Exceptional Breads: Baker & Spice by Dan Lepard and Richard Whittington

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Useful and attractive

Bakery and delicatessen Baker & Spice are famed for making all the mouth-watering breads, cakes and pastries that they sell in their four London shops from scratch, using carefully sourced, high quality ingredients. This slim volume is a distillation of the experience of B&S master baker Dan Lepard, with assistance from respected cookery writer Richard Whittington.

The book is divided into three sections. Essentials includes notes on ingredients, handling and shaping dough; baking with wild yeasts covers starters and sourdoughs; while the commercial yeast part deals with flat, sweet and quick breads. Photos of the techniques and breads are both useful and attractive.

This is not dough for the dilettante; while none of the recipes - which include Bramley Apple Sourdough, Semolina-Crust Pain de Mie and a garlic bread stuffed with cloves of caramelised garlic - are difficult, they do require a certain level of commitment. Best explored on a leisurely weekend when you have time to potter around the kitchen.

Caroline Hennessy