Just to manage your expectations, Neil Buttery’s Knead to Know: A History of Baking is NOT a recipe book. It’s a book about baking and – as the subtitle suggests – the history of baking. As I’m interested in history and a bit of a nerd, I thoroughly enjoyed it. The author explains gluten and some other technical aspects of baking (e.g. “egg whites are high in albumen: long thin proteins that form webs to trap air pockets if agitated with a whisk”), but the explanations are easy to understand and really helped me understand what’s happening inside the oven. Cakes maintain their shape by “setting and cooking a batter of starch, gluten and egg protein around countless bubbles of gas.”

Mr Buttery (yes, he does have an appropriate name, doesn’t he?!) is honest about the difficulty of making some items successfully, confessing that his success rate with genoise sponge is about 75%. After stating that hand-whisked meringues are allegedly superior to ones created using an electric mixer, Buttery happily admits he once tried using a hand-whisk and then went out and bought a mixer, stating “I don’t mind slightly inferior meringues.”

If you’re interested in baking and how cakes, breads and biscuits “work” – both at the mixing stage and in the oven, this is the book for you.

#KneadtoKnow #NetGalley

I love baking so this book gave me lots of history and information to add to my baking repertoire, very informative.

If you have always wanted to know why there's VAT on biscuits only if they are covered in chocolate, or the difference between puff pastry and rough puff pastry, or how yeast was originally made, or why a pudding is called a pudding, this is the book for you. I love these kinds of niche history books and this was a quick and pleasant read, although I enjoyed the history more than the science bits.

And isn't it marvellous that a man called Buttery got into pastry? Talk about nominative determinism!

Neil Buttery’s *Knead to Know* offers a deep exploration of baking, with a strong focus from British culinary lens. The book combines history, science, and cultural insights, making it an informative read for those interested in the broader context of baking.

The science behind baking is explained in clear, simple language, making it accessible to readers without a background in the subject. However, the lack of visual aids may be a drawback for beginners who might struggle to picture some of the concepts. Advanced bakers might find the content familiar but still appreciate the historical and cultural perspectives.

It is a great pick for readers who love to learn about the history and science of baking, even if it means doing a bit of extra research to visualize some of the details.