After much reading, I finally reached the recipe section. I am not much of a baker, to say the least but I did think I might have some success with what looks like the easiest bread-making ever. The miracle overnight white loaf was as easy as it could possibly be. All it takes is time. Having mixed and proved the dough, it baked easily and came out a golden colour and had a terrific hollow tapping sound underneath which I have read is the sound you want when bread baking. It is a cookbook with the power to make you cry – or it did to me. 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. If you’re not a baker then you may not realise what I mean by that. I bake (unprofessionally), although not as much as I used to thanks to a Neurological condition I have developed, but I still try to when I can. Baking has always been my way of dealing with fierce emotions. When I lost my dad, I baked an absurd amount of cakes and biscuits for the hospice staff; I bake (and eat) when I’m stressed, when I’m sat, when I’m bored, when I’m happy. It’s just my moment to completely forget about everything else and the joy you get seeing someone enjoy what you’ve made is priceless. And to see that written down on paper was what made me cry. Kitty Tait grew up a funny, chatty redhead who made everyone in her family laugh. But around the time she turned 14, Kitty began experiencing anxiety. Slowly, she disconnected from everyone around her and struggled to wake up, get dressed, and leave the house. Full of worry, her parents tried everything, from new hobbies like reading and painting to medication and visits to a specialist. Nothing seemed to help. Line a deep baking tray with parchment paper. Place the dough slices cut-side down on the tray, spacing them 1cm apart. Place a damp tea towel over the top and leave in a warm place to prove for 40-45 minutes, or until doubled in size.

Breadsong: How Baking Changed Our Lives: Kitty Tait Breadsong: How Baking Changed Our Lives: Kitty Tait

When I first took this book out of the library I tried some recipes and made the decision not to buy shop bought bread anymore. I make bread every day now. I made my own sourdough starter and made a loaf that tasted better than any bread I had previously eaten. I really wanted this book and managed to find a copy that wasn't too expensive. I felt disappointed that the book was half filled with 'the journey' and I didn't want this part but bought it for the recipes.Tip the dough on to a lightly floured work surface and either knead by hand for 10 minutes or in a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook for 4-5 minutes, gradually working the cubes of butter into the dough as you knead until it is soft, silky and stretchy. Halfway through the resting time, preheat the oven to 210C fan/gas mark 9 or as high as it will go. Put a large cast-iron casserole dish with a lid and a heatproof handle into the hot oven for 30 minutes to heat up.

Breadsong: How Baking Changed Our Lives by Kitty Tait, Al Breadsong: How Baking Changed Our Lives by Kitty Tait, Al

Place the shaped dough on a sheet of parchment paper, cover with a damp tea towel and set aside in a warm, cosy place to rest for 1 hour. The recipes are amazing hence the Christmas presents! I too found baking therapeutic as a teenager. My passion was making fudge. There is a fudge recipe in this book. I think beating the fudge to help it to set properly helped with my anxiety. This wasn’t mentioned in this recipe but we are all different.

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I really enjoyed Breadsong, though it certainly highlights a very particular kind of Britishness. I feel like things would have played out very differently in other parts of the country, without the opportunities encountered here. That said, this is a really uplifting and inspiring read - it was wonderful to see the village rally round the family, and to hear about a young girl discovering and developing her passion. It made me want to reach for my bread flour and immediately start experimenting! It evoked such a smell and image of freshly made bread that I had to pause reading it to make my own loaf so that I could continue reading with some warm fresh bread with an inch of butter melting slowly into it. It reminded me why I love baking bread so much.

Breadsong Book Launch — Five Little Pigs Breadsong Book Launch — Five Little Pigs

Drain the fruit in a colander and remove the tea bag. Scatter the plump fruit over the dough along with the lemon zest, if using. We have known Kitty and Al for several years and they’ve supplied the restaurant since Day One, so we are thrilled to be hosting a launch for their new book in association with our friends at Wallingford Bookshop. Beginning at 6pm, the evening will be a friendly conversation with Kitty and Al, with plenty of opportunity to ask questions and sample some bread too! Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl and add the salt and yeast. Stir together using either a sturdy spoon or, my personal favourite, your hands. Bit by bit gently mix in the lukewarm water until a shaggy dough forms. We call this the Scooby dough in homage to Scooby-Doo. I think it’s a testament to the recipe writing that the first one I chose to make was The Comfort Loaf – a white bread with marmite in. Considering I cannot stand marmite – like, I dislike it with a passion – this is quite the credit. Marmite is still not my thing – and I did have issues getting the bread out of the tin (my mistake) – just the smell of it coming out of the oven made me smile.In a mixing bowl, stir together the raisins, sultanas or mixed dried fruit and garam masala (and the cranberries if you want). Add the tea bag (English breakfast is fine, but earl grey adds a really nice fragrance) and pour in enough boiling water to cover. Set aside to steep for at least 15 minutes or overnight. And writing about it, I didn’t realise how emotionally exhausting it was going to be,” she goes on. “There’s all this trauma that I’d just pushed down and moved on from that I had to work my way through again. And that was really painful, but also really good because, at the end of it, I understood, not why I got ill or why I struggled, but I became immensely proud of myself. Beforehand, I’d felt really ashamed of my mental health: the times that I couldn’t get out of bed or the times when I just had to scream. And writing about it made me realise my mental health wasn’t my fault and it never really was. And there might be other people who might feel ashamed of their mental health.” The book explores the slow movement from Kitty deciding she wanted to bake a loaf of bread - to wanting to make more, and therefore being allowed to use neighbouring ovens - to giving bread away because she was making so much, leading to a subscription service, then a pop-up, and then an actual real bakery and high street shop. Well, I say slow, but it all happened over about 2 years and that's just incredible. Throughout the evening the bar will be open for drinks and guests will be able to book in and stay for dinner afterwards. Kitty and Al make a good team, and four years of 5am starts have done nothing to dent that. They have carved out their spaces in the operation – “I’m anything cheese-related,” says Al. “The cheese king is here!” – and have a closeness that not many fathers share with their teenage daughters. “When I got depressed and when I was dealing so badly with anxiety, you were the one who really, really understood,” Kitty tells Al. “And that’s because you’d also gone through depression, but you really listened. And I think because my brain was so fragmented, when it rebuilt, you were just kind of part of it. Most teenagers don’t have that as much, because they move away, but you’re not just my parent any more, you’re part of me. You’re my best friend, and you’re also my business partner. And you’re also just, like, my partner.”

Dad, bread and me: how baking gave one teenager a new zest

If you had told me at 14 when I couldn't even get out of bed with depression and anxiety that three years later I would have written a book I would never have believed you. But here it is - the story of the Orange Bakery. How I went from bed to bread and how my Dad went from being a teacher to a baker. You reading it means everything to me' Kitty Tait This book is such a wonderful read. It shows the deep bond of family, friends and the support of a community, and how much of an impact this can have on a person's life. The village of Watlington comes across as a wonderful place to live, with so many people helping on Kitty’s journey. The book is beautifully and simply written, with some beautiful hand drawn illustrations, and excellent photography. The story is inspiring, and shows how, with the right support you can get through most challenges in life. When you have finished the beautiful story, you then get to the recipes which were chosen to be included. They are wonderfully clearly laid out, with fantastic product photos, excellent and easy to follow instructions, and they all sound amazing. I think this book would make a wonderful gift for anyone in your life who enjoys food, and who has ever struggled with mental health. It is a perfect combination. Gently warm the milk in a small saucepan. Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the yeast. Set aside and leave to bubble for 5 minutes. Much of the book is about baking and a career change but family life is described - the importance of Christmas, family dogs, meeting other families such as a wonderful family living in Copenhagen.Kitty laughs to break the emotion. “Partner in crime!” she says in a sarcastic voice, before turning serious again. “And I love that.” I am so glad that this book is going to be published later this month as I am looking forward to owning my own hard copy. I also know what I will be buying friends and family for Christmas! Thank you Netgalley for letting me read this story in exchange for an honest review. Swap 250g of the strong white bread flour for wholemeal flour. This results in an earthy loaf that makes you feel like you’ve been working in a field all day. The second half is full of the recipes we saw being developed during the bakery's journey. As I read through, there were some I made a note of, hoping the recipe would be there (the Comfort and the Albert in particular) - and they were! There are also some amazing flavour combinations that I can't wait to get my teeth into. The instructions are clear, and I liked how the recipes worked together as a collection - using bases covered earlier on to develop different flavours and bakes, for example. Kitty Tait at work in the Orange Bakery in Watlington, Oxfordshire. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Observer