Bread was one of the last things I learned to bake.
It used to be really daunting, but now I love it,
and I've got a fruity little recipe that will show you just how easy
bread baking can be.
This is the quickest loaf you'll ever make.
My fruity, zesty soda bread is served up with
mouth-watering home-made butter.
When my kids are in bed, this is the perfect time to make soda bread,
because I want to sit in front of the telly with a cup of tea,
but I want to make a loaf of bread for them for tomorrow morning,
so I can just knock it up, done.
So, to start off with, I've got 500g of plain flour
in my bowl, ready to go.
Give it one teaspoon of salt, and the same of bicarbonate of soda.
And the great thing about this bread is there's no yeast.
The raising agent is in the bicarb.
The fruitiness comes from 100g of shop-bought mixed peel
and 100g of currants.
Zing it up with the zest of fresh orange and lemon.
Whenever I am baking, what I need to do is go upstairs beforehand
and make sure all the kids' bedroom doors are shut.
Cos if they can smell anything happening downstairs,
they say they're sleepwalking.
They're lying, I know.
They're just all like, "Oh, something woke me up".
Add two tablespoons of sugar and 50g of vegetable suet.
Make a little well in the centre,
and then add my buttermilk.
This buttermilk is my crucial hack to instant bread.
When it mixes with the bicarbonate of soda, it releases bubbles of air,
giving the bread its lightning-quick rise.
This soda bread is my cheat, it's my go-to.
This is my ticket to an evening on the couch.
Just going to get my hands in now, that's it.
I don't want to knead this, I just want to work with it really quickly.
I mean, look at it. Right, that just literally seconds to bring
it together, and you can see that, look, no kneading.
That's it, that's my dough done. Rough as you like.
So much quicker than a yeasted dough. Result.
What's really important when you make soda bread...
..is the cutting.
You've got to go all the way down,
so it can puff up, and you get lovely chunky bits of bread.
I cannot wait for the smells in this kitchen.
At 220 degrees, in just 30 minutes, we'll have delicious fresh bread.
Now the quickest home-made butter.
I never waste anything, especially not leftover double cream.
All you need is a whisk.
The trick to making good butter is to not concentrate at all.
That is my kind of recipe.
Look, can you see what's happened?
Before you know it, it's starting to curdle.
And it's starting to split,
which means it's gone too far.
Oh, no!
We can't use our cream any more.
Now we're going to make butter!
Keep going.
Whenever I make butter, my husband always says,
"You overwhipped the cream, didn't you?"
Done!
Look! It's actually butter.
I'm going to chuck that all straight in there.
How speedy was that?
Simply drain off the liquid using a muslin cloth,
and there's enough butter to last the week.
Oh, if you could smell the kitchen.
Like fresh bread and currants and orange and lemon, and just mm!
Just warmth! It just smells so good.
But, while it's still warm, I have got to have just a little bit.
BREAD CRACKLES
Can you hear that?
Crisp, crunchy, but soft in the middle.
It's almost too good to be true.
Fruity moreish bread and heavenly home-made butter,
in no time at all.
Just lashings.
This will be right here, ready for them, when they wake up,
ready to go to school in the morning.
But right now, while I've just got a tiny little bit of me time,
I'm going to enjoy my warm bread...
..and delicious butter.
When you're in a hurry, easy baking can be a tonic.
Make friends with your oven,
and enjoy the priceless time it offers you back.