RECIPE | SMOKED GARLIC SODA BREAD

One of the most exciting things to stumble across in my veg box from Whiteley's Farm in Pudsey (courtesy of the lovely Millies! - see previous post HERE) was a bulb of delightfully potent smoked garlic. I had never come across the stuff before and was extremely excited to experiment with it. What better than to incorporate it into one of my favourite bread recipes? The trusty soda bread...

(See HERE and HERE for previous Soda Bread recipes).

Ladened with an abundance of beautifully green and fresh flat-leaf parsley, I used this as the complimenting herb in my soda bread. It's flavour really pays homage to the smoky taste of the garlic and adds a nice clean seasonal kick to the bread. Ideally though you can use a handful or two of any fresh herbs in this recipe, depending on what you have to hand or as to your preference of taste.

Smoked Garlic Soda Bread

Ingredients:

150g Plain Flour

150g Wholemeal Flour

1 1/2tsp Bicarbonate of Soda

Pinch of Salt

250ml Buttermilk

4-6 Cloves of Smoked Garlic (Depending on how intense you want the flavour!)

1-2 handfuls of Freshly Chopped Herbs

Instructions:

1.  Heat your oven to 200ºC and line a baking tray with baking paper.

2.  Mix together the flour, bicarbonate of soda and the salt.

3.  Crush the cloves of smoked garlic and chop the herbs and add this to the mixture.

4.  Add the buttermilk to the dry ingredients to form a dough and knead gently, forming the dough into a ball.

5.  Place the ball of dough onto the baking paper and then with a sharp knife, cut a cross in the top of the dough about an inch deep. Sprinkle with flour and bake in the oven for 35-40 minutes.

RECIPE | THE CHILLI JAM MAN 'BHUT JOLOKIA' INFUSED SODA BREAD

Last month I received an email from MILLIES in Leeds last month asking me if I would be interested in a new project. Millies are a fab shop in the city centre which describes itself as a "fine food and local produce store". They sell locally sourced Yorkshire products and offer a wide range of interesting and delectable food stuffs (...just try their yogurt covered honeycomb  pieces and you'll see what I mean!).

Anyway - this project was to review or create recipes with some products that they were promoting or selling. First up a pot of sweet heat from the one and only THE CHILLI JAM MAN.

The Chilli Jam Man is a great little Yorkshire-based business, which has "spent years developing chilli jam recipes to tantalise and sate the tate buds". I chose to try out the extra hot (9.1% heat rating!) Bhut Jolokia Chilli Jam, which also happens to be one of the three vegetarian jams available within this range.

Upon the first little finger dip I was extremely surprised to finally find a "chilli" product that actually even I found very hot! It even gave me friend hiccups but this could have just been due to over excitement. Ha.

I instantly knew it would pair perfectly with a nice loaf of bread and an array of cheese, meats and pickles. So maverick me over here decided to put the Chilli Jam into one of my favourite bread recipes... the soda bread!

So here we have it...

THE CHILLI JAM MAN 'BHUT JOLOKIA' INFUSED SODA BREAD

Ingredients:

200g Plain Flour

200g Wholemeal Flour

1 1/2 tsp of Bicarbonate of Soda

1/2 tsp of Salt

2-3 tbsps of Mixed Seeds (Optional)

280-300g of Buttermilk

As much of a jar of your favourite Chilli Jam that you can handle!

* Click HERE for the whole range of Jam's available from The Chilli Jam Man.

Instructions:

1.  Heat your oven to 200ºC and line a baking tray with baking paper.

2.  Mix together the flour, bicarbonate of soda and the salt. At this point you can chuck in a few tablespoons of some mixed seeds, chopped nuts or any other dry ingredients of your preference.

3.  In a separate jug, mix the buttermilk with the Chilli Jam (I used about 2/3s of a pot) and then add this mixture to the dry ingredients to form a dough and knead gently, forming the dough into a ball.

3.  Place the ball of dough onto the baking paper and then with a sharp knife, cut a cross in the top of the dough about an inch deep. Sprinkle with flour and bake in the oven for 40-45 minutes.

 

The outcome is a lovely doughy bread, quite hefty in consistency but one that can act as a suitable foundation for piling up with your favourite toppings. It packs just enough punch to give you that Chilli kick of the fiery Bhut Jolokia chilli and if it's not to your tasting you can add more or less of the pot of jam - but be warned, it's VERY hot!!

...and last but not least a MASSIVE THANK YOU to Millies and The Chilli Jam Man!

RECIPE | BANANA BREAD

I have been planning on making banana bread for let's say...the last 3 months? I always eat my banana's too quickly though and never manage to let them get to the brown, blackened mushy stage. Alas - coming home this Easter I was in luck! A surplus of banana's all speckled and freckled - so to my joy I decided to whip up two different variations in these cute little loaf tins I found in our cupboard.

Basic Banana Bread recipe is as follows...

Ingredients:

140g of Light Margarine (I used Flora Light)

100g of Caster Sugar

30g Honey

2 Eggs

1 tsp Vanilla Essence

1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder

2 large or 3 small-medium sized over-ripe Bananas

* I made two different types of Banana Bread - I added these extras with the mashed banana:

(1) Dark Chocolate and Nutty Granola - 75g of chopped Dark Chocolate and 50g of Granola (with a little extra to sprinkle on top).

(2) Maple Syrup, Oats and Mixed Seeds - 2tbsps of Maple Syrup, 20g of Oats, 20g of Oatbran and 3 tbsps of Mixed Seeds.

Instructions:

1.  Preheat your oven to 180 and grease and line a 2lb loaf tin (or two 1lb loaf tins) with baking parchment.

2.  Cream together the butter, vanilla essence and the sugar in a mixing bowl (preferably with an electric whisk) until light and fluffy and the mixture has turned from a yellow to a cream colour.

3.  Beat in the eggs and then fold in the flour and baking powder - add any extras at this point.

4.  Place the mixture into the loaf tin(s) and bake in the centre shelf of the oven for 40-50 minutes.

RECIPE | SODA BREAD

After being inspired by the wonderful Michel Roux Jr on BBC's Food & Drink series, along with the Real Bread Campaign movement, I thought I would put myself to the test to make my very own loaf. I decided to opt for the EASIEST option... Soda Bread! It contains no yeast, does not need resting to rise and can be prepared, cooked and out of the oven within 1 hour. Perfect.

This recipe makes a small-medium sized loaf. Perfect for around 10-12 slices depending on how thick you choose to cut it. It can be easily doubled for a larger loaf.

Ingredients:

150g Plain Flour (plus extra for dusting)

150g Wholemeal Flour

1 1/2tsp Bicarbonate of Soda

A very generous pinch of Salt

250ml Buttermilk (or same quantity of natural yoghurt)

Instructions:

1.  Heat your oven to 200ºC and line a baking tray with baking paper.

2.  Mix together the flour, bicarbonate of soda and the salt. Add the buttermilk to the dry ingredients to form a dough and knead gently, forming the dough into a ball.

3.  Place the ball of dough onto the baking paper and then with a sharp knife, cut a cross in the top of the dough about an inch deep. Sprinkle with flour and bake in the oven for 35-40 minutes.

Traditionally you'd serve this whilst still hot with butter or jam... or with a nice wedge of runny cheese.

Or you could do what we did and pair it with Sweet Potato Hummus (David's concoction - Recipe HERE!) for a wonderfully sweet and savoury delight.

RECIPE | APPLE AND CUSTARD BREAD PUDDING

It's getting colder and this calls for comfort food.

Stewed apples are a regular staple for me.

You can use them in so many ways and in so many dishes.

Simple, cheap and oh so warming!

Last week I ended up concocting what shall now be named as...

APPLE AND CUSTARD BREAD PUDDING

Ingredients:

1-2 Cooking Apples

1-2 slices of Bread

150g Custard

1tsp Cinnamon

1tsp Mixed Spice

1tsp Vanilla Essence

Sugar or preferred Sweetener to taste

Instructions:

1.  Heat the oven to 200°C.

2.  Peel and chop the apple into small chunks. Place in a bowl and microwave on high for 4 minutes. Mush the apples with a fork and add some sugar and cinnamon.

You can leave them slightly chunky or continue to microwave until desired consistency.

Pour the apples into a small oven-proof baking dish.

3.  Slice the broad into small cubes and place in the microwave for 30 seconds. Once warm and soft then add some sugar, cinnamon, mixed spice and vanilla essence to the bread and mix.

Sprinkle the bread on top of the apples into the baking dish.

4. Pour the custard on top of the apples and bread and then season more with spices/sugar if desired.

Place the baking dish into the oven and cook for 10-15 minutes or until the custard is bubbling.