14 Comments
Jan 14, 2023Liked by Molly Ella

I have a handwritten recipe for raisin bread my mom gave me. I don't do much baking anymore, but I'm glad to have a remembrance of her handwriting. I really enjoyed your baking blog. Thank you!

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Aw that's a lovely memory ❤. So glad you enjoyed!

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Well done Molly! I love to cook but have never really ventured into the world of baking. My Covid resolution was to tackle bread making! Alas a resolution that was completely ignored. You give me hope that there is still time to work on that skill. Congratulations!

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Thank you Elizabeth! If I can do it the the I'm sure you can!

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Congratulations Molly.👍👍💚 My husband makes a loaf of bread once a week. It's called Easy No-Fail Whole Wheat Bread. It's take 4 cups of whole wheat flour.

He changed the flour to 3 cups of all purpose flour to 1cup of whole wheat flour. 1 tbsp of instant yeast 1/2 tsp salt 2tsp of maple syrup 2 cups of warm water. Put the dry ingredients in a bowl . Dissolve the maple syrup in warm water then add to the dry ingredients. Mix don't knead until you have a sticky well combined dough. This dough is very sticky.Transfer to a greased 9×5 loaf pan. You could use parchment paper. cover (he uses a kitchen towel) and leave to rise for 20 minutes. While it's rising preheat the oven to 200 C or 390 F after the 20 minutes then bake for 40 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes before taking it out of the pan then finish cooling on the cooling rack. Absolutely delicious.

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Thank you for sharing your recipe Cathy!

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another Jude speaking up here to encourage you to keep on experimenting with bread. it's a lovely aspect of slow living and one that has changed my life. some projects will taste better and look better than others but chances are they will all be edible. and you will learn as you go. thank you for sharing your experience so transparently. it was a delight to read, Molly.

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Thank you Jude!

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Jan 9, 2023Liked by Molly Ella

What’s the worst that can happen, that’s always my motto. I’ve just started baking again and am up to sourdough starters and buying spelt in bulk to support my pretend life as a baker. May I suggest you look at some of Patrick Ryan’s videos. He’s an amazing, calm and lovely Irish baker. Don’t give up and just enjoy the process.

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Thank you Jude. It doesn't sound like a pretend life to me! I'll check out his channel :)

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Jan 9, 2023Liked by Molly Ella

Congratulations on your first attempt at bread!! I think once you get into it you can’t go back… homemade just tastes out of this world compared to shop bought. I started making bread when I was on maternity leave with my youngest, following the recipes in a book called Brilliant Bread by James Morton, and love the whole process…. feeding sourdough starters and timings for bread is a rather pleasant stream of thought that continually runs through my head. My favourite ‘treat’ bread recipe is focaccia- freshly baked out of the oven it tastes like heaven and it’s super easy to make. I wouldn’t let the cold put you off. Most of the time, I put my dough in the fridge to rise as this allows the flavour to develop more… so it sounds like you have the perfect conditions for very tasty bread. Keep going and good luck 😉

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Aw thank you Judy, that's really reassuring! I love focaccia, so may have to try that next :)

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Jan 9, 2023Liked by Molly Ella

Great first effort Molly, yes it can be intimidating but also very forgiving, flatbreads or naans are a great starting place. My favs are no knead breads, and I love the Breadin5 style mix the dough ingredients in a container let rise put in fridge for up to two weeks then pull out a lump, can make anything from pizza, naans, roll loaves, whatever you fancy, but you might not have a bit enough fridge to store the dough, these days with only two of us I make a half recipe of the dough mix, they have a great YouTube channel, also recommend Bake with Jack, I’ve just started my sourdough journey had my starter for over a week, but she is not ready to bake with just yet. Good luck

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Thank you Michelle! That dough sounds great. Good luck with your sourdough!

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