Bourke Street Bakery by Paul Allam and David McGuinness

Another book I purchased during my baking craze. I discovered baking during a period of ill health where I had very little energy and was housebound for a few months. Baking proved to be my salvation an I baked cakes and pastries. When I returned to work I kept up with the practice and my need to bake far outweighed the capacity of my family to eat it and so I started to take cakes into work. I was amazed to discover that I became popular at work and my team would now do anything for me without so much as an argument. It appears a cake a week keeps the workforce sweet even if it's not very good! So I continued using cakes as bribes for the next couple of years with great success.

I have tried a few things in this book, including croissants on page 168 which overloaded my Kitchen Aid and broke it resulting in a few more break downs over the years as a consequence. I even spent many months feeding a starter until it became too much effort and Mike finally declared that he didn't really like sour dough bread! The authors are really talented and I like the feel of the book and the pictures. It has sat on my shelf unloved for a couple of years now and needs to be dusted off and tried again.