Cinnamon and raisin loaf

I've been at it again making bread, this time Dan Lepard's cinnamon and raisin loaf.  I just can't help myself his recipes are so easy.  This bread came out so well.  Smells amazing and tastes pretty good too.  This is the sort of thing I would be proud to give people as a present.

Spelt and ale loaf

I seem to be working my way through Dan Lepards breads at the moment.  Today's is his spelt and ale loaf which worked very well although it was stickier that his other recipes on the last knead.  The ale doesn't come through too strong and it was a lovely soft bread.

I really must move on to some of his sweet treats.

Wholemeal loaf

This weekend turned into a bit of a wholemeal celebration.  It started with this lovely wholemeal loaf from Dan Lepard (he really is a bread god).  It was easy to make and tastes so much better than the wholemeal bread you get in the shop.

Carrot soup and white bread

Home made white loaf (Dan's recipe again) with home made carrot soup using home grown carrots, onions and garlic (made and frozen last summer).  Doesn't get any better than that for lunch on a cold snowy day.

White bread

After the success of last weeks double cheese and chive bread, I thought I'd have a go at a simple white loaf, which is the same recipe just without the cheese and chives.  Once again it worked like a dream.  Dan Lepard really is a bread god.  I wonder what his cakes will be like?

Double cheese and chive loaf

I've tried making bread before and never really had a satisfactory out come.  But for Christmas I received Dan Lepard's Short and Sweet, the best of home baking, and thought I should have another go.  Dan says its all about the length of time you leave it to rise, not about the kneading, so I had a go at this double cheese and chive loaf and was very pleased at the results.  

The last couple of loafs I made were sticky right up to the end and were hard and didn't taste so good.  This time I had a loaf that had stopped being sticky after the first knead and is soft and full of air.  And not only that it was so easy to make.  I'm really looking forward to trying his other recipes.

Cornbread

 I may love cooking cakes but I have recently got the bread baking bug.  I have read so much American fiction which refers to Cornbread, most recently Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry, that I decided I just had to have a go.  It is pure coincidence that it was Thanks Giving on Thursday.

A quick search on the net bought up lots of different recipes with many different things in them, but I ended up with a basic recipe and just added a little bit of cheddar cheese.  Of course I had to convert it from cups into some useful type of measurement, but I am pretty happy with how it turned out.  Kinda reminds me of fried bread, fritters and bubble-and-squeak all mixed together - not unpleasant.