The Great British Bake Off Big Book of Baking Hardcover – Illustrated, April 1, 2015

Loved

I didn’t want to buy all the books…thought this one would have more of contestant’s recipes but it doesn’t

"Never let it be forgot, that once there was a spot. For one bright shining moment - that was known as British Bake Off". A wonderful slice of television history soon to be lost to us all. Recipes handed down the generations, or whipped up in the imaginations, of an age and ethnic-varied group of people vying for a glass cake plate with all the competitiveness of a warm hug. But enough wistful reminiscing about a gentler and less greedy age of cookery. As to the book itself - apart from the baking temperatures, if you don't speak metric (oh President Carter, if you'd only been more insistent about Americans converting), you'll need to make some translating notes. Americans will need to translate ingredients as well - strong flour = bread flour, plain flour = all-purpose flour, bicarbonate of soda = baking soda, icing sugar = confectioner's/powdered sugar, double cream = heavy cream (not really), caster sugar = granulated sugar (not really), muscovado sugar = brown sugar (not really), golden syrup = corn syrup (not really), treacle = (well, you get the idea). Unless you have a source for the British ingredients, the recipes aren't going to taste exactly BBC - but then again, the book has a recipe for making your own Modeling Chocolate - oooh, scrummy! Someone mentioned the yellow print (on the white pages), and yes, that is definitely a "What were they thinking?" choice, especially for the Baker's Guide at the front of the book. And yes, having a picture for each bake would have been preferable (as George Carlin said, "Is there a picture of it in the cookbook Ma? Bet it don't look like that!") - except for the Cheat's Sourdough on page 95 - is that an aerial shot of the Great Salt Lake? However, if you ADORE the recipes from Bake Off (and what GBBO addict doesn't?), you'll love the selections from judges and Season 5 contestants alike (even dear chocolate-covered Claire, who left first). You may even start referring to your baking pans as baking 'tins'.

My daughter, 5 year old granddaughter and I enjoyed the Great British Bake Off series so much. We watched every week, and my granddaughter said she would like to be a taster. Chetna responded to one of my tweets where I told her my granddaughter liked her cooking, and my granddaughter was so pleased. I purchased this Big Book of Baking to share with them. My daughter loves to bake, and she will probably use some of these recipes.This is a big cookbook. 319 pages. It is separated into 8 chapters and an index. Inserted into these chapters is a bio of the bakers who were competing for the big prize in 2014. They were asked several questions, so it was fun to see their answers, to get to know them a little more. Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood are mentioned, and their recipes are in the book, but no interview with them. That was a disappointment.This starts with an Introduction, but it was slim pickings, and not enough information by far. Onto a Baker's Guide, definition of terms, and suggestions on how to bake certain items. This is four pages of useful information. Biscuits and Traybakes follows, Breads, Cakes, Sweet Pastry and Patisserie, Savoury Bakes, and Puddings and Desserts. Missing were the contestants technical bakes, and the supreme winners. There were many photos, but not every baked product had a photo. One of the cakes I was most interested in, had no photo.All in all I found this cookbook to be wanting. It included basics, but I wonder if it was put together quickly. I wanted more info about the contestants, and judges. Technical challenges and the big winners were missing, and that was a big miss.Recommended. prisrob 03-24-15

I only just bought this and so far it seems to be a fairly decent baking guide. There is a section at the beginning that explains the various baking techniques they use, which helps with terminology as well. Get yourself a kitchen scale, because everything is given in metric units (it will also make your bakes more reliable anyway). The recipes are directly from the show, so they should at the very least look appetizing, though time will tell if they taste good as well.The only reason I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 is that there seems to be a recipe missing. I'm not sure if I just have a misprinted edition, but there is a recipe for "Savoury Pastry Parcels" listed in the "Savoury Bakes" section that should be between "Tapenade Twists" and "Little Crab Souffles." In my book Tapenade Twists occupies page 261, and then Little Crab Souffles is on page 262, with Paul's Mini Sausage Plaits closing out the chapter. "Savoury Pastry Parcels" was the title of a signature bake, so perhaps it was meant as a placeholder for the editor that was never filled? The main reason I bought this book was for the savoury bakes, so it was mildly disappointing to be missing one. Regardless, the book seems to be exactly what I was expecting it to be.

I’ve waited to write this review until I’ve tried a decent amount of the recipes in here. So far I’ve baked: chocolate fudge brownies, the perfect soft white sandwich bread, plaited saffron loaf, stuffed focaccia, banana bread, chocolate and cherry loaf, ciabatta, Roquefort and walnut-filled loaf, Victoria sandwich cake (many, many times!), Cherry and almond Battenberg cake, lemon curd Swiss roll, cherry cake, giant sausage roll, cheese ham and chive tart, and the snowball meringues. I have many more recipes in here I still want to get to.The book is a mix of recipes from the show and ones that are not. I don’t mind this, but I would’ve liked to see more from the contestants. Yes, the measurements are all metric. Kitchen scales are $10 or less on amazon, just grab one. Directions are clear and easy to follow. If you’re a fan of the show, grab this cookbook. Even if you’re not a fan, there are tons of awesome recipes in here that are definite crowd pleasers.

The book is fine inside but the extyerior is awful.Bought as LOOKS LIKE NEW.Rubbish I've bought better from the charity shop.It had non removeable indutrial glue.Warehouse stickers on the back sleeve,Creased pagesAnd to top it off the spine was crushed.So all in all, if thats what you call LOOKS LIKE NEW.YOU SERIOUSLY NEED TO SORT OUT YOUR MARKETING........

I'm liking this book. I've tried a few things; all have been exceptionally good. Try the poppyseed white bloomer bread; or, rather, try half of it. The full recipe overwhelmed my aging countertop mixer, so I had to knead by hand for the first time ever; it came out so well, I think I'll knead by hand from now on. The bread had a consistency I can only describe as creamy; it made the most fabulous French toast I've ever had. Other recipes have been very good, but this one stands out.I would give this five stars if it had more than the most perfunctory information on the contestants. I, too, would like more of the challenge recipes; I didn't mark down for that, though, because a lot of the recipes from all seasons are available on the BBC web site.

Not what I was expecting.

Bit more time on my hands so doing baking great recipes love Mary Berry

Recipes are easy to follow with helpful pictures too. Loving the variety of bakes.Side note: The seller did not disclose this as pre-owned so it's a bit dirty but the book is great :)