One of the food trends for 2013, apparently, is the emergence of good bread to be the centrepiece of a meal rather than just a side. BBC chef Paul Hollwood's Bread: How to make great breads into even greater meals (Bloomsbury) is about just that.
Both beginners and experienced bread makers will find something here. Each bread recipe, with plenty of photographs to illustrate any difficult bits, is followed by another recipe using that particular loaf or something similar, such as a pork chicken and pistachio pate with a spelt and rye bread, a malt and raisin loaf used in a marmalade bread and butter pudding or a savoury brioche couronne filled with ham, cheese and basil with a substantial roasted pumpkin salad which together make a meal.
Another food trend for this year is popcorn (yes, really!).
For those who can't resist the latest, Carol Beckerman's Popcorn! 100 a-maize-ing popcorn recipes to make at home (New Holland) is the answer. You'll find recipes for popcorn party cake complete with marshmallows, toffee, pretzels, peanuts and M&Ms, bacon caramel popcorn, spicy chilli and lime popcorn, sesame ginger popcorn balls, toffee-apple and cinnamon popcorn and blueberry and white chocolate popcorn muffins.
Fans of Nici Wickes' World Kitchen television series will want her latest book, Cook, Eat, Enjoy: Tasty dishes from my travels to your kitchen (HarperCollins). She visits Mexico, India, Morocco, Spain, Greece and Vietnam, as well as including recipes from here, encouraging readers to try her recipes for simple local, mostly street or market food. It will appeal to travellers and armchair travellers. Each section has a photograph of a few basic ingredients for each cuisine, and suggestions on how to combine recipes for a meal. It's another enthusiastic, feel-good cookbook.
