Local baker Andrew Walker launches his first book to inspire home bakers and help fund a traditional bakery in Market Drayton, The Home of Gingerbread.

Shropshire home cook Andrew Walker has turned his lifelong love of baking into a beautiful new cookbook – GINGER, the first in his Brick-By-Brick series – celebrating one of Britain’s most beloved and historic ingredients.

Published on 1 November 2025, GINGER is packed with over 60 recipes showing home bakers how to transform fresh ginger root into six versatile forms – including Stem Ginger, Ginger Syrup, Ginger Juice, Ginger Paste, Pickled Ginger, and Ginger Powder – and then use them in everything from spice mixes to classic bakes and festive favourites.

With stunning photography throughout, the book guides readers through making Mixed Spice, Quatre Épices, Speculaas, Lebkuchen, Gingerbread Spice, and Pumpkin Spice, before moving on to indulgent recipes that celebrate each one. It’s designed to help bakers rediscover ginger in new and exciting ways.

“This book is my love letter to ginger – a spice that’s brought warmth and comfort to my kitchen for as long as I can remember,” says Andrew. “Writing GINGER is also the first step in a bigger dream: to open a traditional bakery in Market Drayton, the historic home of gingerbread. Every recipe and every copy sold helps bring that dream a little closer.”

Andrew, a home cook from Shropshire, has spent 30 years collecting cookbooks, attending dozens of cookery courses, and running an online cake shop that shipped homemade bakes across the UK during the pandemic. In 2021, he won the #SBS Small Business Sunday competition, receiving a business boost from retail entrepreneur Theo Paphitis, whom he later met in 2022. His new book brings together all that experience, along with his passion for community and craft baking.

GINGER is available in hardback from Amazon and Waterstones, and as a Kindle edition.

A special signed edition can also be ordered directly from Andrew’s website gingerbreadbakery.co.uk.