Recipes I’ve Tried | Gloria McBreen

Life be hard, and no one needs me to tell them that. Working, dealing with family, trying to have a social life, whether it’s on social media or in the physical form, I could go on and on. It can all get quite frustrating and tiring. Keeping the mind in order is very important.

There are many ways of keeping our mental health in check and one thing many people overlook is their diet. I’ve always been a strong believer in the benefits of sticking to a mainly healthy diet.

Oh, believe me when I say, I love treating myself to the odd bit of junk; pizza, chocolate, crispy bacon, and a glass or two of red wine. But when I’m eating more bad than good, I get achy, fatigued, and I find it harder to concentrate.

It’s all about the balance!

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I swear I wouldn’t win any prizes for my baking skills. I can barely manage to make the simple Irish soda bread. My scones are flat and cake making takes hours (for me).

So, you can imagine my excitement when I made the perfect Yeast Artisan Bread this morning! “Straight out of Mary Berry’s oven” perfect!

Just 4 ingredients. Flour, yeast, salt and water! Now, I have no idea what Robin Hood Blending Flour is, so I used ordinary plain flour. It must have come from his merry men, because it did the job for me.

When I removed the cling film from my dough, which I made the night before, it looked very sticky, but as soon as I began to shape it into a ball it was very obedient and came together nicely.

I don’t own a Dutch oven—I didn’t know there was such a thing—so I used the dish from my slow cooker. Oven safe with high sides. There’s always a way!

The smell of my bread baking and my coffee brewing, wafted through every keyhole in the house. Even the dog was smiling!

The hardest part of this process was waiting for the bread to cool.

You should have seen the super smug smile spread across my sweet face, (say that fast) as I spooned some of my homemade greengage jam all over my warm bread!