Bake City

Strawberry & Polenta sponges (bottom),

Daddy, Mummy and Baby Pineapple & Raisin loaves

(recipe courtesy of Cake Makes the World go Round).

Lemon Drizzle and Cherry Bake (which H made).

Brioche in the breadmaker (recipe below)

Banana, Choc Chip and Raisin

I've been away for a while......but as you can see I have been busy.

News since I last blogged: THE BUILDERS HAVE FINISHED!!!!!! We are now in the 'decorating stage' which is so much better than the 'everything is covered in dust' stage. We have our beautiful new kitchen, showers are in, everywhere needs a good clean and our chickens arrive on 11 September!!! (thought I'd slip that in quietly!)

Our new coffee shop opened for two weeks, as part of the church's opening celebrations. We were mobbed! It seems a light and airy coffee shop with good coffee and home made cake is needed in the town. I will post pictures of that another time because I was so busy I didn't take any!! We decided on the name City Light which fits nicely with our ethos "You are the light of the world, a city on a hill cannot be hidden".

For the first two weeks of the school holidays we went to Whitstable for a week (glorious weather, right on the beach) and then to Cornwall (torrential rain all week but stayed in a forest which was very relaxing). R and I came home and the children stayed in Cornwall with Nana and Grandad.

So....I've been doing a lot of baking and a little bit of sewing too (that's another blog for another time!).

The aim of the coffee shop is to have home made cakes and I will be making the majority of them so I've been making tried and tested recipes that are suitable for freezing, trying out new ones (Strawberry & Polenta cake being one of them....delicious with ice cream!) and my breadmaker has probably been used more since the new kitchen has been installed than ever before for things other than a brown loaf.

This is a really easy peasy recipe. I don't really like shop bought because I find it too sweet. - it's a really nice treat and change from croissants for breakfast or today smothered with jam after tea!

4 medium eggs at room temperature

125g/4oz butter, melted and slightly cooled

6 tbsp warm (not hot) water

450g strong white bread flour

1.1/2tsp salt

2 tbsp caster sugar

7g sachet of instant or fast-acting yeast

Melted butter for glazing

Pour eggs, butter and water into the breadmaker bucket, then add half the flour. Sprinkle with salt and sugar, cover with remaining flour and mound the yeast in the centre. Set to dough programme. When ready remove dough from bucket and quickly knead on a floured surface. Drop into a large loaf tin and brush with a little melted butter. Bake for 10 minutes at 220 deg/Gas mark 7 and then reduce temp to 190/5 for 25-30 minutes until well risen and golden.

I have frozen a few test slices to make sure it tastes just as delicious as it did fresh. This will definitely be on the menu!

Thankfully we have 2 more weeks of school holidays which means loads more baking, a bit of sewing, a bit of decorating, spending time with friends and family, enjoying long lunches with a bottle of wine (OK that's just tomorrow because it's my birthday!!)...it also means that we're 2 weeks nearer to getting our chooks which have already been named as Frankie (a more girly version of the boy's name, named after C's favourite boy (after her brother of course!!), Serena and Tilly, although C has just come into the office (new office!) to tell me she wants to call one of them Nugget......