I'm Portuguese and have been living in the UK for over 10 years. Never been really happy with the tin bread you buy, just seems wrong for any bread to last well over a week even though its left just in the plastic bag?! :) I then started buying the supermarkets in store baked bread which is better. Still missed my own country bread, which has a richer flavour and next day its great as toast, so sometimes bought bread from an artisan's shop which is on the expensive side at £2-£3 a loaf. Sometime ago i bought a breadmachine but the holes at bottom simply were no good. Enter Dough! I then came across this book and been using it for nearly a year. As long as i follow the recipes, weight everything for correct measures, dough coming off the fridge need to come to room temperature and way we go: always with good results. Soon enough you'll get the feel for the perfect dough consistency too. I've also looked for a bread stone, but on the net you'll find them costing as much as £30!! and off-cuts might be a bit hard to get hold off. Nonetheless, I found a granite stone sold in asda as a chopping board (other supermarkets have similar at are same price but thinner), for me this one is a perfect oven bread stone, rectangle shape, thick and perfect fit for my oven - for £10! If you are or want to be passionante about good bread, this book is fantastic especially alongside with a breadstone. In fact just eaten some fantastic bread :) Good baking!