This is a book about baking, but unlike other baking books, I’ve approached the subject from a very different angle. Working in collaboration with the National Trust I wanted to explore the essence of British baking by showing how our recipes have developed from an abundance of wonderful produce.
I’ve divided the book into the Dairy, the Mill, the Kitchen Garden, the Orchard, the Hedgerow and the Larder. For centuries, British cooks have sourced their ingredients from these places. They’ve created recipes for cakes, curds and tarts around an abundant supply of butter and cream from the dairy, and biscuits, pastries and buns from the soft-grain wheat from the mill. They’ve added herbs, flowers and vegetables from the kitchen garden, apples and pears from the orchard and brambles, nuts and mushrooms from the hedgerow.
Inspired by all the wonderful food initiatives that are part of the National Trust, this book is as much about how we might all shape British baking in the future as it is about understanding how we’ve developed such delicious recipes over the centuries.
The food photography, including the cover is by Karen Thomas.
ISBN-10: 190789232X published by National Trust Books, September 2012
ISNB-13: 978-1907892325
