Confession: my very first batch of hot cross buns was a disaster - I used nearly 100% gluten flour by mistake! They looked great, iced and glazed, but they were balls of elastic - totally inedible. I didn't bother reading the back of the gluten flour packet, which said to use only 2 Tbsp of the flour in a recipe. But I managed to salvage the cherries and choc bits to use on the next batch, which was a raging success.

Recipe from April's Mindfood

750g plain flour
1/3 c caster sugar (I just used s...
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Rosie says she adapted this from many recipes.  

3 1/2c flour
1 small tbsp sugar
2 1/2 large tbsp tomato paste
1c warm water
1 sachet yeast
handful or more sun-dried tomatoes
handful of sunflower seeds to sprinkle on top

Combine all ingredients except sunflower seeds, mix thoroughly, leave to rise in hot water cupboard for at least one hour - I left mine for two.
Preheat oven to 200c.
Knead dough well on a floured surface. Shape into a loaf, sprinkle with seeds.
Bake for 20 minutes...

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This Cook Island loaf is really nice fresh with sweet or savoury toppings. Honey is my favourite. It also toasts well the day after.

1 c wholemeal flour
1 c white flour
100g desiccated coconut mixed
1 c hot water
2 tsp yeast
½ tsp sugar
½ c warm water
1 tsp salt
1 tsp tumeric
3 Tbs olive oil

Mix coconut and hot water. Blend yeast, sugar and warm water. When bubbly add other dry ingreds and oil and mix to a smooth and pliant dough, not sticky.

Cover and  rise until dou...

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This made a yummy half-time snack during the All Blacks’ whipping of the Wallabies in the RWC semifinal (20-6)!

It comes from Alessandra Zecchini’s book Savour.

Dough
250 ml warm water
2 1/2 tsp active yeast granules
1/4 tsp sugar
500 g high-grade flour
pinch salt

Filling
1 med red onion
20 g butter
pinch salt
1 tsp Aceto Balsamic di Modena (aged 12 yrs, if you have it)
1 tsp sugar (to add if you are not using real balsamico)

Put warm water, yeast and sugar in large bowl, and set as...

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Steve and Emily made this for Ginny's indoor birthday picnic - deeelishis!
Emily says: The dough is a really simple bread I make all the time for pizza and flat bread and stuffed bread. It has quite a lot of yeast and sugar so it rises fast which is good because we always seem to be in a hurry.
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Super easy bread!

1 Tb dry yeast
1 c warm water
1 tsp salt
2 Tb vegetable oil
3 c whole wheat flour (I often use spelt, you can use gluten-free flour)
cornmeal

In a bowl, dissolve yeast in water. Add salt and oil. Beat in flour, 1 c at a time. Use your fingers to ensure that the ingredients have been thoroughly mixed. Bang down the dough on a counter surafce, Shape into a small round bread and place in a round pan or loaf tin sprinkled with cornmeal. Allow to rise until doubled. Preheat oven to 190 ...
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Spelt is one of my favourite grains to make bread with and I often use Alessandra Zecchini’s recipe from her book, Savour.

400 ml warm water
2 ½ tsp active yeast granules
¼ tsp sugar
250g spelt flour
250g white flour
pinch salt

Place warm water in bowl, add yeast and sugar and set aside for 5 mins until the yeast starts to bubble. Add flour and salt and mix with your hand then turn out onto a floured board and knead for 7-8 mins. Roll into ball, but back in the bowl,...

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Stewed apricots are a winner in freshly baked bread!
Apricot filling:
Stew 1 cup dried apricots wiht 1/2 c water and 1/4 sugar until mushy and soft. Cool.
Chocolate filling:
Melt 300 g chocolate with some icing sugar, 1/2 c ground almonds, vanilla essence, dessicated coconut if you like. The mixture should have a peanut butter consistency so it's easily spreadable.
For 2 loaves:
1 c milk
3/4 - 1 c water
125g butter
1/2 c sugar
1 tsp salt
3-4 level tsp yeast
2 eggs
6 1/2 c flour
Make the dough and knead u...
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Aaaah…freelancing. In my world, it means more time to bake! I hadn’t made bread with gluten for a while so I thought I’d use up some spelt that I have at the back of the pantry. And if you’re going to make one batch you might as well double it and do two – one sweet and one savoury.

2 c warm water
4 tsp active dry yeast
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp butter or vegetable spread
2 tsp salt
6 c flour (I used 2 plain white and 4 wholemeal spelt)

savoury filling:
2 Tbs butter,...

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I was inspired by Birg (see previous post) and Alessandra (from her own blog) to make a gluten-free olive focaccia. This was the first time I had used GF flour to make bread – my favourite recipe is usually spelt bread. I decided to use Healtheries GF bread mix and the result looks good but is quite firm throughout. After I baked it I realised the yeast I used was best before 2008! We’ve been enjoying it as toasted slices with pesto.

450 ml warm water
3 tsp yeast
3...

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Ginny writes: "This is from 'My Bread' - by Jim Lahey, founder of Sullivan St Bakery in Manhattan, which makes the most incredible olive bread. Bakery is a bit of a mission, but worth a trip if you're in NYC. Go hungry.
He claims a revolutionary method. There's no kneading, and it rises for about 18 hours. It's very simple, but there are lots of steps.
Here's one I made. This loaf was nice and moist, not quite as delightful as his."

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These are so soft. This is Mama Chan's version of what you can buy in the Chinese cake shops (but better).

dough:
1 c milk
3/4 - 1 c water
125g butter
1/2 c sugar
1 tsp salt
3-4 level tsp yeast
2 eggs
6 1/2 c flour

coconut filling:
2 c coconut
1/2 c sugar
90g butter
2 tsp vanilla essence

Make the dough and knead until smooth. Add more flour if it's too sticky. Put in a bowl and cover and leave to rise until it is doubled in size.
Punch down and shape into large square. Put coconut mixture on half of the squa...
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