Henrietta Inman

Stemming from the author’s Suffolk roots, using fresh farm ingredients and growing with experimentation, The Natural Baker cookbook was born. These recipes are designed to be used with fresh, natural ingredients without additives, preservatives, or colorings.

In the brief introduction to the book, the author indicates that the chapters for the recipes are merely a guideline. She suggests that some of the breakfast recipes may work well at lunch and the desserts recipes may work for breakfast etc. Encouraging adaptation, the author continues on to suggest creating the recipe as written the first time and then adapting it to your own tastes next time.

Core Ingredients are also discussed in the introduction giving you the background on the various staples you will need and use. Next are Magic Ingredients, those that give an extra wow factor. Baking Tips and Techniques which are used throughout the book are also discussed along with Equipment and Storage/Freezing requirements.

Recipes are split up into five categories:

Breakfasts
Breads & Crackers
Cakes & Biscuits (Cookies)
Lunches & Suppers
Desserts & Puddings

It’s recipe category also comes with its own introduction. This includes some tips and suggestions as well.

Each of the recipes has a brief description, serving size, and some also offer variations. The author’s English roots were showing when I was reading one of the recipes that called for several “knobs“ of butter. My Canadian roots were showing when I did not understand how much a “knob” was. Thank goodness for Google.

Each of the recipes is beautifully photographed. I think it is so important to know what the final product will look like once you’re done. While the recipes have several ingredients each, they do seem to be fairly straightforward. There are not a lot of “recipes in recipes” to complicate things.

Some of the more complicated recipes also include step-by-step photographs to help. This could come in very useful if you’ve never made that kind of recipe before.

Excellent Variety And Unique Recipes

While you may have heard of the basic recipe before, the flavor combinations for many of these recipes are unique. There are many classic recipes with interesting ingredients included.

If you can make it through this book without wanting to go directly to your mixer and start working on something new, you have much more willpower than I. There are too many beautifully created wonderfully flavorful recipes to be able to withstand the temptation.

See the full review and the recipe for Black Seed Oatcakes at The RecipesNow! Reviews And Recipes Magazine. This review is written in response to a complimentary copy of the book provided by the publisher in hopes of an honest review.… (más)