Breadsong: How Baking Changed Our Lives

Product Information

Kitty and Al Tait's] story is as heartwarming as it gets, accentuated by Kitty's lively voice and infectious grin splashed across the pages along with her dad's adorable illustrations.

The difficulties Kitty and her family went through, the difficulties of mental and physical health, financial worries – but bizarrely, it was the power that bread has over people that made me emotional. From there I learned she’d written a book (together with her father), describing her journey from suffering of anxiety to becoming a baker. Breadsong is also a cookbook full of Kitty's favourite recipes, including: - the Comfort loaf made with Marmite, and with a crust that tastes like Twiglets - bitesize queue nibbles, doughnuts with an ever-changing filling to keep the bakery queue happy - sticky fika buns with mix-and-match fillings such as cardamom and orange - Happy Bread covered with salted caramel - cheese straws made with easy homemade ruff puff pastry - the ultimate brown butter and choc chip cookies with the perfect combination of gooey centre and crispy edges. Kitty and Al start baking for themselves and gradually that grows till they open the Orange Bakery and with this book we follow that journey. Their story brought tears to my eyes at times and also swellings of joy for how Kitty is finding her way in this life with her family and actual village and sourdough starters by her side.

The first half tells the story of Kitty and her struggle with mental health, and how baking (introduced by her dad) lifted her out of that dark place. It seems the bakery needs no publicity but I would imagine this book will bring many people to Watlington! Not only that but I’m glad to see how Instagram played a part as well allowing Kitty to connect with bakers all over the world and further her passion and skills through the community. Gorgeously illustrated and a really beautiful testament to a deep passion for bread and baking and eating and everything fun.

I particularly liked that her dad and Kitty took turns in writing parts of the book, sometimes about similar things, sometimes about different phases of their journey. It's got enough context of other things going on that you know bread isn't absolutely everything, but it's also very clear that the focus is the story of Kitty not being able to go to school ---> opening the bakery; it's not a complete autobiography. The story of how the Orange Bakery came to be is so heartwarming and I’m so glad to know that there are communities out there who will support each other so fervently and are always there to boost each other up.It's profoundly obvious but there are just some things that are bound to help when you're not feeling well or when you are stressed and walking a dog or baking some bread or spending time with loved ones should be up there with things doctors prescribe. Kitty was the funny and chatty daughter so when that gradual change happened she starts to loose her bounce.

There's even a vegan cookie recipe I'll be trying today, but I'll definitely be trying to veganize those snickers cookies. It also spoke to me as a baker and I was able to get really excited for Kitty as her journey unfolded. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. One loaf led to four led to forty and soon I was running a subscription service and then a pop up bakery.

I have read an awful lot of cookbooks over the years, some chock-a-block full of recipes such as Jamie Oliver or Mary Berry, and some with a more story-like feel, like Nigel Slater, but I’ve never read a cookbook with as much heart and soul and passion written in every word as this one. I feel like things would have played out very differently in other parts of the country, without the opportunities encountered here.

One part inspirational memoir, one part delicious and rustic recipes, combined to make a wholesome and inspirational cookbook that I’m proud to display on my shelves. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. We get a glimpse of the ups and downs of growing a business while trying to still have a life away from work.Al asked Kitty if she'd like to try baking bread herself, and their lives were never the same again. It's the sort of book that makes me think "maybe I could be a baker and make bread all the time and bring joy to people!