Breads and Doughs

This loaf is very easy to make and is best eaten the day of making. Try swapping the apricots and the brazil nuts for dates and walnuts, or anything else you fancy. Nice sliced and served with butter.

These small yeast pancakes take a little while to make but are worth the effort. Delicious served with sour cream, smoked salmon, lumpfish roe or caviar and chopped hard boiled eggs. Ooh...we know how to live!

This is a traditional South African recipe which is also quite similar to a Suffolk rusk. Given to me by my husbands cousin; Peta Gale, and handed down through the family. The rusk is an early morning ritual, dipped into a cup of tea. This recipe makes about 50 small rusks that will keep in an airtight container for weeks. Makes about 20 whole rusks (40 halves). 

12 hot cross buns for Easter. The dough can be made the night before and the first rise allowed to take place in the fridge, but check that it has doubled in size before knocking back and kneading.  Serve warm from the oven with butter.

A note about yeast - Active dried yeast and fresh yeast both need to be dissolved in liquid and activated with a little sugar before using. Quick action or instant yeast can be added directly to the dry ingredients without dissolving. Quantity wise using fresh yeast means doubling the quantity of active dried yeast. For quick action/instant yeast follow the manufacturers directions although as a guide half the amount of active dried yeast will be required.

From my Second Chalice Recipe book, written and published by myself in order to share favourite recipes with my restaurant customers in 1987. This is a quick and easy malt loaf made without yeast. It's made with honey, has no added sugar and is also fat free. Use any dried fruit in place of the dates. Serve sliced with butter.

The sweet flesh of squash and pumpkin works so well with blue cheese of any type. Perhaps not strictly a pizza but delicious. Use crusty bread for bases if you don't have time to make a dough. Try different cheese to replace the goats cheese. Experiment!

Shortcrust pastry is very versatile and can be used for all types of savoury and sweet pies. Using lard gives a lovely crisp pastry and is also very economical at around a quarter of the price of butter.  Don't overwork the dough. Light, cold fingers are supposed to make the best short crust pastry.

This is my basic white bread recipe. It will make a couple of family size loaves. Either bake in tins or shape as you wish.

This is a fat free recipe for those looking for a dairy free cake. The dried fruit is soaked in tea to make it juicy and plump.Try making it with different types of dried fruit such as apricots, dates or figs and also different teas. Earl Grey or Lapsang Souchong both work well. The cake keeps very well in a tin for a week.