How to Bake

The recipes work well and are easy to follow. My only criticism would be I'd assumed that (like most of my modern cookbooks) the temperatures were given for a fan oven. Only when reading the bread introduction I spotted a sentence saying the temperatures were for conventional ovens - so take off 20 deg for fan.

I would give this book more stars if I could. I bought this book to have a read about different baking and once reading though the pages on making basic bread it seemed interesting. Although I have baked over the years I have never been interested in baking bread and have never tried. I decided to give it a go and started with a basic white loaf. I followed the easy recipe word for word and the loaf came out so well that everybody said I must of bought it. I was so chuffed with the look, smell and taste of it that I then started making all the other different breads. That was 3 years ago and I'm still making bread now, usually 3 times a week, different types . I still follow Paul's basic white loaf recipe when making white bread and have experimented with different shapes and recipes, which have also been successful. I would say if you have never made bread or you know someone who might like to give it a try, get this book, it was an inspiration to me and one I still look at 3 years later.

Having now worked through several of the recipes in this book I have found many really basic errors. For instance his seeded bread recipe reads "Transfer to your baking tray and slash down the length with a sharp knife. Put the tray inside a clean plastic bad and leave to prove for an hour". If you follow these instructions you will find that the dough will just spread out from the slash and become flat. What should be done is to slash the dough before it goes in the oven. I gave the recipe the benefit of the doubt and ended up with a spread out loaf. These are BASIC bread making mistakes. Someone really ought to have proof read before it was printed. Wouldn't recommend any of his books.

I was very excited about this book, but having tried couple of recipes I have to say I'm very disappointed. E.g. Recipe shortcrust pastry for the Flamiche didn't work - followed it the letter and ended up with a patchy though, googled some recipe online, each step was clearly described and it worked amazingly well. The Flamiche itself was very tasty, but that's basically just leek, eggs and cheese - what's not to like?Another pastry I tried - again followed the recipe to the letter was Paste Sucree which turned to be a total disaster. The pastry was too wet even before I added egg, had to throw away the whole thing and googled recipe which again worked great!Update: Tried puff pastry, ended up with a super wet dough again. Unfortunately the recipe doesn't say "at this point the dough should be dry/wet/sticky" and you end up googling stuff with your hand covered in dough.So if you want clear, hassle free recipes that work first time and every time I'd would suggest look somewhere else, these recipes seem very vague and leave room for interpretation - it feels a bit like technical challenge.

I have spent the last few months trying and failing to make my own bread. Saw this book in my library, had to have it so bought it here. I read the first chapter and realised two or three things I had been doing wrong. First time of following Paul's advice, I produced the most perfect loaf of basic white bread. It looked too good to eat, although my family soon demolished it, hence the lack of photo. It not only looked good but tasted wonderful. The book is full of recipes which have straight forward ingredients and look delicious. Day two I am already cooking my second recipe. I know I am going to work my way through most of them. However, this is a how-to book, not just recipes. It has loads of tips and the instructions help you to get it just right. It has given me the confidence to keep baking. Definitely highly recommended.