Simple white loaf

 A while ago I wrote on my bucket list that I would like to bake bread. I have never been much of a baker but on the occasions that I do chose to make something it is usually cake as that is one of my favourite things to eat! But bread is part of almost everybody's diet, it's one of those things that is always in the house for when you need a quick bite to stave off the hunger.

Bread uses such few ingredients and is simple to make that I am surprised it has taken me so long to get round to making it. I didn't want to start off with anything too fancy that had seeds and stuff so I just opted for a simple white loaf.

Ingredients:

500g strong white flour
7g sachet of yeast
2 tsp salt
3 tbsp olive oil
300ml luke warm water

Mix the ingredients together to form a dough and place on a floured surface and start to knead.
A machine can be used for this but I think kneading is the best thing about making bread and is a great workout for the arms.
After 5-10mins of kneading you should have a nice smooth dough. This can be placed back into the bowl, covered and left to rise for 1 hour.

Remove the dough from the bowl and mould into the desired shape, place on a tray lined with parchment paper and leave to prove for a further hour. It can be covered with clingfilm of a tea towel while proving.

Heat the oven to 220C and bake the bread for 25-30mins. Once it is golden brown, remove and leave to cool on a wire rack.

Voila... we have bread!

I don't think I scored the top of the bread hard enough with the knife as the lines didn't separate however the bread was a nice texture, crusty on the outside and soft on the inside. I thought it tasted a bit bland but the kids loved it and if you use plenty of butter or a sweet filling such as jam then this doesn't matter.

Do you bake your own bread?

Lemon Drizzle Muffins

I  don't think there is a cake I don't like but one of my all time favourites is the lemon drizzle cake. I think its the sourness of the lemons mixed with the sweetness of the cake that makes it so moreish!

I had just made lemon drizzle cake a little while ago and I wanted to make some muffins so I thought why not combine the two? Not being much of a baker myself, I didn't feel confident to just make up my own recipe so I turned to good old google to find one for me.

The recipe I found which looked pretty simple to make was on the BBC food recipe website. The preparation time was less than 30 minutes and the cooking time was 35 minutes. The recipe said it would make 8 - 10 muffins but as I used cupcake cases I actually made 12.

Here is my batch before I added the lemon drizzle...

Here are the ingredients if you would like to make your own:

2 eggs beaten
85g caster sugar
240ml milk
100ml vegetable oil
300g plain flour
3tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
zest of 4 lemons

For the topping

50g icing sugar
juice of 1 lemon

My lemon had rather a lot of juice so the drizzle was very watery but I liked it like that, if you prefer it more like icing then just add less juice.

 

The muffins are very easy to make; just combine the egg, sugar, milk and oil in a large mixing bowl.

Sift in the flour, baking powder and salt.

Add the grated lemon zest

Spoon the mixture into pre prepared muffin cases.

Bake in a pre heated oven at gas mark 6/200C until risen and golden.

Make the lemon drizzle topping and pour over the muffins once they have cooled.

Sit back with a nice cup of tea and enjoy your home cooked deliciousness! 

And remember when life gives you lemons, bake lemon drizzle muffins...

Cake glorious cake

I love cake I do, I could eat it everyday! In fact the first thing I ate when I got up this morning was a piece of chocolate cake (just a small piece)

Lately I've been seeing cake everywhere, lots of fab designs, homemade, cupcakes, tiered, cakes with fruit or covered in chocolate (my favourite) and it's made me feel quite inspired to make my own.
I've made cakes before, like the basic kind with a bit of butter cream but I'm thinking I want to take the next step and start decorating and designing, particularly for birthdays.

In May it's my daughters 12th birthday and she wants an Alice in wonderland themed tea party so I have been looking at cakes like the one below via pinterest. It definitely isn't for a beginner like myself so I think I will make a simpler version with 1, or maybe 2 layers!
The other cake, also via pinterest, I thought would be nice for Valentine's and as the man is trying to lose weight I suppose it will have to be a Valentine gift to myself :)

My 15yr old is studying food technology for her GCSE's as she wants to be a baker when she's older but she's really having a hard time at the moment. The cooking part of the course is fine but there is a lot of written work and she has to make a 26, A3 page portfolio within a few weeks. Falling being with this work has really started to put her off the course and I'm hoping that if I spend time baking and get her involved it will encourage her to carry on with her dream.

As they say 'there is no time like the present' so today I am going to bake a lemon drizzle cake just to get me in the mood!

Meal plan plan

With my car out of use it's meant I've had to go into the smaller, more local supermarkets and pick up what I need nearly everyday and carry the heavy bags (I do miss having a pushchair to throw all my shopping on) home or struggle on and off the little, packed bus.

I've done online shopping with all the major supermarkets in the past and as I'd recently installed the Tesco app onto my tab I thought I would give it a try.

The first thing I noticed on the home page were the half price, bogof and offers link... I am such a sucker for these! So quickly filled my basket with all those goodies that are not actually good for you at all but oh they do taste good!!

Cupboard essentials, a months supply of toilet roll, cat food and packed lunch fillers soon added up and the basket totted up to over £100.

After having all my shopping delivered I thought about what I would cook for dinner, realising I didn't actually have much of a choice. I missed the whole frozen section during my shopping because I am waiting for my oven to be delivered so whatever I was cooking would have to be on the hob.

I hadn't actually planned very well and although I always have some sort of idea of what I'm going to feed the family I think the time has come to put it down on paper.

I'm thinking a meal plan will make me more organised meaning I don't have to run around after work wondering what to buy for dinner, it should be better financially because less trips to the shops means less picking up those offers on crisps and chocolate that I just have to have, and hopefully I will be trying out some new recipes that I always intend to do but never get round to.

I have seen some blogs with fab recipes so will be looking out for some good, cheap, wholesome meals I can feed the clan.

If you have any tips on meal planning they will be greatly appreciated!

Half term happiness

I do love half term but then again I would - I work term time only!
For the children its a break from school and a chance to have fun and let me entertain them but for me its a week off work and I like to spend it doing absolutely nothing. This means we have to come to some sort of compromise.

This week hasn't been too strenuous, here are a few things I've been up too..

 

I dyed my hair, not for a fresh new look but to cover up those white streaks that seem to appear right at the front of  my head where everyone can see them! Unfortunately it didn't quite work and most of them are still there but if you just look at me from the back it doesn't seem too bad a job.

We also took a trip to the cinema, myself and the 4 children went to see Wreck it Ralph which I found to be a pretty good movie, particularly if your children are into computer games as all of mine are.

 

I'm not much of a baker but I do like eating freshly made goodies so I'm lucky that my girls have a keen interest in cooking. Not only did they bake these delicious cookies but they found out what ingredients they needed and went to buy them all from the shop too.

As I wanted to do a car boot sale this weekend it was a good opportunity to have a good clear out, I do like to keep a good routine in the week so thought I would wait until a school holiday came up before pulling out all the cupboards and stressing myself out. The car boot sale wasn't exactly a great success but I've passed on everything I had to my brother so I didn't need to bring any junk back with me. My brother doesn't have a particular interest in my junk but he intends to sell it on himself doing his own boot sales! 

Sadly half term is now over but I will work hard for the next 7 weeks (hopefully with a bit of sunshine) until the next holiday and instead of the 1 week break we will have 6 whole weeks of fun to enjoy!! I cant wait.