The Cottage Bread Book

There is a particular kind of quiet that settles over a cottage kitchen when bread is proving on the range — a hush that feels almost conspiratorial, as though the house itself is holding its breath. I have been baking bread for more years than I care to count, and I can tell you with some certainty that no other domestic act rewards the baker quite so generously. You give it a little time, a little warmth, a pair of willing hands, and it gives you back something that smells of childhood and safety and all the best Sunday mornings. This book is not about perfection. It is about honest bread, the kind that feeds people properly and fills the kitchen with a smell so good that neighbours find excuses to knock. I hope you find within these pages something useful, something comforting, and perhaps, if I have done my job well, the particular courage it takes to begin.

I have baked bread every week of my grown life. There is a rhythm to it that steadies the soul: the mixing, the waiting, the knock on the base that tells you it is done. Shop bread has its place, but it will never smell like this. These are my plainest, most reliable recipes — the daily loaf, the soft rolls, the fruited teabread for visitors. Bake them once and your family will ask for them always.

— Agnes