Originally trained as a baker in Brittany, Richard Bertinet has been in England since 1988 and is now very much an Anglophile. With 20 years’ experience in the kitchen, baking, consulting and teaching behind him, Richard moved to Bath in 2005 to open The Bertinet Kitchen cookery school. His classes attract customers from all over the world who to come to learn to bake with him. Richard was named as BBC Food Champion of the Year 2010 for his work on baking, is an Academian of The Royal Academy of Culinary Arts and has been awarded an honorary degree from Westminster Kingsway college for his work with the college on baking.
Richard’s first book Dough was published in 2005 and was awarded the IACP Best Cookery Book of the Year 2006, the Julia Child Award for the Best First Book, the James Beard Award for Best Book Baking and Desserts and The Guild of Food Writers Award for Best First Book. It has been translated into 15 languages and is sold in over 20 countries. Crust published in 2007, was given a World Gourmand Award for the Best British book on Baking and a James Beard Award for Food Photography. Crumb, Richard’s 6th book and was published in February 2019.
Richard founded The Bertinet Bakery in 2008, which he grew to be the UK’s first national artisan bakery with a range of products stocked in Waitrose, before selling it to The Bread Factory in 2019.
“All it takes to make bread is flour water and salt. To make great bread, add a little Bertinet.”— Pierre Koffman
“Chef & baker extraordinaire…His advice is a revelation from someone whose passion for breadmaking is unrivalled.” — Nathan Outlaw
“Richard never ceases to amaze me with his effortless skills as a baker…a bread genius.” — Angela Hartnett
“The nearest thing bakery will ever have to a Jedi.” — Tim Hayward, The Guardian