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| Page from Honey & Co The Baking Book Baked Apricots with marzipan filling and almond crumble Photograph by Patricia Niven © |
"Our days are governed by the rhythm of the pastry .... ". For Honey & Co, this tiny restaurant in a London backstreet, it's the pastry section that provides the essential underpinning to their busy days, from breakfast to end of dinner treats. Here is the book that has been so anticipated since last year's publication of Sarit Packer and Itamar Srulovich's much loved debut Honey & Co Food from the Middle East. I wrote about the 2014 book here. Where the first book concentrated mostly on savoury Middle-Eastern food, The Baking Book offers recipes for sweet and savoury bakes, with the emphasis on the sweet ones.
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| Baked apricots with marzipan filling and almond crumble baked from Honey & Co The Baking Book |
Cakes are a big part of the book, even though the original plan for Honey & Co the restaurant didn't include a single cake. Finding premises with a big picture window changed all that. Cakes were the lure to attract customers in - the swivel of the eyes as they pass by. I've done it myself and can confirm how effective a hook that window display is. Colour to draw the eye, spices, orange blossom and rose waters to make the nose twitch. All heavenly stratagems are employed. But there are no deceptions here. The bakes live up to expectations.
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| Chocolate & pistachio cookies baked from Honey & Co The Baking Book |
If this was simply a book of recipes, it would be very good - how could it not be, when it covers all of the Honey & Co customer favourites. But it's the look behind the scenes from 'Dead of night' and 'First light', through the long daily flow of staff and customers, to the snuffing out of the candles, that makes it very good indeed. In this book Sarit takes centre stage, the driving force for the baking with Giorgia the pastry chef who "lights up when she talks about cakes". The purple folder of recipes from Sarit's baking life is the starting point. Then the creative and collaborative work begins - helped along by tastings by staff and regulars and the need to fulfil Itamar's pastry dreams. The results find their way to table and counter and, now, into this book which "has our favourite recipes .... and the best of all of us".
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| Raspberry & lime jam cooked from Honey & Co The Baking Book |
Sarit's tips on 'How to be good at baking' are a fine start to the book, with guidance on the use of sugar, eggs, cream, butter/fats, nuts and seeds, as well as excellent advice on ingredients like chocolate, "if I don't want to steal a piece, I shouldn't be baking with it". The 'Store cupboard' yields up the likes of Strawberry & rose and Black fig, cardamom & orange jams, Amalfi lemon & rosemary marmalade, Candied quince, sweet and savour spice mixes and sugars. You can breakfast on sticky Fitzrovia Buns with sour cherries and pistachios (a personal weakness); a dish of Shakshuka (eggs cooked in spicy tomato sauce); Burnt Aubergine burekas (pastry parcels); or buttery Kubaneh, one of the intriguing "three strange Yemeni breads". Mid-morning could have you feasting on Feta and courgette muffins or Fig, orange & walnut cake. But then again there is Tahini & white chocolate plait and Pear, ginger and olive oil cake to consider. Lunch could be a Balkan cheese bread; a spicy Pigeon pastilla; or Leek & goats' cheese pie with an out of the ordinary cheese pastry. And suddenly it's teatime and we're at page 179 which doesn't even bear a recipe. What it has is one of my favourite pages of writing in the book as it gives a flavour of the restaurant routine at that particular time of day. But turn the page for Blood orange & pistachio cakes; Orange blossom & marmalade cakes; Blueberry, hazelnut & ricotta cake; and Chocolate sandwich cookies filled with tahini cream. 'After Dark' we have sweet, salty, crispy Knafe fragrant with cardamom and orange blossom water; Poached peaches with rose jelly & crystallised rose petals; and, maybe, some pistachio and rose petal Halva.
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| Peach, vanilla & fennel seed loaf baked from Honey & Co The Baking Book |
I can never write a review without first trying out some of the recipes. What did I make? A ruby-red Raspberry & lime jam with citrus and spice notes from the use of fresh and dried limes; soft, yielding Chocolate & pistachio cookies; fragrant Peach, vanilla & fennel seed cake; and a luscious dish of floral, lightly-spiced Baked apricots with marzipan filling & almond crumble. I made Honey & Co's recipe for Marzipan with orange blossom water for the filling and I swear I will never buy ready-made again.
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| Slice of Peach, vanilla & fennel seed loaf baked from Honey & Co The Baking Book |
This is a book for those who like a good read along with their cake. A true taste of Honey & Co the restaurant, a place I know well. The photography, by Patricia Niven, is every bit as beautiful as her photos in the first book. This is a Baking Book well worth the wait.
Honey & Co The Baking Book
Book courtesy of Salt Yard Books, an imprint of Hodder & Stoughton
