Gail's Artisan Bakery Cookbook: the stunningly beautiful cookbook from the ever-popular neighbourhood bakery

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Then, once we’d got our recipes right, we insisted on testing them all with the most commonplace equipment we could get hold of. Our cookbook isn’t about following a recipe for the perfect loaf or cake, it’s about unleashing the creativity within each of us as a home baker, in the comfort of our own homes and in the company of good friends and family.

Leave the brownie to cool in its tin, then wrap the tin in cling film and chill overnight before cutting and devouring. The world we live in doesn’t always allow us many ways to express ourselves, but baking is a humble but very beautiful way to do so.Stir the eggs into the chocolate mixture, then fold in the flour, ensuring it’s completely combined to give a smooth, glossy batter. Cinnamon buns: have you fallen in love with this Scandi classic or do your loyalties lie with the chelsea, or indeed the Sally Lunn?

Baking is a simple craft and I honestly believe that learning to bake involves rediscovering how to use a part of our body and brain – a reflex that we’ve neglected and forgotten about, but that we all have.Being Scandinavian, the cinnamon bun is ice cool – though, truth be told, they're actually pretty similar to our own chelsea variety. Johansen and Lepard both make bun cakes, rather than individual buns, which not only saves space in the oven but looks pleasingly impressive. Lepard uses a lot more liquid than the others for a very soft dough – his rolls are wonderfully fluffy and handsomely risen, but too light inside, despite the chewy crust; they almost melt in my mouth. Smear the filling out across the dough (it's easiest to use your hands for this), then, starting from one of the long edges, roll the dough up tightly like a swiss roll.

Since opening the first GAIL’s in 2005, the team behind London’s most inviting artisan bakery has been on a mission to bring high-quality, handmade bread and delicious vibrant food to local communities. These adverts enable local businesses to get in front of their target audience – the local community. However, I bite the bullet and get on with it (a process which takes most of the morning, and involves rolling out some recalcitrantly springy dough until it's a metre long, doing some fancy folding, pressing an enormous slab of butter into it, then repeating several times until my arms ache with the effort). I wasn’t always a baker – I wasn’t even trained as one – but baking found me and I’m grateful to have discovered something I love doing.I've got a bit of a soft spot for the sticky bun, a treat with a whiff of the Billy Bunter about it. When the milk is warm rather than hot, make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and add the egg. A skewer pushed into the centre should come out with large, gooey crumbs on it, but not coated in wet batter. Waking up early, going to say hello to my doughs and sourdough starters, firing up the ovens before other people’s days have even begun… This is my idea of heaven. Sweet buns are best eaten warm from the oven, which means that, unless you're lucky enough to live near a Nordic bakery, they're definitely worth a go at home.

Scatter the pecan halves generously across the surface, and bake for anything between 15 and 30 minutes. Prince uses a flour-thickened vanilla custard, which is decadently rich, but not traditional enough for my purpose.But, by God, the results are pretty stunning – crisp on top, indecently buttery within (more butter is added at the filling stage), they're almost impossible to keep away from. Ground cardamom is far less widely available here than in Scandinavia, but it's easy to do yourself, and I think gives a more mellow flavour. Arrange these in the tin, evenly spaced out, with the smallest in the middle, cover, and leave to prove for about 30 minutes, until the dough springs back when prodded gently.