Breadsong

'If you had told me at 14 when I couldn't even get out of bed with depression and anxiety that three years later I would have written a book I would never have believed you. But here it is - the story of the Orange Bakery. How I went from bed to bread and how my Dad went from being a teacher to a baker. You reading it means everything to me' Kitty Tait

Breadsong tells the story of Kitty Tait who was a chatty, bouncy and full-of-life 14-year-old until she was overwhelmed by an ever-thickening cloud of depression and anxiety and she withdrew from the world. Her desperate family tried everything to help her but she slipped further away from them.

One day her dad Alex, a teacher, baked a loaf of bread with her and that small moment changed everything. One loaf quickly escalated into an obsession and Kitty started to find her way out of the terrible place she was in. Baking bread was the one thing that made any sense to her and before long she was making loaves for half her village. After a few whirlwind months, she and her dad opened the Orange Bakery, where queues now regularly snake down the street.

Breadsong is also a cookbook full of Kitty's favourite recipes, including:

• the Comfort loaf made with Marmite, and with a crust that tastes like Twiglets
• bitesize queue nibbles, doughnuts with an ever-changing filling to keep the bakery queue happy
• sticky fika buns with mix-and-match fillings such as cardamom and orange
• Happy Bread covered with salted caramel
• cheese straws made with easy homemade ruff puff pastry
• the ultimate brown butter and choc chip cookies with the perfect combination of gooey centre and crispy edges.

About the Authors

Kitty Tait and her Dad Al live in Watlington, Oxfordshire and between them run the Orange Bakery. From the most original flavoured sourdough (miso and sesame, fig and walnut) to huge piles of cinnamon buns and Marmite and cheese swirls, the shop sells out every day and the queues stretch down the street.

In 2018, Kitty was at school and Al worked at Oxford University, but when Kitty became so ill she couldn't leave the house, the two discovered baking and, in particular, sourdough. Chronicled in Kitty’s Instagram @kittytaitbaker they went from a small subscription service to pop ups to a shop – all in two years. Along the way Kitty got better, a Corgi got involved and Al realised that he was now a baker not a teacher.