New Year's Resolutions Off To A Good Start.

So yesterday I managed to tick one of my New Year's Resolutions off the list. I was watching This Morning and a feature came on about making bread. It looked both yummy and do-able so I made a mental not to get on their website and copy the recipe. Then I went to make some lunch and of course all I find in the cupboard is the moulding end of a loaf so I thought why not bite the bullet and make some now??

I looked up the recipe and as luck would have it I had all of the ingredients in the cupboard already. Yay!! So I had a great time, kneading and rolling and throwing flour all over the kitchen, and all in all it was a success!

Now I'm not saying there weren't any hairy moments. First of all after I'd poured the water over the yeast and sugar and left it for 5 mins I noticed that most of the yeast had clumped in the bottom of the bowl and not mixed well. Nothing a quick stir couldn't fix. Then after I'd kneaded the dough for 10 mins and left it to rise for an hour I went to knock the air out of it only to find that it was pretty much the same size as it had been to begin with. So what do you do when your dough hasn't risen? Put in on the radiator! I have no idea if I was meant to do this but it seemed to have done the trick. And here she is, my very first lovely little loaf:


Isn't she beautiful? Now admittedly she doesn't quite look so perfect anymore - BF and I couldn't resist a buttery slice whilst she was still warm and then there was breakfast this morning, but I'm sure she will be the first of many - I've well and truly been bitten by the baking bug. Roll on the next recipe - there are variations for an amazing looking garlic bread and a fruit loaf with the bread recipe too so be sure to check them out.