FOOD FILE:TV chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, or Hugh Fearlessly-Eats-It-All as he is known in recognition of his no-nonsense approach to nose-to-tail eating, is picky when it comes to choosing young chefs to join him in his River Cottage enterprise in Dorset.
“Curiosity and enthusiasm” are the qualities he looks for in new recruits, and Dan Stevens has both in spades. Stevens is now the in-house baking expert, and has written the third in a series of compact but beautifully illustrated River Cottage handbooks.
In Bread, which follows on from Mushrooms, and Preserves, Stevens recalls his first "disastrous" attempt at baking bread, using a two-page recipe that assured him that "homemade bread is easy". Happily, Stevens persevered, and readers of his book will benefit from his efforts to perfect his craft. "To make good bread you need to understand the process," he writes. "Being told what to do is simply not enough. There is so much to know, and I really believe that the more you know, the better your bread will be."
Just about every sort of bread you’ll ever need to knead is featured, as well as a few that don’t need any kneading at all. And don’t miss the interesting recipe for beetroot houmous, which uses stale breadcrumbs to thicken a purée of beets and tahini. True enthusiasts will love the step-by-step illustrated guide to building a clay oven in your garden, too.
- River Cottage HandbookNo. 3 Bread, by Daniel Stevens, is published by Bloomsbury, £14.99