I wanted to give this book five stars when I first picked it up. I love the DKP books, and this one looked like another winner. The photos are gorgeous — however, the instructions, not so much.

Could we have had 1 1/8 cups of butter, rather than 18 tablespoons? Shortening was given in cups, why not butter? Although I understand the need for consistency. Sometimes ingredients are given in ounce and metrics and sometimes cups and ounces, And, nowhere in the book could I find instructions on how much a cup of flour weighs or how it is measured (dip and sweep or spoon and sweep). A few suggestions would not have gone amiss, either. Like what size egg whites in the Lemon Meringue pie or the grade of maple syrup in Pecan Pie. Most would know, but would a beginner? ( )

A superb book, and one that I enjoyed reading.
I am going to use it as my basic baking book.
The embedded photographs of step by step instructions take longer to open on my kindle fire. But worth the wait nonetheless.
Well worth the 99 pence that it cost me ! ( )

Very HEAVY large book. Not advised to hold book and read. Book must be placed on a hard surface,such as a table or kitchen top, and read. Mums,Dads, and Kids be careful.The preface of the book details confusing as to its originality: British or Indian? And too many credits give it almost a farcical start before even commencing to turn the page and read. This is a Family book. Keep the credits short sweet and simple. Content beautifully layed out with useful step-by-step photos on many recipes, but not every recipe. 1,500 photographs are a lot of photos for a book. Single Chapter page is simple in categorising the chapters allowing the reader to explore and get to know the book which is encouraging. Actually what follows is a marvellous well thought out small photo chapter pages with the photos of the final results of the different recipes in each chapter. Each photo has the preparation time, cooking time, and page reference. Part of the edge of the book's pages are colour coded tab index on the page identifying a specific chapter, and also have the recipe title typed on the coloured tab index. Very useful to flick through the book quickly without leafing through the large pages of the book. The advantages of a large book with numerous photos and step-by-step photos outweigh the disadvantage of the heavy weight of the book, especially as we know just looking at it, that it's not going to be held. The content? I chose the recipes with the step-by-step photos first and found them to be clearly instructed, but at no fault of the book, I didn't get the desired results although a good attempt. Next time ! The book has useful technical culniary information on the inside of the front and back covers. Also, the introduction is very well worth reading as it helps to understand the book and prepare well for cooking. I recommend the book to Families with young juniors who like to see the intermediate steps to help them along. ( )