Stollen

I had a really lovely day on a Christmas baking course at Angela Gray’s Cookery School at Llanerch Vineyard.  I’d never made stollen before but it was really easy and so delicious and Christmassy!  The recipe made one big stollen load but it could be halved for a littler one or made into lots of baby loaves.

Greek pita bread

For New Year’s Eve we cooked a Greek meal, with meze to start and lamb souvlaki.  I made these flat breads based on a recipe in the fantastic Tessa Kiros book, Food from Many Greek Kitchens.  Unfortunately I didn’t manage to get a photo before they all got wolfed down hot from the pan – but they were brilliantly soft and airy, and definitely a recipe I’ll use again! 

Grissini breadsticks with poppyseeds

I made these for our Christmas girls’ night and discovered how easy breadsticks are to make.  For these, I rolled them in poppyseeds and twisted them, but you could try all sorts of variations – rosemary, sea salt, sesame seeds, whatever you fancy.  I like that they are wobbly which gives them a home-made, rustic charm compared to the shop-bought variety.

Maple and honey beer bread

This is a brilliant and super-quick bread, which uses beer instead of yeast - no kneading or proving required, just mix it all together and pop it in the oven in a loaf tin. I used a honey beer, and added a spoonful each of maple syrup and honey. It has a fantastic crunchy crust and is deliciously soft in the middle. It has a very slight after-taste of the honey and hops of the beer, and is quite sweet so could be eaten with honey or jam, but we had it with a beef and beer casserole and it went perfectly.

Cornbread

I made this classic American dish to go with a slow cooked beef brisket chilli Lu made for dinner with friends this afternoon.  None of us had ever tried it before, but we all agreed it looked great and just as you’d imagine it – I based it on a Martha Stewart recipe and so I think it must be as close to as ‘classic’ cornbread as you can get.  I have to confess though, that we all found eating it with savoury chilli pretty bizarre, as it’s as sweet as cake!  I think it must be a US thing – like maple syrup with bacon for breakfast – but we all agreed a far more British way of eating it would be for pudding with custard!

Flatbreads with smoked paprika and black mustard seeds

Tonight Lu made delicious lamb kebabs, barbecued and eaten in the garden. I decided to find a recipe for flatbread to go with it that didn’t require leavening with yeast, so that I could make it quickly without needing to wait for it to prove. The result was great to dip into tzatziki and would make lovely tortilla chips, cut into triangles and baked. I added black mustard seeds but it would work well with other spices, such as coriander or fennel seeds.

Rosemary, honey and sea salt bread

I was at home today as our new kitchen flooring was being delivered and the decorators have finally come to finish painting the house after our house flooded on Good Friday. I fancied baking as it has become a staple part of my days off, but the fridge still had a few of last night's delicious chilli hot chocolate muffins so I couldn't justify making something else sweet! Instead I decided to make a loaf of bread to have with our supper this evening. This only makes a small loaf as I'd only got 300g left in the bag of bread flour in the pantry, and decided to go with that since often fresh bread doesn't keep long enough for the two of us to finish a whole large loaf. This was the perfect size for two, and delicious too! Instead of using sugar I used a little honey, and added some gorgeous fresh rosemary that's growing wildly in the herb garden I've started growing on our kitchen window ledge, a lovely sunny spot. The resulting bread was eaten warm with dinner in the garden this evening. I so wish we had more warm sunny days like this in the summer, they feel like such treasures!

Ciabatta

I love Ciabatta bread, sliced into chunky strips and dipped in balsamic and olive oil. Until now, I’ve never tried making my own as I’ve always been put off by recipes that insist you need to make a ‘sponge’ dough the night before. I’m afraid I like instant gratification when it comes to cooking! But today I’ve had a go at a recipe for ‘quick easy ciabatta’ that I spotted on the Pease Pudding blog - that's the kind of recipe that gets my attention.  It seems peculiar when you’re making it because the dough just looks like runny pancake batter rather than normal bread dough, but it’s ok, it really is meant to! The kneading required (which had also always put me off bread-making, until I got a food mixer with a dough hook – told you I don’t like slogging when baking!) is not hard work at all and is actually pretty fun: you just stretch parts of the dough high up in the air and then slap it back down, which pushes pockets of air into the dough. It still looks pretty flat and runny when it goes into the oven, but it comes out beautifully airy. I'll definitely be making this again!

Pumpkin seed and herb bread rolls

For hallowe'en I created these delicious herby, pumpkin seed bread rolls. I made a pumpkin and almond soup served in baked pumpkin shells, with a gingery glass of dark and stormy.

Thyme bread

Another bread making day today! My loaf this week is a rustic white country bread flavoured with thyme. It's lovely and soft, and very easy to eat all in one sitting with cheese and chutneys in front of the fire!

Pesto and cheese bread rolls

I recently posted my first proper attempt at bread, sundried tomato and rosemary focaccia rolls. Here is my second go at bread - this time for bread filled with pesto and cheese, rolled up into a log and cut into slices before baking. The smell that fills the house when these are in the oven is amazing! Tonight I'm serving them with another homemade, autumnal soup - roasted red pepper, sweet potato and chickpea (slow roasted for an hour or so with a little olive oil, honey, chilli and thyme, then puréed with some chicken stock). How to make a wintery evening yummy! 

Sundried tomato and rosemary focaccia rolls

This is the first blog post I've done about making bread. It's not something I've done much of, and confess I've tended to be braver about using packets that contain all the ingredients and you just need to add hot water. Today I braved it, and made these sundried tomato and rosemary focaccia rolls from scratch - yeast and everything! I added garlic purée and tomato purée to the dough, and they came out a beautiful russet colour. Autumn has begun (although it's not felt much like we've had a summer) so I'm embracing it - let this be the first of many homemade bread making days, to go with lovely warming soup (this evening I've made  a roasted butternut squash one with chilli, roasted garlic and fresh ginger). Bring on long nights cwtched up by a roaring fire!