Winner of the Andre Simon Food Book Award 2011 The ultimate baking compendium from Dan Lepard, the country's foremost baking guru. Dan Lepard's innovative and earthy approach has made him the baker that every top chef wants in their kitchen, and with this utterly dependable how-to-bake book you'll be baking cakes, pastries, breads and cookies like never before. Collecting together Dan's best recipes - and mixing science with old-fashioned kitchen wisdom - Dan has tried and tested almost every baking technique out there. Guiding you through the crispest flatbreads, blue cheese and oatmeal biscuits, gluten-free white loaves, savoury leek and smoked haddock pies, caramel sweets, frostings, simple scones and pumpkin and ginger cupcakes, Short and Sweet uses the newest flours and ingredients and has everything from updates on the classics to the latest in baking for intolerances. If baking is therapy then Dan is your life coach. He'll show you how to improve, what to work on, how to take what is just ok right up to brilliant, without a sweat. No wonder he is the country's cutting-edge baker.
Short and Sweet
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Review
'Dan is by far the most imaginative and creative baker I know.' Yotam Ottolenghi 'Just when I think I'll never need another cookery book along comes Dan Lepard's Short & Sweet to tease, delight, beguile and tempt...This man has never, ever let me down' Nigel Slater 'One of my cookery heroes, Dan's baking expertise is second to none. His recipes ooze originality, precision and above all, irresistible deliciousness.' Sarah Randell, Sainsbury's Magazine 'Dan Lepard is to baking what Lewis Hamilton is to Formula One.' Jay Rayner, Observer 'Dan demystifies the baker's art with such enthusiasm and unapologetic pragmatism that all kinds of seductive treats become instantly achievable.' Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall 'Mr Lepard, I love you.' Nigel Slater
About the Author
Dan Lepard is a baker and photographer who has worked with the likes of Ottolenghi, Giorgio Locatelli and Fergus Henderson. He is the author of The Handmade Loaf and has a very popular baking column in the Saturday Guardian. He writes frequently for Sainsbury's Magazine and is also currently designing a range of baking products for Sainsbury's. Originally from Australia, he now lives in London.
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More About the Author
Dan Lepard is an award-winning baker, food writer and photographer. His books include Baking With Passion, The Handmade Loaf (author and photographer) and, as a contributor, The Cook's Book and the Dictionnaire Universel du Pain. His other photography credits include Hawksmoor at Home and Made in Italy. Dan also writes for the BBC and Sainsbury's Magazine and his irresistible weekly column in the Guardian Weekend magazine has brought him a huge and loyal following.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
If I could only own one baking book this would be it. It has everything one needs either to start an interest in baking or sustain one. It covers everything from bread, cakes, muffins, biscuits, cookies, icing, doughnuts and desserts. basically if involves flour and/or sugar it is in this book which is amazing and I think well worth the price and space on the book shelf.
What I really like is that Dan Lepard explains not just how but why to do or not do certain things which I haven't seen in a baking book before for example the real reason why cakes sink, when to use certain flours or what will, happen if you substitute x for y. I also learned I have been cooking my cakes for too long which has been a revelation.
So far I have made and been pleased with weetabix muffins and alchemists cake, and will be making deli bread, lemon and poppy seed cake and spelt and ginger biscuits soon from a wish list of about dozen or so recipes that I bookmarked on first reading and have no doubt the list will, grow each time I dip into short and sweet.
I think that this would make a great gift for someone who is just setting up home or taken an interest in baking or just as a treat for yourself.
I am off to do more baking...
What I really like is that Dan Lepard explains not just how but why to do or not do certain things which I haven't seen in a baking book before for example the real reason why cakes sink, when to use certain flours or what will, happen if you substitute x for y. I also learned I have been cooking my cakes for too long which has been a revelation.
So far I have made and been pleased with weetabix muffins and alchemists cake, and will be making deli bread, lemon and poppy seed cake and spelt and ginger biscuits soon from a wish list of about dozen or so recipes that I bookmarked on first reading and have no doubt the list will, grow each time I dip into short and sweet.
I think that this would make a great gift for someone who is just setting up home or taken an interest in baking or just as a treat for yourself.
I am off to do more baking...
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By plevee
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Having written a cookbook with careful tested measurements Mr Lepard has allowed his American publisher to jettison them all and convert the book to inaccurate volume measurements. There isn't even a guide as to how flour for example is measured - the difference between scooped and sifted flour can amount to 11/2 ounces weight which can make all the difference in the success of failure of a cake.
I contacted the publisher about this complaint and was informed that the book was for "the CASUAL home baker". So if you are at all serious about baking, or about not wasting expensive ingredients in inaccurate recipes look elsewhere. Or as they advised "Buy the UK edition."
I contacted the publisher about this complaint and was informed that the book was for "the CASUAL home baker". So if you are at all serious about baking, or about not wasting expensive ingredients in inaccurate recipes look elsewhere. Or as they advised "Buy the UK edition."
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
Short & Sweet - The Best of Home Baking at over 500 pages is anything but short. But it is sweet - the book is very well organized and the majority of the recipes are about sweets.
Dan Lepard, the author, is British so you will find a definite British flavor to this book - both in terms of the writing and some of the recipes included.
The book is divided into eight sections: Breads, Cakes, Small things, Cookies & Crackers, Doughnuts, batters & babas, Sugar Sugar, Desserts and Supper.
All the sections follow a standard format - an Introduction, a Tips & techniques, followed by the recipes. In all there are over 280 recipes in this book. But many of the recipes are adaptable so you can actually use the information to create your own version of what is presented here.
The Tips & Techniques sections are really well done, offering some valuable information based on the authors first hand experience with all these recipes. Mr. Lepard goes into great detail discussing the type of flour or sugar or other ingredient that works best in each recipe. He also gives some great tips on things that are likely to present a problem and how to avoid the problem or recover. I strongly advise the user to read the Tips & Techniques section before attempting any recipe in this book.
There are a few sections where the title might not give much of a hint about what is included. An example would be Sugar Sugar or Small Things. Sugar Sugar deals with carmels, candies, fillings and toppings, sauces and ice cream. Small things deals with Muffins & cupcakes, Brownies and bars and Scones and buns. Since most of the baking deals with desserts, you wonder what would be included in the section on Desserts. This section is the longest in the book and covers Short pastry, Puddings, Puff pastry, Meringues & cheesecakes.
In each section, there is a table of contents that covers the broad categories with the page number. To find individual recipes you will need to look that up in the very extensive index in the back of the book.
The author has extensive experience working in first class restaurants as well as being an award-winning food writer. He writes with a very conversational style and gives lots of practical hints on what to watch for and how to recover when things go wrong.
The book is very beautiful and would make a lovely gift. And for anyone who is serious about home baking, this would make a great addition to their cookbook collection.
Dan Lepard, the author, is British so you will find a definite British flavor to this book - both in terms of the writing and some of the recipes included.
The book is divided into eight sections: Breads, Cakes, Small things, Cookies & Crackers, Doughnuts, batters & babas, Sugar Sugar, Desserts and Supper.
All the sections follow a standard format - an Introduction, a Tips & techniques, followed by the recipes. In all there are over 280 recipes in this book. But many of the recipes are adaptable so you can actually use the information to create your own version of what is presented here.
The Tips & Techniques sections are really well done, offering some valuable information based on the authors first hand experience with all these recipes. Mr. Lepard goes into great detail discussing the type of flour or sugar or other ingredient that works best in each recipe. He also gives some great tips on things that are likely to present a problem and how to avoid the problem or recover. I strongly advise the user to read the Tips & Techniques section before attempting any recipe in this book.
There are a few sections where the title might not give much of a hint about what is included. An example would be Sugar Sugar or Small Things. Sugar Sugar deals with carmels, candies, fillings and toppings, sauces and ice cream. Small things deals with Muffins & cupcakes, Brownies and bars and Scones and buns. Since most of the baking deals with desserts, you wonder what would be included in the section on Desserts. This section is the longest in the book and covers Short pastry, Puddings, Puff pastry, Meringues & cheesecakes.
In each section, there is a table of contents that covers the broad categories with the page number. To find individual recipes you will need to look that up in the very extensive index in the back of the book.
The author has extensive experience working in first class restaurants as well as being an award-winning food writer. He writes with a very conversational style and gives lots of practical hints on what to watch for and how to recover when things go wrong.
The book is very beautiful and would make a lovely gift. And for anyone who is serious about home baking, this would make a great addition to their cookbook collection.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Yum and Yum
This book was a pleasant surprise. My favorite recipe thus far is the Fairy cakes on p.195. This book is really thick and is kind of a "everything in the baking world" compendium. Read more
Published 3 days ago by A. L. W.
3.0 out of 5 stars
Measurement Mishaps in US Version
Dan Lepard's book has some very interesting recipes that sound dreamy. On my first scan through, my mouth was watering, and I had mentally dogeared most of the pages in the book... Read more
Published 9 days ago by HTBK
4.0 out of 5 stars
Outstanding!
This book is amazing!!! It's the size of a dictionary and is filled with recipes for bread, cakes, cookies, crackers, doughnuts, desserts, and savory pies, pasties, and tarts. Read more
Published 10 days ago by Tomorryo
4.0 out of 5 stars
500+ pages with a variety of recipes
From the title some might have thought that this book is about baking and desserts. I was a bit surprised that it was packed with 500+ pages of a recipes across a broad variety of... Read more
Published 10 days ago by Gadgetman
5.0 out of 5 stars
Now a baker
Lepard covers the basics through as much complexity as I care to learn. The book subtly encourages learning the why's and not just following random recipes to the letter. Read more
Published 16 days ago by Shlok Vaidya
3.0 out of 5 stars
Original and appealiing recipes but some glitches
Dan Lepard has created a lot of really interesting and unusual recipes for baked goods, from bread and crackers to candies and pies and other things. Read more
Published 24 days ago by Jessica Weissman
3.0 out of 5 stars
converted measurements from metric
The book contains quite interesting recipes, but it is an American edition, which means the measurements were converted from grams to cups and tablespoons. Read more
Published 29 days ago by ganka
5.0 out of 5 stars
A-
To be honest, I'd never heard of Dan Lepard prior to ordering Short & Sweet" The Best of Home Baking. Read more
Published 1 month ago by MacGuffin
4.0 out of 5 stars
Short and Sweet
I was surprised to see such a large book (500 plus pages) for this dessert cookbook. I love to bake and thought this would be right up my alley. So many recipes to try.... Read more
Published 1 month ago by BB
5.0 out of 5 stars
The subtitle says it all:
"The Best of Home Baking." Yes, indeed
In addition, if you're searching for a cookbook filled with recipes perfect for afternoon tea, THIS IS THE ONE! Read more
In addition, if you're searching for a cookbook filled with recipes perfect for afternoon tea, THIS IS THE ONE! Read more
Published 1 month ago by B. J. Lewis
