River Cottage Handbook No.3: Bread – Book Review

River Cottage Handbook No.3: Bread Daniel Stevens, introduced by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall
Bloomsbury, £14.99
ISBN 9780747595335

The third in a series of handy little guides, the River Cottage Bread Handbook is only small, but the amount of information squeezed between its compact covers is unbelievable.

In fact, it's far from hyperbole to say that River Cottage baker Dan Stevens' first foray into the world of publishing has produced a bread book worthy of sitting alongside modern classics like Richard Bertinet's Dough.

And while Dough is a brilliant and comprehensive guide to contemporary bread, it relies a lot on Bertinet's Gallic background, meaning that breads like baguette and pain de mie are covered simply and stunningly, but there's an obvious hole when it comes to English loaves.

Stevens, however, seems to revel in making variations of the classic bloomer. Where Bertinet introduced his readership to the very French approach of beautiful and decorative bread, Stevens' book exudes very British and very River Cottage qualities in its wholesome, rustic and hearty loaves.

As well as a comprehensive guide to yeasts, flours and kneading techniques, the book covers recipes as widespread as sourdough, soda bread, bannocks, doughnuts, Chelsea buns, shortbread and blinis plus recipes for leftover bread including nettle pesto, panzanella and brown bread ice-cream.

If that wasn't enough, the book also advises you how to build and use your own clay oven, where to find good flour and baking equipment suppliers, and provides a host of information on baking in Britain over the past half century. Did you know, for example, that the first mass-produced loaf was perfected by the Flour Milling and Baking Research Association in Chorleywood in 1961?

The amount of information, techniques, recipes and advice Stevens fits into a VHS cassette-sized book is jaw-dropping. If you have a vague interest in baking bread, or want some ideas on varying your technique and range then there are few better places to start than the River Cottage Bread Handbook. If the rest of the guides are as good as this one, we're in for a stunning collection of cooking aids.