For the last twenty years, I've been baking my bread using the traditional method of kneading bread dough, leaving to prove twice, shaping it and finally baking it in a standard domestic oven.

But until recently, I've never tried the 'no knead' bread. I have to say, I was a bit sceptical, thinking to myself that if not kneading your dough was the way to go, why would anyone even knead bread dough anymore?

Surely 'no knead' bread can't be as good as the traditional bread? The kneading is essential as it awakens the gluten in bread flour, which is what makes the dough so elastic and holds its shape when your bake it.

If you read my other bread recipes on this blog, you already know that there is a bit of science behind bread baking and every element of the bread baking method has its purpose and reason.

With this in mind, let me finally let you on a little secret! 

This is probably one of the easiest chocolate recipes I've ever tried. Quick to make and it taste delicious. If you ever forget a pudding or the children want something sweet, this is the recipe!

Like with many recipes, there are many versions, so I've decided to try few to see which one is the best one (the life of a food blogger is truly hard...). The main difference is whether the recipe includes eggs or not. Both are equally good, but in a different way. The one with egg is richer and slightly softer (it's very close to brownies, but not as gooey).

I have also included one version with a plain flour and one with self-raising flour. I tend to just use whatever I have in the cupboard as I don't want to go shopping every time I run out of one particular type of flour.

To make your own self-raising flour (if you don't have it), use plain flour with with baking powder. To make 225g of self-raising flour (for the second recipe), just add about 1 1/4 of baking powder to 225g of plain flour. 

As you can see the first recipe doesn't have any baking powder, but if you want to give the chocolate crunch a bit of a rise, feel free to add some (about 1 1/4 teaspoon should do it).

Chocolate crunch recipe (without eggs)

170g unsalted butter

170g caster sugar

225g plain flour

tiny pinch of salt

30g cocoa powder

I love old fashioned advertising posters and over the years, I've collected quite a few different posters, which I use (to my husband's dismay) instead of proper pictures to decorate my kitchen. I love how some of these adverts are naive, but charming and some are definitely not PC anymore!

If you know your chocolate bars and sweets, here is something different to get your teeth into! A bumper chocolate advertising slogans quiz! I've listed the questions first, so that you can print this page, if you like. The answers are at the bottom of this page, just keep scrolling!

Sourdough bread baking is a fairly complex baking process, and many people struggle with getting started and especially establishing their new sourdough starter. The problem, in my opinion, is that sourdough bread baking is like a science, where you constantly need to consider all the external elements and constantly adjust your method.

What works one day, might not work in exactly the same way next week as your kitchen might be slightly different temperature, you use different bread flour, and the starter is less or more vigorous than the previous week. 

I was recently re-watching Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries when in one episode Aunt Prudence gets served a vanilla flummery with passion fruit sauce. It is made as a test dish by Mary (one of the 'wayward girls') who want to be considered for a permanent position at Mrs Stanley's residence.

One should also mention that Mary is heavily pregnant with a child, which complicates matters a bit, but at the end, she does get the job, and Aunt Prudence begrudgingly admits that her flummery was rather good! 

This Orange Flummery Recipe is based on a very old fashioned dessert, which was originally popular in Scotland and England in the 18 Century. This pudding is quite a luxury version of the humble flummery which was made from rolled oats.

It's quick to make, but it needs to be set in the fridge overnight. You can serve it as it is, for a light after-dinner treat or add a spoonful of lemon curd or orange sauce to the top and sprinkle with sugar and decorate with chocolate curls or similar.

Today I wanted to share with you one of the easiest types of bread there is - a tortilla flat bread!

So, what's so great about this recipe? You don't need to be a seasoned bread baker to be able to make this bread, it's brilliant starter bread for beginners.

You also don't need to worry too much about rising, testing or baking this bread. Few minutes of simple kneading will do the job! This recipe doesn't need a yeast (or any other raising agent), which is why you don't need to worry about your kneading technique to much. 

If you are already baking your own bread, then the next best thing is to have a homemade marmalade to go with it.

This is my favourite recipe for grapefruit marmalade that is relatively quick to make and you can be a bit slap dash when making it. This is all in one method of making marmalade from any citrus fruits. No need to spend 3 hrs shredding your grapefruit peel, but the result is as good as the traditional way of making marmalade.

In this grapefruit marmalade recipe I've used grapefruit, but you can use any citrus fruit here or a mixture of different types. Grapefruit, Seville oranges (even sweet oranges are fine if you mix them with lemons or limes), tangerines, limes or lemons.