--- product_id: 122402081 title: "How to Bake" price: "VT2684" currency: VUV in_stock: false reviews_count: 13 url: https://www.desertcart.vu/products/122402081-how-to-bake store_origin: VU region: Vanuatu --- # How to Bake **Price:** VT2684 **Availability:** ❌ Out of Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** How to Bake - **How much does it cost?** VT2684 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Currently out of stock - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.vu](https://www.desertcart.vu/products/122402081-how-to-bake) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description At last, the star of BBC2's The Great British Bake Off reveals all the secrets of his craft in How to Bake . The son of a baker, Paul Hollywood is passionate about busting the myths that surround baking, sharing his finely honed skills, and showing that with the right guidance, anybody can achieve success time after time. With this in mind, he has filled this book with easy-to-follow, clearly explained, utterly delicious recipes. Having taken you through the basic techniques, Paul explains how to make an abundance of breads, pastries, cakes and biscuits including wholemeal loaf, tin bread, ciabatta, focaccia, sour cherry and chocolate loaf, Roquefort and almond bread, fresh croissants, milles feuilles, quiche, classic Victoria sponge, lemon drizzle cake, chocolate temptation cake, buttery shortbread and fiery ginger biscuits. Time to get baking ... Review: Shortcrust Pastry So Flaky It Is Almost Puff - If you haven't heard of Paul Hollywood, it won't be long before you do. The 47-year old Hollywood started working as a baker in his father's bakery as a teenager. Baking and teaching others to bake has been his life ever since. I first came across him watching The Great British Bakeoff, but he has since expanded his horizons and is appearing as a judge on The American Baking Competition 2013 (CBS). I liked Paul Hollywood's Bread so much that I acquired a copy of How to Bake and am I ever glad that I did! Let me tell you about a few of my favorite recipes from the book. Hollywood's passion is bread baking (he is said to bake the most expensive loaf of artisan bread in Britain, an almond and roquefort sourdough) and that comes shining through in How to Bake , with about 2/3 of the book devoted to bread in various guises, with chapters on Basic Breads, Flavored Breads, Sourdough, and Croissants, Danish & Brioche. Hollywood spent some time living & working in Cyprus and you'll see that experience reflected in a number of the breads featured in the book. I've made several of his recipes (his Ciabatta from Paul Hollywood's Bread is stunning and an unusual shaping technique makes it dead-easy) so I chose something a bit different for a test recipe. ▶︎ TEST RECIPE - PUMPKIN SEED STICKS WITH POPPY SEEDS This is an easy recipe that utilizes bread flour, whole wheat bread flour and malted bread flour chock-full of pumpkin seeds. (If you can't find malted bread flour you could use a 7 or 12 grain flour.) The dough is divided into 10 portions, then each portion is rolled out into a stick about a foot long, brushed with water and then sprinkled with a generous amount of poppy seeds. The sticks are scrumptious with a rich, nutty flavor - excellent with cheese or the Carlton Pate that I recently made from Mary Berry's Christmas Collection . This recipe could easily be baked as a single loaf, formed into dinner rolls instead of the sticks, or cut into 20 portions instead of 10 for a thinner, less filling nosh. I cut a couple of sticks on the bias, brushed them with a tiny dab of good olive oil and baked them at 250 to make small toasts or crackers to serve with cheese or that pate. Where most baking books spend a lot of time on cakes and cookies, Hollywood combines Biscuits, Puddings & Cakes all into one chapter. Remember that in the UK biscuits are cookies and puddings can be any dessert. Look in this chapter for stunning recipe for traditional Shortbread that he says will keep 3-4 days (not in my house!), cheesecake, muffins, clafoutis and more. I was sorely torn between a flour-less Chocolate Almond Cake covered in Chocolate Ganache that uses ground almonds to provide a "cake" texture and a lemon cake. Lemon won. ▶︎ TEST RECIPE - MRS. POST'S LEMON DRIZZLE CAKE A variation on Orange Marmalade Cake, this makes a small loaf that is flavored with lemon curd, then soaked with a mixture of lemon juice, lemon zest and granulated sugar while hot from the oven. One bowl, no mixer required. Lovely with a cup of tea, the cake is moist, very light textured and keeps for several days. It quite reminds me of my mother's favorite lemon cake - without the cake mix. ● One note - when making this or Orange Marmalade Cake (recipe not included in this book) do not "eyeball" the amount of marmalade or curd called for. Too much will throw off the chemistry of the cake and you'll end up with an ugly, though edible, dip in the middle of the loaf. The final chapter in How to Bake is Tarts & Pies, which also includes Puff Paste. It is this chapter that thoroughly made the book for me. Our British cousins are much more prone to savory pies than we are here in the US and it is here that Hollywood's non-bread baking really shines. Having discovered Chicken & Mango Chutney Pasties inspired by the flavors of the British Raj in The Great British Bake Off: How to Bake: The Perfect Victoria Sponge and Other Baking Secrets , Hollywood's recipe for larger but similar Moroccan Pasties caught my eye straight off. ▶︎ TEST RECIPE - MOROCCAN PASTIES Shortcrust pastry colored bright yellow with turmeric is cut into 7" circles, then filled with raw ground lamb and a mixture of potato or sweet potato, red onion and chopped fresh cilantro (coriander) flavored with cinnamon and spiced with a pinch of chile flakes. I used sweet potato since that was what I happened to have handy. Hollywood's Shortcrust Pastry recipe is a bit different than you see on this side of the pond. I make a mean pastry thanks to my Grandma - light and flaky. Hollywood's recipe is, however, not just a really good pie dough. It is exceptional, the flakiest I've ever come across this side of puff pastry. Grandma's $0.02 - If you acquire How to Bake for the shortcrust pastry alone, it is worth every penny! My copy came from the UK and is in metrics. Other books by Paul Hollywood that I've purchased here at desertcart have not been "translated" so you'll need a digital scale. You'll find volume measurements on the side of your pyrex measuring pitcher. Teaspoons and tablespoons are the same. Review: Nice book with easy to follow instructions - I'm a fan of the TV series and found that this "How to Bake" book is a terrific beginner's book for learning some of the basic dishes that appear on the show. There are seven sections in all with illustrated instructions at the beginning of each chapter that takes you through the steps of the basic recipe. Especially nice about this book is that it also includes foundational recipes for creme pat, marzipan, genoise, Victorian sponge, puff pastry, ganache and other components of British bakery goods that we don't usually find in American cookbooks. The book is well written and easy to follow, with most of the ingredients readily available in American markets. I've made a dozen of the dishes so far and have had success with all of them except for the sourdough recipes (which could be due to the difference in elevation & humidity). Worth mentioning is that is a British book with ingredients listed in grams and milliliters, and temperatures in Celsius. A kitchen scale that reads in grams is definitely a must for this book! If you are interesting in making dishes from the Great British Baking Show, this is a great book to start. Once mastering these basic skills. moving on to the more advanced recipes will be much easier. ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #540,973 in Kindle Store ( See Top 100 in Kindle Store ) #327 in Bread Baking (Kindle Store) #385 in Celebrity & TV Show Cookbooks #728 in Bread Baking (Books) | ## Images ![How to Bake - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81mDl+CiNpL.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Shortcrust Pastry So Flaky It Is Almost Puff *by G***A on December 18, 2013* If you haven't heard of Paul Hollywood, it won't be long before you do. The 47-year old Hollywood started working as a baker in his father's bakery as a teenager. Baking and teaching others to bake has been his life ever since. I first came across him watching The Great British Bakeoff, but he has since expanded his horizons and is appearing as a judge on The American Baking Competition 2013 (CBS). I liked Paul Hollywood's Bread so much that I acquired a copy of How to Bake and am I ever glad that I did! Let me tell you about a few of my favorite recipes from the book. Hollywood's passion is bread baking (he is said to bake the most expensive loaf of artisan bread in Britain, an almond and roquefort sourdough) and that comes shining through in How to Bake , with about 2/3 of the book devoted to bread in various guises, with chapters on Basic Breads, Flavored Breads, Sourdough, and Croissants, Danish & Brioche. Hollywood spent some time living & working in Cyprus and you'll see that experience reflected in a number of the breads featured in the book. I've made several of his recipes (his Ciabatta from Paul Hollywood's Bread is stunning and an unusual shaping technique makes it dead-easy) so I chose something a bit different for a test recipe. ▶︎ TEST RECIPE - PUMPKIN SEED STICKS WITH POPPY SEEDS This is an easy recipe that utilizes bread flour, whole wheat bread flour and malted bread flour chock-full of pumpkin seeds. (If you can't find malted bread flour you could use a 7 or 12 grain flour.) The dough is divided into 10 portions, then each portion is rolled out into a stick about a foot long, brushed with water and then sprinkled with a generous amount of poppy seeds. The sticks are scrumptious with a rich, nutty flavor - excellent with cheese or the Carlton Pate that I recently made from Mary Berry's Christmas Collection . This recipe could easily be baked as a single loaf, formed into dinner rolls instead of the sticks, or cut into 20 portions instead of 10 for a thinner, less filling nosh. I cut a couple of sticks on the bias, brushed them with a tiny dab of good olive oil and baked them at 250 to make small toasts or crackers to serve with cheese or that pate. Where most baking books spend a lot of time on cakes and cookies, Hollywood combines Biscuits, Puddings & Cakes all into one chapter. Remember that in the UK biscuits are cookies and puddings can be any dessert. Look in this chapter for stunning recipe for traditional Shortbread that he says will keep 3-4 days (not in my house!), cheesecake, muffins, clafoutis and more. I was sorely torn between a flour-less Chocolate Almond Cake covered in Chocolate Ganache that uses ground almonds to provide a "cake" texture and a lemon cake. Lemon won. ▶︎ TEST RECIPE - MRS. POST'S LEMON DRIZZLE CAKE A variation on Orange Marmalade Cake, this makes a small loaf that is flavored with lemon curd, then soaked with a mixture of lemon juice, lemon zest and granulated sugar while hot from the oven. One bowl, no mixer required. Lovely with a cup of tea, the cake is moist, very light textured and keeps for several days. It quite reminds me of my mother's favorite lemon cake - without the cake mix. ● One note - when making this or Orange Marmalade Cake (recipe not included in this book) do not "eyeball" the amount of marmalade or curd called for. Too much will throw off the chemistry of the cake and you'll end up with an ugly, though edible, dip in the middle of the loaf. The final chapter in How to Bake is Tarts & Pies, which also includes Puff Paste. It is this chapter that thoroughly made the book for me. Our British cousins are much more prone to savory pies than we are here in the US and it is here that Hollywood's non-bread baking really shines. Having discovered Chicken & Mango Chutney Pasties inspired by the flavors of the British Raj in The Great British Bake Off: How to Bake: The Perfect Victoria Sponge and Other Baking Secrets , Hollywood's recipe for larger but similar Moroccan Pasties caught my eye straight off. ▶︎ TEST RECIPE - MOROCCAN PASTIES Shortcrust pastry colored bright yellow with turmeric is cut into 7" circles, then filled with raw ground lamb and a mixture of potato or sweet potato, red onion and chopped fresh cilantro (coriander) flavored with cinnamon and spiced with a pinch of chile flakes. I used sweet potato since that was what I happened to have handy. Hollywood's Shortcrust Pastry recipe is a bit different than you see on this side of the pond. I make a mean pastry thanks to my Grandma - light and flaky. Hollywood's recipe is, however, not just a really good pie dough. It is exceptional, the flakiest I've ever come across this side of puff pastry. Grandma's $0.02 - If you acquire How to Bake for the shortcrust pastry alone, it is worth every penny! My copy came from the UK and is in metrics. Other books by Paul Hollywood that I've purchased here at Amazon have not been "translated" so you'll need a digital scale. You'll find volume measurements on the side of your pyrex measuring pitcher. Teaspoons and tablespoons are the same. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Nice book with easy to follow instructions *by C***H on April 21, 2025* I'm a fan of the TV series and found that this "How to Bake" book is a terrific beginner's book for learning some of the basic dishes that appear on the show. There are seven sections in all with illustrated instructions at the beginning of each chapter that takes you through the steps of the basic recipe. Especially nice about this book is that it also includes foundational recipes for creme pat, marzipan, genoise, Victorian sponge, puff pastry, ganache and other components of British bakery goods that we don't usually find in American cookbooks. The book is well written and easy to follow, with most of the ingredients readily available in American markets. I've made a dozen of the dishes so far and have had success with all of them except for the sourdough recipes (which could be due to the difference in elevation & humidity). Worth mentioning is that is a British book with ingredients listed in grams and milliliters, and temperatures in Celsius. A kitchen scale that reads in grams is definitely a must for this book! If you are interesting in making dishes from the Great British Baking Show, this is a great book to start. Once mastering these basic skills. moving on to the more advanced recipes will be much easier. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Great book. *by H***E on January 25, 2019* We love this book. Very clear instructions. Easy to understand. Nice photos. We were successful on our first blush! I'd just add that these British books give recipes in weights not volumes. So it's in grams not cups like in most American books. We bought a very cheap digital scale and we're psyched we did too. If you think about it it's so much more accurate. Cooking by volume, especially with flour, is silly because the actual amount could vary a lot due to how compact or fluffed out the flour is. I think this is why so many of our cooking hasn't really been spot on before. I mean, we follow the recipes and get inconsistent results, if not just plain old not so good result. I've always wondered why this happens. Finally realized that we're doing it wrong. Immediately upon cooking by weight, we followed a recipe and it worked out great the first time. So we're sold. Back to the book: It's nice looking, great photos, easy to understand instructions. I like the decent part of the book in the beginning where he's talking more about the why's of baking and basic skills. I would recommend this book to anyone who's upping their game. The only thing missing is the long pauses and the inevitable handshake you'll deserve! --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.vu/products/122402081-how-to-bake](https://www.desertcart.vu/products/122402081-how-to-bake) --- *Product available on Desertcart Vanuatu* *Store origin: VU* *Last updated: 2026-06-08*