The English Roses Hockney style." Fulvimari described his work for the book as "expressive" and "light-hearted". He felt "free to have fun in a way that is not as acceptable in work targeted to grown-ups." He first created rough drawings and then transferred them to computer, where he could tweak them. The net result made the images appear like "spontaneous" line drawings. The artist first painted the four The English Roses with their characters "fully fleshed out". Fulvimari exchanged the rough sketches with Madonna and Callaway, who provided their opinions many times before the final selections. The English language rights for the book
The English Bread Book considered the book "excellent, and we trust to be popular". Readers of the book, the reviewer thought, will become possessed of a store of useful knowledge, as well as scientific as practical, upon a question which is essentially that of every man, woman and child in the wide universe". In her work, "English Bread and Yeast Cookery", Elizabeth David writes that "The English Bread Book" heavily influenced and informed her work, and she owes Acton a debt for it. The food writer Elizabeth Ray observes that the book was less successful than "Modern Cookery", and was only reprinted in 1990.