" and "fig rolls." I will be trying the coffee and walnut cake first; that is one of the recipes that I am still questing for. I haven't yet found that one recipe that inspires faithfulness.
I can't say this book breaks new ground, and there isn't as much text/story as I want in a cookbook, but it does seem like it covers most bases in its particular genre. Good for a person WHO doesn't already own lots of baking books in the British style.
I can't say this book breaks new ground, and there isn't as much text/story as I want in a cookbook, but it does seem like it covers most bases in its particular genre. Good for a person WHO doesn't already own lots of baking books in the British style.
August 25, 2013
My favourite baking book. Have tried at least ten recipes and never had a failure. The Black Forest gateau is very good as is the raspberry cheesecake and the lemon drizzle cake and both swiss roll cakes. The treacle gingerbread cake is lovely and the coffee and walnut cake is just lovely. I'm not a great cook and I don't always obey recipes to the letter but this book has never yet failed me.
August 12, 2012
Finally a baking book that literally takes the biscuit! I am a hoarder of baking books, but this one I truly love. Have read from cover to cover and made lots of these irresistible recipes. A must have.
June 30, 2011
One of the best collections of British recipes I have come across in recent years. if you are a baker you should have a copy of this on your cookbook shelf :)
February 3, 2022
My attempts at baking using internet recipes often go wrong, but everything I’ve made from this book has been delicious! With great results that can be depended upon and such a wide selection of British recipes, I don’t need another baking book. Many of the recipes call for the same size cake tins so not too much equipment needed. All in all, brilliant!
January 22, 2015
As a very recent and highly economical second hand find (both the price and the recipe for fig rolls attracted me), I’m pretty confident that I almost certainly paid less for this book that I would for a single P&B fairy cake. Or for what P&B call a fairy cake. Reading through this book I was repeatedly irritated to find Mr Peyton baking fairy cakes in muffin tins; when any cook with a degree of experienced knowledge of the subject would know that the (British) fairy cake is distinctly smaller and considerably more elegant in size compared to the considerably larger, brasher, more calorific, and doubtless greater profit margin American muffin. Mr Peyton ought to know this perfectly well, especially given that later on in his book (p.198) he gives a recipe for (English) muffins: cooked, as is proper, on a griddle!
I can’t yet vouch for the baking success (or not) of these recipes. Overall, this book is in the main nicely laid out: ingredients, recipe, batch size, prep. time and cooking time on the left hand page, BUT with an entirely and unnecessarily FULL page photograph of the intended end result on the right hand page. The recipes represent a good spread of sweet baked goods (not a savoury in sight, though I will look through again, just to double check). On the positive side, sales of this book have clearly not inflicted any significant hurt on the growth of P&B’s business. Neither does the home cook need to look far for further flavourful inspiration, see: http://www.peytonandbyrne.co.uk/new-b...
The bound-in ribbon bookmark is useful; but why did it have to be pale pink? I expect that most of my male friends who bake would cut it out! The chapters are separated by an additional five to seven sides of superfluous photographs, plus a further page-side carrying an unnecessarily gawky and twee short happy-feely introduction (in BIG type) to the subject of the chapter. An irritating white shield “P&B” logo defaces the meaningless photograph facing the chapter title. A true design failure! Subliminally the overall message is that this book has been bulked up on the baking equivalent of steroids, in order for it to stand any chance whatsoever of selling at or near list price (RRP £20)!
This book carries no detailed credit to “Byrne”, who I presuppose is either a fictitious Bunbury (ouch!), or a significant financial backer of the business. Heston Blumenthal nails it, when on the back cover he reveals his own first-class commercial instincts in avoiding any direct statement of use, instead praising “This beautiful book should be in everyone’s kitchen”!
Naturally no recipe book should be judged merely on appearance … so glancing back here at my second paragraph, I clearly need to play fair, get into my kitchen and give the contents of this book a thorough practical test, … whilst avoiding any mix-up between my fairies and my muffins!
I can’t yet vouch for the baking success (or not) of these recipes. Overall, this book is in the main nicely laid out: ingredients, recipe, batch size, prep. time and cooking time on the left hand page, BUT with an entirely and unnecessarily FULL page photograph of the intended end result on the right hand page. The recipes represent a good spread of sweet baked goods (not a savoury in sight, though I will look through again, just to double check). On the positive side, sales of this book have clearly not inflicted any significant hurt on the growth of P&B’s business. Neither does the home cook need to look far for further flavourful inspiration, see: http://www.peytonandbyrne.co.uk/new-b...
The bound-in ribbon bookmark is useful; but why did it have to be pale pink? I expect that most of my male friends who bake would cut it out! The chapters are separated by an additional five to seven sides of superfluous photographs, plus a further page-side carrying an unnecessarily gawky and twee short happy-feely introduction (in BIG type) to the subject of the chapter. An irritating white shield “P&B” logo defaces the meaningless photograph facing the chapter title. A true design failure! Subliminally the overall message is that this book has been bulked up on the baking equivalent of steroids, in order for it to stand any chance whatsoever of selling at or near list price (RRP £20)!
This book carries no detailed credit to “Byrne”, who I presuppose is either a fictitious Bunbury (ouch!), or a significant financial backer of the business. Heston Blumenthal nails it, when on the back cover he reveals his own first-class commercial instincts in avoiding any direct statement of use, instead praising “This beautiful book should be in everyone’s kitchen”!
Naturally no recipe book should be judged merely on appearance … so glancing back here at my second paragraph, I clearly need to play fair, get into my kitchen and give the contents of this book a thorough practical test, … whilst avoiding any mix-up between my fairies and my muffins!
October 15, 2012
My daughter bought me this book as a Christmas present and it was a lovely surprise. As well as being a beautiful looking book it has also some great recipes with colourful photo's. The lemon drizzle cake is fab. I would recommend buying it.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews