• todoom on November 26, 2011

  have paperback version

• Fiona on October 07, 2011

  David at the Bourke Street Bakery gives this advice about flour: "The flour that we use has 13% protein content which makes it a fairly strong flour. The recipes in the book are most suited to flour of this type so we would recommend that you use a strong or bakers flour, check the protein percentage on the label."

Notes about Recipes in this book

• Sourdough

  • KarinaFrancis on September 21, 2019

    I halved the recipe and it made a loaf that fit nicely in my proofing basket. I cooked it for 35 minutes (the recipe states no more than 40). The crust looked good but softened really quickly and the crumb was gummy (my eternal problem). Will give it another try before I rate the recipe.

  • ozfoodie on September 16, 2021

    I think this was the 2nd time I ever made sourdough. I made the starter from this book from scratch as well. We loved it even though my technique was pretty basic at the time.

• Apple and oat loaf

  • Reemski on February 26, 2011

    requires sourdough starter

• Savoury shortcrust pastry

  • e_ballad on August 26, 2016

    Perfect. Wonderfully flaky & melt in the mouth. This is my new 'go-to' shortcrust recipe.

• Humble beef pie

  • siobhan_curran on December 20, 2011

    Beef cheeks are difficult to find (at least where I live) and may need to be ordered from your butcher. Alternatively use humble chuck steak in its place.

• Chicken pies with eggplant and mushroom

  • e_ballad on August 26, 2016

    This filling was not as flavourful as I would've hoped. Probably needs a few seasoning tweaks to bring it into 'wow' territory.

• Pork and fennel sausage rolls

  • Melanie on September 27, 2013

    Delicious, lots of fennel taste in these. I made the filling for these as per the recipe and then used frozen puff pastry. I doubled the recipe for the filling and put the excess away in the freezer - I froze it as logs so I could easily wrap with defrosted pastry and bake as required.

• Lamb, chickpea and eggplant pie

  • e_ballad on March 02, 2019

    I was anticipating this to be a lot more tasty & we needed to season quite aggressively to improve the overall flavour. Ok, but unlikely to make a repeat performance.

• Chicken and bacon sausage rolls

  • malinka on September 05, 2021

    My kid found these boring and greasy. Not worth the effort

• Carrot cake

  • usingSpoons on October 01, 2011

    I made this for a coffee morning at work - a great recipe. You need an electric mixer, preferably a stand mixer to make it work, but in return for all that whisking you get a really light cake, which you can split and fill with the barely-sweetened cream cheese icing. I made this in a 7 inch springform tin, and needed the parchment collar - it's a tall cake. I think it would just about work in an 8 inch, but haven't tested it.

  • yvettehenderson on September 26, 2017

    The best carrot cake recipe you'll ever make. The whipped egg whites gives it a lightness that you don't normally get in a carrot cake. Delicious!!

  • DKennedy on September 26, 2017

    Need to see this recipe.

  • e_ballad on October 27, 2018

    Burnt beyond redemption 30 mins in using the specified 200oC. Might try again using 180oC.

• Oat and barberry biscuits

  • e_ballad on August 09, 2019

    Tasty, but be warned: they spread a LOT. On a large baking tray (40x30cm), the five biscuits still spread into each other. The barberries make these very moreish.

• Chocolate sour cherry biscuits

  • e_ballad on October 01, 2020

    Excellent. Made into 55g portions. Dried cranberries would be a great substitution if you can’t get a hold of dried sour cherries.

  • ehill27 on July 11, 2022

    Perfect for freezing & cooking later, as they are best straight out of the oven. Delicious, can be either gooey or crispy depending on cooking time

• Dark chocolate and raspberry muffins

  • Melanie on September 27, 2013

    Yum! Super soft muffins that are very tasty. These don't last particularly well though (due to the buttermilk perhaps) so aim to eat them within a day or two of baking.

• Chocolate prune brownies

  • TinyCitiKitchen on October 26, 2023

    Baked it “until set” (no wobble) per the instructions, and 10 min more. Center sank a bit and it was crazy gooey. On the other hand, it’s glorious chocolate decadence

• Macadamia shortbread

  • e_ballad on August 22, 2019

    Very simple & very moreish. This recipe is also found in the authors’ cookbook “Bourke Street Bakery: All Things Sweet” as ‘Shortbread with macadamias’.

  • foodgloriousfood on October 03, 2021

    I make shortbread all the time (without the baking powder and so much rice flour) These didn’t come together for me. Added another 2oz butter and was able to form a dough but even still the results weren’t as good as my regular Scottish shortbread recipe (maybe I will just try adding macadamias to that instead)

• David Lebovitz

  David's review of the bakery rather than the book "And it’s not just one of the best bakeries in Sydney, but one of the best in the world" but worth reading even if just for the fantastic photos.

  Full review

• Nord1jus

  The book covers everything from classic breads to pies, tarts, pastries and cakes – they all look irresistible...

  Full review