Oven-Baked Doughnuts and Knot Rolls

Amongst other things, one of my very dear friends gave me a doughnut pan for my birthday (because that's what dear friends do, when you're an obsessive baker)! The books have been read, the pictures poured over, but the unused pan has remained in my kitchen drawer - silent - mysterious - resolute.  "Try me", it cries, when I open the drawer, "let's make doughnuts"...

Black Olive, and Caraway and Onion Rolls

I have several, no, many bread books, which get used to varying degrees. However when I need a basic do-ahead recipe which will be transformed into a variety of uses, I head straight for Peter Reinhart's Artisan Breads Every Day.

I've made any number of variations of this recipe - sun blushed tomato bread, cinnamon and raisin, but my favourites are onion and caraway, and olive bread. The joy of this recipe is that the dough can sit in your fridge until you're ready...

Dan Lepard's Wholemeal Soda Bread

I'm a massive sourdough girl - I feed my sourdough starter every day and have been known to take it with me if it's looking a little unwell - it really is like having a (fifth) child!

Now some people appreciate the complexity of my sourdough, on twitter there are a core few who I'll talk particulars with (the Breadmakers) - but almost universally the bread people ask me about is sodabread.  Yes.  Irish sodabread.