Paul Hollywood's Bloomer

Once upon a time I didn't eat bread for a year to see if I could lose a bit of the wobble around the waistline. I cannot conceive myself ever repeating this act of craziness again, I do not know how I managed it in the first place. Bread is a staple for me, something I am not advocating as a particularly healthy thing but...pish posh to that. Fresh bread from the oven with a little dot of butter melting in, unbeatable! I hadn't made bread for a verrrryyy long time, but now I am settled down again in a place with an oven (woop!) I decided to give it a go. As soon as this loaf emerged in all its yumminess I vowed not to buy bread for the next 6 or so months I will be living here (rather than in a van, a bit of a hindrance on the ol' baking that is). Yes it is not a quick fix and does require a few hours, but realistically it is SO easy! If you haven't made bread before, well you really should change that right now, if only for the amazing smell that will make your neighbours jealous :)

Cheese, Ham and Olive Bread

Quick bread, what a magical thing it is! You can whip up a loaf in just the same amount of time it takes to make the simplest of sponge's and hey presto, 40-odd minutes later you have something that looks and tastes far more complicated and impressive than it really is! I have had a really major urge to do some bread baking lately and, although I reallyreally want to do some yeast work soon, my urge had to be satisfied there and then so quick bread to the rescue! In particular I wanted a loaf stufffeedd full of savoury bits 'n bobs, I was playing with the idea of different additions, especially caramelised onions and bacon (mmm), basically anything imaginable that could be shoved in a bowl of eggy mix and baked to create an all in one meal!

And that is what this is in essence, an all in one snack loaf that is great for that much needed energy boost around 11am and 4pm (or is this only me...I simply MUST have a mini-meal around these times, probably just being greedy!) I didn't need to fiddle much with the original recipe in the end to have exactly what I was craving :)