When I started working in food photography nearly twenty years ago, one of the first books I worked on was Bread by Linda Collister.  I learnt so much, and was instantly hooked on baking my own bread.  Not only is the taste and texture a hundred times better than any shop-bought bread (although now we have a few really good artisan bakeries popping up which is great), the whole process is such a magical thing to do.
One of the things I love about cooking, especially baking,  is the magic - how you can start with a few dry powdery ingredients, mix them with a few wet ones and within a short space of time you end up with great textures, crusts, soft centres, so many flavours and most of all, food that you know exactly what has gone in to it.
So last week I had to review another bread book, this one has just been published - All You Knead is Bread by Jane Mason.  This book covers breads and baking from around the world, and has so many unusual breads that I've not heard of, so I just had to get baking!
Don't think just because bread has to be left to rise so many times and for so long that you haven't got time to bake it - that is the whole point, you have so much time to do other things whilst the bread is doing its' own...... magic.
I'm a bit of a sucker for sweet things, so I made the wonderful Cardamom Knots shown here - they were soft, rich, sticky and delicious.  If you are thinking of what to ask for Christmas this year, I would certainly recommend putting this book at the top of your list.

Happy Kneading!

Jx