Supermarket snobbery aside, I’ve never used fresh yeast before so I did an AW-T, slipped a packet up my chef whites and made a run for it.

Preparation time: 15 minutes plus at least an hour rising time
Cooking time: 30-35 minutes
Skill level: easy
Makes: 2 loaves (if you’re going to the effort of making your own bread, there’s little point in making just one loaf. Freeze the bonus loaf if need be)

Ingredients

• seed & grain white flour (Allinson’s) – 1kg
• fresh yeast – 42g
• sugar – 2tsp
• salt – 3tsp
• vegetable oil – 30ml
• warm water (1 part boiling to 2 parts cold) – 600ml

Fresh yeast is not as potent and dried yeast, so you’ll need three times the amount. Therefore if a recipe requires 2tsp of dried yeast (1tsp = 5g), you’ll be needing 30g of fresh yeast.

In a large bowl mix together the flour, salt and sugar.

Crumble the fresh yeast into the warm water and stir to dissolve.

Pour onto the flour and mix together to form a rough dough.

Add the oil and knead into the dough.

Turn out onto a floured surface and knead for 10 minutes until smooth and elastic.

Divide into two and shape into round loaves and place on oiled baking sheets.

Cover with oiled clingfilm, and set aside until it has doubled in size. (This should take about an hour, although if your house is as cold as Yumblog Cottage it could take considerably longer. We often leave ours overnight.)

Preheat your oven to 230°C/Gas Mark 8

Bake in the oven for 15 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 200°C/Gas Mark 6 and bake for a further 15-20 minutes until golden brown and hollow sounding when tapped on the bottom.

Leave to cool on a wire rack.

Verdict: A good all rounder which is great either each end of a sandwich or toasted and heavily buttered. The was no noticeable difference between this loaf and one made with dried yeast … it did seem to rise a little faster though.

Drink: T or K4e

Entertainment: Watching with equal parts alarm and ammusement as Yumblog Junior gets ever more independent and bossy.

Preparation time: 15 minutes plus 1½ hours rising
Cooking time: 35-40 minutes
Skill level: easy
Makes: 1 loaf

Ingredients

• ripe bananas – 300g (about 2)
• lemon juice – 2 tsp
• strong white flour – 500g
• milk powder – 2 tbsp
• butter – 2 tbsp
• fast-action dried yeast – 1½ tsp
• cocoa powder – 50 – 75g
• warm water – 200 ml
• caster sugar – 2 tbsp
• salt – ½ tsp
• plus icing sugar to dust

Peel your bananas and mush them on a plate with a fork.

Pour over the lemon juice and work in with the fork.

Put the flour, milk powder, salt and sugar in a large bowl. Add the butter and rub in with your finger tips until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.

Stir in the dried yeast and mashed bananas. Gradually add enough of the warm water to form a soft dough.

Knead for 5 minutes on a floured surface – the dough should be smooth and elastic.

Return to the bowl, cover with oiled clingfilm, and set aside somewhere warm (not so easy here at chilly Yumblog Cottage) for an hour or so until it has doubled in size.

Tip the dough out onto a floured surface and knead well.

Sprinkle over the cocoa powder and knead until it is incorporated into the dough – you should get a rough marble effect.

Put the dough into a suitably sized and greased bread tin (1.8 litre).

Cover with oiled clingfilm and set aside somewhere warm for 30 minutes or until the dough has risen to the top of the tin.

Preheat your oven to 200c (gas mark 6).

Remove the clingfilm (obviously) and bake for 35-40 minutes until golden brown (and hollow sounding when tapped). Check after 20 minutes and cover with foil if it looks like it might be getting too dark.

Tip out onto a cooling rack and dust with icing sugar and a little more cocoa.

Verdict: Delicious as is, even better toasted.

Drink: The perfect companion to a brew.

Entertainment: Watching the stream at the end of the garden turn from a tranquil trickle to an angry torrent

* Full list available on request. Please send self-addressed stamped envelope to: Flossy Flossington’s Vocab, Yumblog Cottage, Yorkshire, Up North. YUM 123

Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 50-55 minutes
Skill level: easy
Makes: 1 medium loaf

Ingredients

• butter – 100g (plus a little extra to grease the tin)
• self-raising flour – 300g
• goat’s cheese (you could use feta also) – diced – 175g
• cherry tomatoes – halved – 175g
• fresh basil – 15g
• milk – 100ml
• 3 eggs
• salt – ½ tsp
• black pepper

Pre-heat your oven to 180C (gas mark 4)

Butter and line a 900g loaf tin with baking parchment.

Tip the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl and twist in a generous amount of black pepper.

Rub in the butter.

Add 100g each of the cheese and tomatoes, plus all the basil leaves (roughly torn)

Beat the milk and eggs together and quickly add to the flour mixture.

Pour into the lined tin, smooth down the top and sprinkle over the remaining cheese and tomatoes.

Bake for 50-55 minutes until golden brown. Check that it is cooked by inserting and removing a skewer – if the skewer comes out clean then the bread is ready – be careful to ensure that you haven’t hit a pocket of melted cheese rather than undercooked mixture.

Turn out onto a wire rack to cool.

Slice and serve as is or toasted.

Store in the fridge for up to two days.

Verdict: Oh my gosh Roberta, this is pretty darn good. A rich soft ‘cakey’ texture containing little explosions of goaty saltiness and tomato sweetness. We served ours up in a variety of ways – a topping of scrambled eggs and smoked salmon proved to be a taste sensation. Like the rest of us, probably at its best when lightly toasted.

Drink: Tea by the bucketful. Aka a Tonyload of tea.

Entertainment: Trying to dissuade Yumblog Junior from sticking her fist into the Marmite jar.

* Assuming the egg is 3 metres in diameter and at an altitude of 27,000 feet.

Self indulgent photo of Yumblog Junior #27

But worry not, we have a backlog of delicious new recipes with which to pad out the autumn schedules, plus an exciting new series taking a sideways glance at the culinary delights of Yorkshire (and Lancashire). Take for instance this Barm Cake which (these days) is no longer made with barm, and is not and has never been anything approaching a cake. It’s a bap. One of many similar but differently named baps available in these parts. It is light, airy and a perfect accompaniment to a Friday night chippy tea.

Preparation time: 25 minutes plus 2.5 hours rising time
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Skill level: easy
Serves: 2

Ingredients

For the dough

• dried yeast –  sachet
• strong white flour – 500g
• warm water – 310ml
• salt – 2tsp

For the topping

• 1 medium potato
• fresh rosemary – a few sprigs
• extra virgin olive oil – slug
• sea salt and black pepper

First make your dough … we usually make a larger quantity, portion it out and freeze the remainder for future Friday night pizzas.

Pour the water into a small bowl and sprinkle over the yeast. Stir and let stand for a minute or until the a froth has formed on the top.

In a large bowl, combine the flour and salt and then add the yeast mixture.

Stir until a dough forms and turn out onto a lightly floured surface.

Knead (adding more flour if necessary) for 10 minutes by which time the dough should be smooth, glossy and elastic.

Lightly oil a large bowl and add the ball of dough – spin the dough around so it is completely covered with a film of oil.

Cover with cling film and set aside somewhere warm for 1.5 hours or until it has doubled in size.

(If you are making larger quantities, then once the dough has risen you can now divide it and freeze the remainder for another ocassion)

Oil your pizza tray and place the dough in the centre. Roll the dough out so it covers the tray and then cover with oiled cling film and set aside somewhere warm for an hour. The dough should now be fluffy and doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 220C (gas mark 7)

Peel the potato and cut (using a potato peeler) into very thin (0.5mm) slices.

Drop the pototo slices in a bowl of water and leave for half an hour to remove some of the starch.

Drain the pototo slices and pat dry with a tea towel.

Return to the (dried) bowl and add the rosemary leaves and a good slug of olive oil.

Season generously and mix everything together.

Lay the potato slices on the pizza base in whatever arrangement/pattern/algorithmic configeration pleases you. Scrape over any rosemary/olive oil remaining in the bowl.

Place in the oven and cook for 10 minutes, or until the base is cooked and the potato just beginning to crisp.

Serve immediately with a hearty salad and several units of booze.

Verdict: This is now our Friday evening treat of choice which, along with some amusing bottles of beer and an equally agreeable bottle of wine, mark the beginning of the long-anticipated weekend. The base is always thin and chewy with a pleasant crisp to the edge and the potato and rosemary topping clean, earthy and sweet. Superb.

Drink: As already mentioned, a variety of British ales, German lagers and French wine carefully sourced from the Clerkenwell Wa’ro.

Entertainment: Last night’s missed ‘Rick Stein’s Spain’ on the iPlayer. This is by far the best cookery/travelogue series for a very long time and is a series which stands out as one of very few to not have sold out to lazy formatting, gimmickry and celebrity. You see BBC, you can do it when you try.

And on the subject of food telly, on last night’s Masterchef, Gregg Wallace stormed into the kitchen and announced to the contestants ‘I might have to pull one of you off in a minute.’

Pnarf, pnarf.

Preparation time: 15 minutes plus 1½ – 2 hours rising
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Skill level: easy
Makes: 1 large loaf

Ingredients

• strong white flour – 400 g
• strong wholemeal flour – 75 g
• butter – 2 tbsp
• honey – 2 tsp
• fast action dried yeast – 1¼ tsp
• warm water – 275 ml
• sea salt – 1 tsp

Put the flours into a large bowl add the butter and rub in with your fingertips until the mixture has the usual ‘breadcrumb’ texture.

Stir in the salt and yeast.

Pour over the honey and slowly add enough of the warm water to make a soft dough.

Knead on a lightly floured surface for 5 minutes, by which time the dough should be glossy, smooth and elastic.

Return to the bowl and cover with lightly oiled clingfilm.

Leave in a warm place for 45 minutes to an hour or until doubled in size.

Tip out onto a lightly floured surface and knead briefly to knock back.

Place in a well oiled (1kg) bread tin, loosely cover with oiled clingfilm and place somewhere warm for 30 minutes or until the dough has mushroomed above the top of the tin.

(alternatively forget the tin and fashion into a suitably artisan shape)

Remove the clingfilm, dust with flour and place in a preheated oven (200C/gas mark 6) for approx 30 minutes.

For a crustier crust, place a tray of ice cubes in the bottom of the oven.

Remove from the oven, twist out of the tins and check that the loaf is cooked by tapping on the bottom and listening for a hollow sound.

Leave to cool on a wire rack.

Verdict: A light loaf with a hint of greco sweetness … and a fine toaster too.

Drink: Best with a nice cup of Rosie Lee.

Entertainment: Putting a muslin over my head and repeatedly playing ‘Boo’ with Yumblog Junior.

Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 35-40 minutes
Skill level: Easy
Makes: 1 large loaf

Ingredients

• strong wholemeal flour – 475g
• rolled oats – 100g
• butter – 2 tbsp
• molasses sugar – 4 tsp
• salt – 1½ tsp
• fast-action dried yeast – 1½ tsp
• warm water – 350 ml

Place the flour into a bowl and rub in the butter until the consistency of breadcrumbs.

Add the oats, yeast, sugar and salt, stir together and add enough water to form a dough.

Turn out onto a floured surface and knead for 5 minutes.

Return to the bowl, cover loosely with oiled clingfilm, and leave somewhere warm for an hour or until doubled in size.

Turn out onto a floured surface, knead for a while and put into an oiled bread tin. Cover loosely with oiled clingfilm and leave somewhere warm for 30-60 minutes until the dough has risen above the top of the tin.

Remove the clingfilm (duh!) and put in a preheated oven (200C/gas mark 6) for 35-40 minutes.

Remove from the tin, tap to ensure it is cooked and place on a wire rack to cool.

Verdict: This makes a substantial and wholesome malty loaf. Particularly good sliced thinly and toasted.

Drink: K4e.

Entertainment: ’7 Day Sunday’ on 5Live.

Preparation time: 10 minutes plus about 2 hours proving
Cooking time: 45 minutes
Recipe: Dan Lepard
Skill level: surprisingly easy
Makes: 1 large loaf

Ingredients

• strong white flour – 550g (plus extra for shaping)
• cold sour cream – 125g
• 1 sachet fast-action yeast
• caster sugar – 2 tsp
• salt – 2 tsp
• oil – for kneading

In a large bowl, mix together the cream with 150ml cold water and 100ml boiling water.

Next add the salt, sugar and yeast and flour and mix together until it forms a rough ball.

Cover and leave to sit for 10 minutes.

Lightly oil a patch of worktop and gently knead the dough on it for 10 seconds.

Return the dough to the bowl and leave to sit for 10 minutes.

Repeat this quick knead two more times at 10-minute intervals and then leave for an hour.

Butter the base and sides of a large loaf tin and line the base with non-stick baking paper.

Pat out the dough to about 2cm thick, roll it up tightly like a scroll and squash it seam-edge down into the tin.

Leave to rise for 60-90 minutes.

Dust the top with flour and bake at 200C/gas mark 6 for about 45 minutes.

Verdict: A beautifully simple white loaf which makes the best toast you’re ever likely to have. Fact.

Drink: A nice cup of tea.

Entertainment: 6Music in one room, Radio 4 in another.

Serving suggestion only: Egg mayonnaise not included.

Preparation time: 10 minutes plus and hour rising time
Cooking time: 20 – 35 minutes
Skill level: easy
Makes: 2 very large crispbreads

Ingredients

• strong wholemeal flour – 200g
• mixed seeds (such as salad mix) – 200g
• dried yeast – 5g
• warm water – 350ml
• fine sea salt – 1 tsp

Put all the ingredients in a bowl and mix together thoroughly.

Cover with cling film and set aside somewhere warm for an hour so the yeast can do its thing.

Heat the oven to 200C (gas mark 6).

Line a baking sheet with a double thickness of non-stick baking paper.

Spoon some (probably half) of the mixture onto the baking tray.

Spread out evenly and thinly with a wooden spoon.

Cover with a sheet of non-stick paper and roll to the required thickness – about 5mm.

Carefully peel off the paper (the mixture is wet and sticky) to reveal your giant cracker.

Place in the oven and cook for a vague 20 – 35 minutes, or until your crackers are golden brown and starting to crisp.

Remove from the oven, turn upside down and carefully peel off the paper.

Leave to cool on a wire rack and then cut to ‘Rivita’ sized sheets.

Repeat with the remaining mixture.

Verdict: Not bad for a first attempt although this is still very much a WiP. Less of a crispbread and more of a chewybread. Nevertheless, a good base for a savoury snack.

Drink: Mostly M&S Belgian lager.

Entertainment: An idle few minutes on Amazon led to the arrival of tunes by ‘Dead Can Dance’, ‘Boards of Canada’, ‘Wasted Youth’ and ‘Ulrich Schnauss’ as well as a Jarvis Cocker inspired ‘Mr Men – The Complete Original Series 1 And 2′ narrated by Arthur Lowe.

Preparation time: 3½ hours (well it is a Dan Lepard recipe)
Cooking time: 25 minutes
Skill level: Medium
Makes: 16 rolls

Ingredients

• onions – sliced thinly – 400g
• strong wholemeal flour – 100g
• strong white flour – 500g (plus extra for shaping)
• sunflower oil – 50ml (plus a little extra for kneading)
• cold milk – 75ml
• warm water – 200ml
• 2 large eggs
• quick action yeast – 1½ tsp
• black onion (kalonji) or fennel seeds – 2 tsp
• fine sea salt – 1½ tsp

Heat the oil in a pan and cook the onions over a gentle heat for 10-15 minutes until they are soft, golden brown and have lost most of their moisture.

Allow to cool a little and them scrape into a bowl. Mix in the seeds, milk, one egg, salt and warm water followed by the yeast and flours.

Mix to a sticky dough, adding more water if needed, then leave for 10 minutes.

Oil both your hands and work area and knead the dough for 10 seconds, leave for 10 minutes, then repeat twice more at 10-minute intervals.

Return the dough to the bowl and leave for an hour.

Divide the dough into sixteen, roll into balls and place on a nonstick paper-lined tray.

Cover with oiled clingfilm and leave for an hour and a half to rise

Brush with beaten egg and bake at 200C (gas mark 6) for 25 minutes.

Tap to check they are cooked and then leave on a wire rack to cool.

Verdict: It’s all about letting them sit and rise and do their thing so that when you do come to eat them they are soft and fluffy and light and airy AND they have onion in. Delicious.

Drink: Water of London

Entertainment: A quick rendition of ‘My old man’s a dustman’ and then back to work.