One of The New Yorker's Best Cookbooks of 2020! A meticulously researched, beautifully written, and richly photographed cookbook celebrating the recipes, ingenuity, history, and heritage of British baking.
"Regula Ysewijn blends history and recipes in the most delectable way, with traditional cakes, buns, ppies, and tarts. A British baking bible." - Tom Parker Bowles, The Daily Mail
With over 100 iconic recipes, The British Baking Book tells the wonderfully evocative story of baking in Britain--and how this internationally cherished tradition has evolved from its rich heritage to today's immense popularity of The Great British Bake Off.
With lavish imagery and evocative narrative, the expert-baker author details the landscape, history, ingenuity, and legends--and show-stopping recipes--that have made British baking a worldwide phenomenon. From cakes, biscuits, and buns to custards, tarts, and pies, authentic recipes for Britain's spectacular sweet and savory baked goods are included here--like pink-frosted Tottenham cake, jam-layered Victoria sandwich cake, quintessential tea loaf, sweet lamb pie, Yorksire curd tart, and more. Illustrating the story of how British baking evolved throughout the country, many of the recipes have a sense-of-place heritage like Dorset apple cake, Whitby lemon buns, Cornish cake, Grasmere gingerbread, and Scottish oatcakes. Evocative and fascinating, this cookbook offers a guided tour of Britain's best baking.
Author Biography:
Regula Ysewijn is an internationally acclaimed food writer and author of books about food culture like the history of British puddings and the traditions of Belgian beer cafés. She consults for companies like the National Trust and most recently the TV series Downton Abbey and is also one of the two judges of the Belgian version of The Great British Bake Off in addition to being a judge for The Guild of Fine Food's Great Taste Awards and World Cheese Awards for nearly 10 years. The Official Downton Abbey Christmas Cookbook is Regula's seventh book.
