Resourceful and creative – home-made bread

I'm a sucker for home-made bread and so for the holidays I would definitely recommend the two fast breads I make all the time. For those of you who read my blog regularly – thank you – you'll know that I'm always banging on about soda bread – the fast version. More recently the beer bread has been very popular too.

Essentials for your shopping list - for the soda bread a pot of buttermilk 290/300ml – the “use by” dates are generally kind but check! For the beer bread add a 330ml bottle of IPA – India Pale Ale.

Here's an idea for either bread, once again keeping it simple.

Soda bread, toasted and topped with bazzin' beetroot

relish and goats cheese

Keep it simple – three elements – I made my soda bread the day before and the beetroot relish too. I used small discs of goats cheese so pretty on the plate.

I pre-heated my oven to warm – 150fan/170c/Gas 3 Fill a foil container with enough beetroot relish for the number of servings. Place your cheese discs on a double sheet of foil. Toast your soda bread and place on a serving plate, add the relish and top with goats cheese. To complete your dish add a generous drizzle of Balsamic vinegar or, if you really want to push the boat out, make your own Balsamic Glaze.

Balsamic Glaze

50g/2oz demerara sugar

250ml/9 fluid oz balsamic vinegar

Place the sugar and vinegar in a medium saucepan (19cms or 7½” in diameter) and heat slowly, stirring allowing the sugar to dissolve. Bring to the boil, then reduce and simmer for 20 minutes – until the glaze is reduce by half. It should coat the back of a spoon. Decant into a clean jar with a lid – fridge it.

The best 20 minutes you've ever spent in your kitchen – you'll never buy it again!

For both bread recipes check out the Bread label on the blog