Basic Bread
Firstly, use a breadmaker. They know what to do. Only trainspotters knead their own, they probably grind their own flour from wheat grown in community gardens too.
Your bit, is to get the ingredients right. Recognise what's important, which is the sugar, salt and the yeast, the rest is padding and texture. The order in which things go in makes a difference too, salt will kill the yeast, so they should go in separately.
Dissolve about 1.5 tbs sugar (any sort except icing), and 1 tsp salt in a glass of warm water. Pour into the breadmaker.
Add about 2.5 cups flour (white, or a 2 cups white & half cup wholemeal mix).
Put about 2.5 tsp yeast on top of the flour.
That's it, turn the machine on. Just check during the kneading now & then to see if it's too dry or wet (add a squiff of flour or say, or a dash of milk to adjust), the mix should be maintaining a stretchy skin.
Three and a half hours later, the result is a large white, medium baked loaf
Easy muffins
The only inportant ingredient is the baking powder, the rest is padding, texture and taste.
2 cups or so of self raising flour, 1 tsp baking powder. 1/2 cup or so of cocoa, or drinking chocolate, and about the same of castor sugar (less if using sweetened drinking chocolate.) mix up & adjust to taste.
Whisk 2 eggs, a slop of vanilla essence, half a cup of milk, third of a cup of oil & add to the dry mixture.
Add some dark chocolate chips, nuts, or chopped dates, all, some or whatever, and a big slurp of your favourite home made jam, mix till you've got a big, gloopy, sticky mixture which sticks to whatever you're using to mix it.
Gloop the stuff into one of those cup cake baking tray thingeys and bake at 180 for 25-30 mins. Makes 12 large muffins.
Can't miss.
Coming soon: Guilty Pleasures, and I don't mean baking.
