Today is the start of the national campaign, Real Bread Week. This international celebration was started to encourage us to bake bread and share the love of this age old craft.

Ever since early man discovered fire, we’ve been baking bread. In Australia recently grinding stones were unearthed that date back 60,000 years. Growing wheat and grains, grinding it, using a leavening agent like natural yeast and water and cooking over fire is an intrinsic part of who we are as humans. Bread has evolved from our early ancestors but it’s still the original three ingredients of flour, yeast and water. One thing is for sure though, is that our appetite for freshly baked bread has never waned.

Bread does take a bit of effort especially if you’re using yeast. It won’t be rushed and things like too much salt or heat will affect its growth. Take your time, learn the fine art of patience, and the rewards will be great. Brioche is a rich buttery, eggy bread that is much beloved in France and becoming increasingly popular here. We are going through a fad of brioche buns being used for burgers but frankly I find the variety used is too sweet for purpose. Give me a good floury bap anytime. If you have a mixer with a dough hook its easier to make this dough but not impossible. When you’ve got the dough you can bake it in a loaf or here I’ve used it to produce a Flamiche, a savoury pastry from the north of France. Here the dough is rolled out and set in a pie dish. It’s filled with leeks and garlic that have been cooked and cooled and more egg, cheese and cream whisked and added. The overlapping dough is folded over and the flamiche baked to golden perfection. It’s a like a mega souped up quiche and not for the faint hearted. There is nothing like freshly baked brioche especially when you use our superb butter and eggs.

Another way to make bread is to use a quicker method of buttermilk and baking soda. The acid in the buttermilk reacts with the alkali in the soda to create carbon dioxide – or a fluffy bread. It’s how we make our sodas, pancakes and wheaten bread. Another variation on this theme is the tea loaf where tea is used to soak fruit and then baking powder used to as a raising agent. Tealoaf is the first bread I helped to make with my granny. It’s a great recipe for using up leftover tea and a variation of dried fruits. This recipe has the extra added stickiness of malt extract and treacle. You can buy malt extract in health food shops or in Asian supermarkets. Soak the fruit in hot tea with the malt, sugar and treacle. Flour and baking powder is whisked in its baked in a loaf tin for about an hour. Brush over more malt while warm. Slice and slather with butter and any leftover can be wrapped in parchment paper. It actually is better if it sits for a couple of days but you’re more abstemious than me if you let that happen…..