Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Worth the dough!, 27 May 2007
If you bake bread, or intend doing so, this book is definately worth buying. No, it isn't full of pretty pictures . . . what it is packed with though is everything you will ever need to know about bread. It is a history book, a recipe book, an advice book . . . and more. After reading the book and following the advice given I have made the best bread I have ever produced, in a simple and straightforward way. It is useful to know what WON'T work for the home baker too. If you have an oven, a baking tray and a bowl, you can make fantastic bread - and you will never want to eat that soft, doughy stuff supermarkets call bread ever again!
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72 of 75 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Simply the best book on Yeast cooking, 11 April 2006
from Elizabeth David!
'In this universally acclaimed book Elizabeth David deals with all aspects of flour milling, yeast, bread ovens and the different types of bread and flour available. The recipes cover yeast cookery of all kinds, and the many lovely, old-fashioned spiced breads, buns, pancakes and muffins, among others, are all described with her typical elegance and unrivalled knowledge.'
'Here is a real book, written with authority and enthusiasm - a collection of history, investigation, comment, recipes - Jane Grigson in the Observer.'
Dedicated to Jill Norman, an accomplished cookery writer in her own right, this is an exceptionally good price for this ED tome of 592 pages, split over two parts:-
Part I - History & Background
Part II - Recipes
Written with the typical ED flair, which is so popular with her readers and full of meticulously researched information, interspersed with the charming black and white illustrations (Wendy Jones) that so underline Elizabeth David books.
Part I
Chapters:-
Milling, Bread Flours and Meals, Yeast, Salt, Liquid and Fats used in Bread-making, Eggs, Dried Fruit, Sugar, Spices and Flavourings used in Yeast Cakes and Breads, Malt Extracts, Bread Ovens, The Bread Factories, Shapes and Names of English Loaves, Moulds and Tins for bread and Yeast Cakes, Storage of Meal and Flour, Weights of Loaves and the Assize of Bread, Weights, Measures and Temperatures, Weighing and Measuring Equipment and The Cost of Baking Your Own Bread.
Part II - RECIPES
Chapters:-
Bread, Baps and Rolls, Manchets and Mayn and Payndemayn, Crumpets and Muffins, Notes on French Bread, The Pizza and the Pissaladiere, Quiches with Yeast Dough, Sausage in Brioche Crust, Yeast Leavened Pancakes and Oatcakes, Dumplings and Doughnuts, Regional and Festival Yeast Cakes and Fruit Breads, Yeast Buns and Small Tea Cakes, French Yeast Cakes, Soda Breads, Bakestone Cakes or Breads, Toast, Biblio and Concise Index.
Over 300 pages packed full or all sorts of recipes that really do question 'what on earth they do to the bread in the shops........'.
'A tall, earthenware pancheon, glazed only on the inside, like a bread crock was always considered the best shape for mixing and raising yeast dough. From the 18th century until the mid 20th Century, bread pancheons were traditional products of many Welsh and English potteries.'
Page 252 starts with a recipe for 'A Basic Loaf', for a large loaf weighing 28 to 30 oz, or 800 to 850g.
'Potato Bread, usually associated with times of grain shortage or with a need for strict economy in the kitchen, is advocated by some 19th Century writers as being the best bread for toast. This is because a proportion of potato mixed with ordinary white flour makes a loaf, which retains its moisture and is also very light...........'
'Rice Bread is excellent for keeping since the rice remains moist and the texture is beautifully light and honey-combed. It is also a loaf which is very easy to mix and to bake.'
Scots Baps:-
'.....the bap is the breakfast roll of Scotland. Properly made and properly handled, it can justly be called `noble`...........'
'Aberdeen Rowies - a recipe for flaky buns, not unlike croissants although much less rich and consequently a great deal simpler and quicker to make. They don't look as showy a croissants but for all their homely appearance, I prefer them in some ways because they are light and small and ......surprising.'
My overall favourite recipe is the variation on the 'SALLY LUNN BUN' (Soleilune Cake), originating in the city of Bath:-
'My recipe for a Sally Lunn is simple, not very rich and relatively quick'.
Super book!
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48 of 50 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Baking demystified: how it happens, and how to do it., 27 Jan 2002
By A Customer
The original celebrity chef, Elizabeth David caused no less than a revolution in the Fifties with her 1951 release, French Country Cooking. It's her we have to thank for the end of an era best characterised by boiled gammon and potatoes!English Bread and Yeast Cookery is no less a benchmark in cookery writing, taking the reader right back to first principals with full information on the workings of yeast, a history of baking, and a slightly disturbing account of commercial bread-baking in the Seventies (the book was first published in 1977, towards the end of a dark era in bought bread, as anyone who was there will remember!). With its absorbing historical and background content, this 592-page book is a cover-to-cover read - especially for accomplished home bakers.
It gives full 'features and benefits' accounts of different grain, flours and yeast forms, a wonderful range of recipes and techniques (including crumpets, muffins, potato and rice breads), an explanation of loaf types (very useful in the baker's!), plus full information on additives such as sugar, malt, salt and so on. Essential reading for anyone who's serious about their baking - and equally essential if the whole subject is a mystery. At the end of this book, you will be a guaranteed solid gold expert!
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by Elizabeth David
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