Dairy-free naan bread

KendraNZ shares her dairy-free naan bread recipe.

Makes 16

Ingredients:
35g (a generous 1oz) caster sugar
2 eggs
400ml milk
750g plain flour
1.5 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp salt (but I cut this down)
3.5 tbsp vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 220^oC, place two non-stick trays in oven to heat up or preheat grill to maximum (I have done both ways, starting off in pan and then putting under grill works best for me).

Mix sugar and eggs with milk in large jug, stirring until sugar dissolved. Put the flour in a large mixing bowl and mix in baking powder and salt. Gradually pour milk mixture into flour, mixing with your hand, and knead lightly just to make a soft dough. Don't knead too much. Cover bowl with damp cloth/cling film/plastic bag and leave to rest for 15 mins.

Add oil and mix lightly to incorporate into the dough. Divide dough into 16 small pieces. Form it as normal.

Cook - a couple of minutes on top of hob until bubbles forming then shove under hot grill for couple of minutes till there's a bit of colour.

More malt loaf

This is Meg's recipe for malt loaf.

Ingredients:
1 cup All Bran
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup mixed fruit
1 cup milk
1 cup self raising flour

Mix together All Bran, sugar, fruit and milk. Leave to soak overnight, or equivalent, covered in a cool place.

Add flour, mix in thoroughly.

Put mixture into a greased and lined 2lb loaf tin. Cook for 1 hour at 180^oC, 350^oF.

3 cup measures will make 2 loaves. Freezes well.

Fruity malt loaf recipe

Amanda's recipe for malt loaf. Yummy!

Ingredients:

550g plain flour
1 tsp salt
50g soft brown sugar
125g sultanas
125g currants
25g mixed peel
25g fresh yeast
250ml warm milk
50g butter or margarine
4 tbsp malt extract
2 tbsp clear honey to glaze

Makes two 500g loaves

Place all the dry ingredients in a bowl.

Cream the yeast with a little of the milk and set aside. Add the fat and the malt extract to the remaining milk and heat until melted. Cool slightly then add the to the dry ingredients with the yeast.

Beat to a soft dough, cover with a damp cloth and leave to rise until doubled in size.

Turn out and knead for 5 mins until smooth.

Divide and place in two 500g tins/ Cover and leave to rise again (about an hour).

Bake in pre-heated oven at 190^oC for 35 to 40 mins.

When hollow sounding, turn out and brush with honey.

Simple baguettes

A simple bread recipe that will make two or three loaves, from Sheri.

Ingredients:

315ml water

450g unbleached white bread flour

1.5 tsp salt

1.5 tsp dried yeast

I let it rise a couple of times then shape into loaves. I use a pleated tea towel to keep the shape as I don't have a special tin. Cover and leave for about 45 mins, cook at 230^oC.

They are great but go down far too easily. They make superb garlic bread too.

Boiled Fruit Cake

Submitted by Seawood

Boiled Fruit Cake - a fast, easy standby for unexpected visitors,
and a perfect snack for just after your baby arrives!

It's tastier than it sounds, I promise! This is my mum's recipe and I have no idea where it comes from. It's my go-to cake when I'm expecting visitors in the next couple of hours, although it is even tastier if you can leave it overnight. It's great for taking on picnics, to meets and on holidays as it won't fall apart in transit. Also I swear it's all that kept me going for the first two weeks after my daughter arrived!

Line your loaf tin with greaseproof paper - you can be fairly lazy about it as you can see from the pic. Put your oven on at about 160oC - mine is fan-assisted so you may need it warmer, it's a bit trial and error, this one.

Then you need:
2oz Butter
2 cups dried fruit (I use raisins and apricots)
1 cup hot water
1 cup brown sugar
2 cups plain flour
1tsp baking powder
1tsp mixed spice
2 eggs

These are US cups, but don't worry too much if you don't have one to hand - it doesn't actually matter as it's the proportions that count; if you use a bigger mug/shoe/wheelbarrow just increase everything else as well (including your tin if necessary).

Add the butter, fruit and water to a pan and heat gently until the butter has melted. Turn off and allow to cool whilst you mix the dried ingredients together. Beat the eggs, and when your fruit mix is cool enough such that it won't curdle the eggs, add this and the eggs slowly to the bowl bit by bit, mixing all the while. The final mixture will be quite runny. Stick it in the loaf tin and bake for about 1hr depending on your oven, maybe 1hr30. The trick is when it comes out, turn it out of the tin almost straight away, wrap it in the greaseproof paper and then in foil. Leave overnight so that all the steam is kept in to make it lovely and moist.