THIS is the last bread book I will ever need. Then again, that’s been said before.

Two years or so ago, Andrew Whitley’s Bread Matters was the book to end all bread books. A good and high-minded tome, a dough manifesto even, as suggested by its lengthy subtitle: “The State Of Modern Baking And A Definitive Guide To Baking Your Own”.

Then there was Dan Lepard’s The Handmade Loaf, ‘controversial’, as least in bread circles, for its ten-second kneads, repeated thrice, rather than the more usual practice of kneading for ten minutes or so.

Lepard was also co-author of Baker & Spice: Baking With Passion, another bread book to end all bread books (even allowing for the pungently over-the-top garlic bread – made once but never again).

Long before that, but still available, there was Tom Jaine’s Making Bread At Home, which still sometimes puts bread on the Cole table. French country bread, usually.

Now a newcomer appears before us on a silky pillow of rising dough. Dan Stevens works for the ubiquitous Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, baking the bread for his River Cottage restaurants.

This handsome book, in hardback and the size of a novel, is full of sensible advice, useful tips and recipes that, so far at least, work well (certainly, we can vouch for the basic bread recipe, Dan’s sourdough, the pizza bases and the hot cross buns).

Sourdough bread is a bit of a passion for this home baker. This is a bread that uses no yeast, relying instead on a natural levain made from fermented flour and water.

So with time and practice, you can produce heartily delicious bread using only flour, water and salt, perhaps a little oil.

The basic recipe is built round Dan’s use of old baker’s percentages, which is to say how much of what to use.

And here, with minor liberties, it is: 1kg flour, 10g easy-blend yeast, 20g fine salt, 600ml liquid (warm). Knead for ten minutes (don’t add extra flour if possible, dough always starts out sticky); leave to rise for an hour; deflate gently, leave for another hour or so; shape into two or three loaves and place on trays or in bread tins; rise for 30 minutes or so; pre-heat oven to super hot, put empty tin in bottom of oven and fill with boiling water when loaves go in (be careful); cook for ten minutes, reduce temperature a bit, cook for another 40 minutes or so; leave to cool on a rack.

For the fuller version, and much more besides, buy Dan’s new book. It’s the last one you will ever need. Then again…