The Great British Baking Show: Love to Bake

by Paul Hollywood, Prue Leith

Love to Bake is The Great British Baking Show's best collection yet - recipes to remind us that baking is the ultimate expression of thanks, togetherness, celebration and love.

Pop round to a friend's with tea and sympathy in the form of Chai Crackle Cookies; have fun making Paul's Rainbow-coloured Bagels with your family; snuggle up and take comfort in Sticky Pear & Cinnamon Buns or a Pandowdy Swamp Pie; or liven up a charity cake sale with Mini Lemon & Pistachio Battenbergs or Prue's stunning Raspberry & Salted Caramel Eclairs. Impressive occasion cakes and stunning bakes for gatherings are not forgotten - from a novelty frog birthday cake for a children's party, through a towering croquembouche to wow your guests at the end of dinner, to a gorgeous, but easy-to-make wedding cake that's worthy of any once-in-a-lifetime celebration.

Throughout the book, judges'' recipes from Paul and Prue will hone your skills, while lifelong favourites from the 2020 bakers offer insight into the journeys that brought the contestants to the tent and the reasons why they - like you - love to bake.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Nonfiction, Food, Reference

511 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 22, 2020

About the author

Paul Hollywood is an English baker and celebrity chef. He has worked as a baker since taking up the career at his father's bakery as a teenager and has gone on to become head baker at a number of hotels around Britain. After returning from working in Cyprus, he began appearing in guest spots on a number of British television shows on both BBC and ITV channels. Since 2010 he has appeared as a judge on BBC2's baking show The Great British Bake Off. He runs his own artisanal baking business, which supplies stores such as Harrods.

Reviews

[Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance · Rating 4 out of 5]

We just finished the 2020 season of The Great British Baking Show, and it seemed like a great time to take a close look at this baking book.

This season may have had the most gifted group of bakers yet. I will always love seeing people twirl around a bit of flour and butter and---Voilà!---a masterpiece appears. I'm a baker, too, and I have had a few experiences where people gushed over my creations, but that's over a lifetime of baking, and I'd love to do some of this astonishing work every month or even every week.

An inspiring book for all of us who want to press on with our baking.

[Mr Pink Ink · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many thanks to Jonathan Ball Publishers for #Gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Of course, I didn't read every single word in this entire book, don't be ridiculous! But being a fan of the show, and a bit of a baker, I need this in my life.

Even though the recipes are not for beginners, they seem easy to follow and those high-quality photo images are just to die for! I had to hold a cloth near my mouth due to the mouth-watering thoughts these images create.

Great if you're a serious baker but not so great if, like me, you're more a beginner to middling level, then this book would be very nice to have in your collection anyway.

[Ligaya · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been reading a ton of cookbooks lately and, unfortunately—although I am a massive fan of the Great British Baking Show—this book was a bit of a disappointment to me. I thought the introduction of supplies and ingredients was great and the picture index in the back with the different categories of bakes was very clever and super-helpful, but only couple recipes from the entire book caught my attention and several bakes I've seen before with not a lot of modification. Photos and styling were gorgeous and the writing was clear. The way the chapters were organized was, I guess, a hook for the "Love to Bake" theme but seemed kind of arbitrary to me.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

The recipes in this year's GBBS cookbook are certainly more inventive than in years past. Plus, it's a huge bonus that recipes now use weight instead of converted measurements, which caused me issues in the past.

The most frustrating thing about this book is how it's organized. The authors used kitschy chapter headings like "celebrate" instead of organizing by the type of dessert, time of day or recipe difficulty. The result is that readers can't figure out where to find the desserts they are looking for.

[Erin Pacitti]

The recipes in this year's GBBS cookbook are certainly more inventive than in years past. Plus, it's a huge bonus that recipes now use weight instead of converted measurements, which caused me issues in the past.

The most frustrating thing about this book is how it's organized. The authors used kitschy chapter headings like "celebrate" instead of organizing by the type of dessert, time of day or recipe difficulty. The result i

[Madeline · Rating 4 out of 5]

I will always and forever love anything Great British Bake Off. The only reason I gave this 4 stars and not 5 is because they didn’t include American measurements. I know the majority of the world doesn’t bake or cook with our measurements, but after I found Kim-Joy’s baking books had both measurements it just made me all the mor excited to try the recipes.

[Emily]

Aspirational cookbook for me, although we will definitely be trying the speculoos cheesecake bars and maybe the chai cookies. The ingredients and cooking temperatures are British, so require some conversion for American bakers. Beautiful photos, although I’d have liked to see inside and outside views of a few of the cakes that only had outside photos.

[FrankieBeans Indisguise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautiful book and an amazing selection of enticing items but unfortunately you need to convert the recipes to U.S. I am determined to try a few and will google some of the ingredients that I am not familiar with to find the U.S. substitutes.

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Did I make a single recipe? No, I did not. Did I read the recipes and descriptions and imagine the taste of each one? Yes indeed. And would I volunteer to be a taste tester - or literally any other job involved with helping the lovely people on this show? Again, I absolutely would.

[jane e mcdorman · Rating 5 out of 5]

A hat for any Bake Off fan!

Many recipes seem beyond my skill level, but some strike me as a “must try”! Time to step out of my comfort zone to create new culinary treats for family and friends.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

harder to use on the kindle app, think i will like it better in print form

[Tena · Rating 5 out of 5]

So much baking to do

Gotta live a challenge!
Can’t wait to try baking more of these culinary treats and using my baking game another notch.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful pictures of baked goods and clear recipes make for a great cookbook. A lot of these recipes are a little (or a lot) crazy, though, since they were developed for a cooking contest.

[Kimberly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun to read the recipes, but only 2-3 I will be trying.

[Lisa Meyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yum!

[Aasinathena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love the recipes and also the nostalgia of GBBO. Stunning photos too!

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

Measurement conversions aside, these recipes were too difficult for me.

[Katherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some great recipes from my favorite show!

[Donna Robinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad TGBS book. I did enjoy the way that the book was formatted, especially with the chapters having recipes that could be coupled with the theme of celebration or even kid-friendly ones.

[Sydney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gorgeous photos, absolutely lovely sounding recipes. Can't wait to try some.