Writing of a subject so ancient and so universal as the baking of bread it is hard for a modern author to find fresh words to express his views and his observations. Over and over again I have found that something I have been struggling for days to put on paper has been said long before, and in rather more graphic words than I could achieve. “Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread?” demands the Prophet Isaiah. I doubt if I could ever convey my feelings about shop bread quite so devastatingly.

Senhoras e senhores, Elizabeth David. Ditto.