One of the blogs I read had a link to a website by baker Dan Lepard - baker, writer and columnist for the Guardian UK. I was checking out his website and he has a 'best list'. It lists locations to find the best bread throughout Britain. It might be useful for anyone staying in a rental in Britain.

Keeping track of the best

Enjoy!

Also a facinating read for those of us who live here all the time! Yum.

Despite the dominance of the supermarkets, bakers shops have survived in the high streets of towns and suburbs where many independent butchers and greengrocers have disappeared. We have a small one five minutes walk away that does some delicious bread - I shall be there early tomorrow to get the sunflower loaf to have with Saturday lunch soup, before it all sells out.

Their secret is that they manage to appeal to all kinds within the local area: they do a busy morning bread trade, then switch the emphasis at lunch time to take-away sandwiches, soups and pies for local workers, then get a big cake/bun trade when the mothers pick up children from the three nearby schools and the hungry older children pour off the buses just outside.

Nice link - thanks, Marta! Dan Lepard is a very experienced food photographer, too: his The Handmade Loaf (link to Amazon.uk's Look Inside pages) features his evocative photographs as well as his recipes.

I'm glad (but not surprised) to see that Hobbs House Bakery is on his list: tomorrow morning I'll be visiting their stall in Stroud Farmers' Market for my weekly fix. And their cafe/bakery in Nailsworth is one of Pauline & Steve's favourites round here.

Jonathan

I swear by Dan Lepard's chocolate cake recipe, by the way:

http://lifeandhealth.guardian.co.uk/experts/danlepard/story/0,,2287648,00.html

I was looking at that book, Jonathan. I'm real curious about it. It has a 2-4 week wait on Amazon US and my local library didn't have a copy. I'll look for it next time I'm in the bookstore.

Patrick - That chocolate cake looks very interesting. The ingredients are so different. I bet it is wonderful made with walnut oil.