Dedicated breadmakers will rejoice at the publication of Country Bread. Author Linda Collister and photographer Anthony Blake have collaborated to produce a beautiful book that is at once an introduction to the ancient craft of breadmaking and a survey of artisanal baking methods in Britain, continental Europe and America. Contemplating the act of breadmaking, the North American writer John Thorne wondered how making a loaf can be "at once and ordinary and an extraordinary event". This dual mystery, at once quotidian and sacramental, is the germ of this marvellous book. It is divided into five parts: Milling the Grain; Raising the Dough; Working and Shaping the Dough; Baking Bread; and finally Celebration Breads. In each, Collister explores the never-ending subtleties of the art: the properties of different flour types, of different leavening and raising agents; how different breads require different kneading (or none at all); the crucial importance of the oven. She has talked to millers and bakers from India, the Mediterranean, Scandinavia, Britain and the USA, who contribute their wisdom, their methods and their advice. Collister"s commentary provides a rich context for the skills of these remarkable craftspeople. One begins to see how breadmaking can be compared to the art of the wine-maker. The culminating celebratory breads provide an apt climax to this exciting and revelatory study. --Robin Davidson