Bake
This book was made for me!
It is a comprehensive baking guide, packed with recipes, as well as a section on basic recipes and techniques. It is full of sweet treats, cakes, pudding, breads, pastries, holiday recipes as well as baked meals. I have made several recipes from here, but it is jam packed with recipes I have yet to make (bagels, crumpets, english muffins). Some of her books contain too many meat recipes, but this is largely vegetarian foods, and some can be easily adapted.
I find her recipes very easy to follow- they really are step by step, and often the recipes have a handy hint or tip to help it along the way. One of the things I like is that preheating the oven is always at the top! It is a bugbear of mine that you get half way down a recipe and it will say “bake in a preheated oven”. It also has loads of pictures which I really love- I like to see how the finished article should look- it helps me see I am doing it right, and also helps me decide whether to make it in the first place.
If I made it on the blog then click on the link for a picture. I have made; Snickerdoodle cookies, Peanut butter and white chocolate blondies, Scones, carrot cake, chocolate cake, banana bread (at work I have been told time and time again it is the best ever recipe, and have copied it for people countless times), zucchini bread, baked cheesecake with blueberries, lots of the bread recipes, calzone, baked aubergines with tomatoes, basil and pine nuts, sausage and bean bake (we added in more veggies and I used to sub in a veggie sausage but now I have it on it’s own). My recipes for stollen, christmas cake and the gingerbread house also come from this book.
(although if you make the gingerbread house, make your own template as the maths is wrong in the book!)
If you are after a comprehensive baking book then try Bake