Baked anything tasty lately?

If you have the space, a good stand mixer will outlast the best hand mixer for kneading. Use your hands if you can or else just use no-knead methods.

Recommend you get mixing bowls with lids to save on cling film usage.

You could get into sourdough. That’ll keep you busy for a while.

Recipe ? Starter baker with a January resolution to bake something different every month.

I'm not much of a baker so I said I'd start off easy with some brown soda bread. I'll never buy brown bread again!

For a thicker lemon drizzle icing I would call it more than a glaze if that's what you want put metal bowl over boiling water in saucepan, add icing sugar and lemon juice, start with a little lemon juice not the lot, stir until smooth over the water, it will get a lot thinner than it would mixing cold so might need more icing sugar than usual. Once still pourable and warm pour quickly over cake and smooth, it will set fast and be much thicker than a cold icing.

I usually do a drizzle first with lemon juice and sugar, real thin watery stuff that soaks in, and then an icing with the icing sugar and lemon juice which stays in place and is opaque rather than thin.

Focaccia

Surprisingly easy to make, especially if you have a sourdough starter on the go. You could of course replace the levian with instant or fresh yeast.

• 100g levian + 400g bread flour + 300g water + 15g olive oil + 7g salt
• mix in bowl, I just use a spatula until its all well combined.
• cover & rest in oiled bowl for 30 mins - stretch/fold - rest 30 mins - double fold - rest 30 mins - double fold - rest 30 mins
• fridge for 48 hrs - bring to room temp - lots of olive oil in baking tin - dimple - proof until doubled in size - another glug of olive oil and a final dimple whilst adding toppings
• bake at 220 for 25 mins

Toppings included a red pepper pesto which I added before final dimple. Pre roasted garlic cloves, fresh cherry tomatoes, some rosemary from the garden and a sprinkle of sea salt.

• just to add its quite a sticky dough at the beginning so I tend to rub a bit of olive oil into the hands before each of the folds.

Best no knead loaf yet

Gluten free Lemon drizzle tray bake. I ate far too much of it. Delicious. No icing just soaked it when warm in lemon juice & sugar.

Does pizza count as baking? It's bread and cooked in an oven?

Homemade sauce and dough. Gubbeen chorizo and pepperoni and a splash of homemade hot honey. Very tasty.

My first loaf

gee not had a choc muffin years - love a white muffin with choc chips - a good one - from a bakery.. not pre packed

A white sourdough with some poppy seeds in the crust.