You will need to do a bit of preparation for this one, as you’ll need to make the bread dough and pizza topping in advance. Use my recipe for Low-fat Tomato Pasta Sauce for the pizza topping, and you can use the adapted version of my bread recipe below for the dough (click here for the link to the original bread recipe). I had a bit of help doing this yesterday – thanks to Tom for making the dough and rolling it out!

For the pizza dough

400g strong white bread flour

1 sachet quick yeast

1 tsp salt

2 tbsp mixed herbs (optional)

2 tbsp olive oil

300ml hand hot water (150ml cold topped up with 150ml boiling water)

You will need some tomato sauce to top the pizza, as well as any other toppings – we used chorizo, mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes and mozzarella here.

Method

1. Mix all of the dry ingredients together in a bowl.

2. Add the oil to the water before pouring over the dry ingredients. Mix together until a dough is formed and then knead for five minutes.

3. Leave the dough in the bowl. Wet a clean tea towel with cold water and wring out so that it isn’t dripping, before placing over the bowl. Leave to rise.

4. When the dough has at least doubled in size, ‘knock back’ and knead again for a few minutes.

5. Roll out the dough to fit a large, greased baking tray (use a bit of olive oil to grease the tray). Heat the oven to 220°c/425°F/Gas mark 7 whilst preparing the topping.

6. A couple of ladles of the tomato sauce is usually enough to cover the dough – try to spread it evenly over the dough. Then cover with your choice of topping – we chose chorizo, mushrooms and basil for ours. We put our cheese on top of the other toppings, but you can do whatever you like really! That’s the great thing about pizza!

7. Cook in the oven for 20-25 minutes – keep an eye on it because it can look raw one minute and then be done the next. Serve with some salad (serves 4 people, or 2 people with 2 lunches the next day). Enjoy!

Post updated 24th June 2016.

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I decided to look for a recipe using pumpkin, and after trawling through loads of different recipes on the internet I settled on a soup recipe, but I’ve basically combined lots of ideas from lots of different recipes to come up with this one. I must admit that pumpkin isn’t really a vegetable that I usually use, and I suppose that true for quite a lot of people in the UK. But now I’ve tried this out I’ll definitely be using it every Autumn! You could always leave out the bacon to make a vegetarian version of the recipe – just remember to add some salt if you do!

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil

200g/7oz brown onions, chopped

3 large carrots, chopped

1 medium sized pumpkin, chopped with outer skin removed

125g/4.5oz smoked back bacon, cut into small pieces

1 tbsp ground cumin

750ml/1pt 7floz vegetable stock

Black pepper (season to taste – also add salt if not using bacon)

Method

1. Heat the oil in large pan or stock pot and add the onions. Cook on a low heat until softened.

2. Add the pumpkin, carrots, bacon and cumin. Season, stir well, cover and cook for around 10 minutes.

3. Add the stock and raise the heat to bring to the boil. Then lower the heat and simmer (uncovered) for 20-25 minutes or until the pumpkin is soft.

4. Leave to cool and then blend with a hand blender. I like my soup to be quite chunky, but you could puree it if you prefer.

5. Enjoy with some home-baked bread

I’ve also been making some gorgeous Yorkshire Parkin which is just perfect for a cold Autumn night in! I’ll post this recipe tomorrow because I haven’t managed to take a good photo of it yet…that’s if there is any left in the morning, it’s so delicious And makes a great dessert after having some of this delicious pumpkin, carrot and bacon soup!

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Bake your own bread

Today was the first Saturday that I’ve been at home for a few weeks, so I decided to take advantage of the opportunity to bake some bread. I think that some people are put off making it because they think it might take too long or that it might be too difficult to make, but it is much easier than you think (and also very cheap!). My bread usually has a very homemade look, but for me that makes it even better. It’s so lovely to bake your own bread, and it makes your house smell amazing! It also makes an excellent pizza dough.

Ingredients

500g strong white bread flour (I usually avoid supermarket own brands as high quality flour = better bread)

1 sachet quick yeast

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp olive oil

300ml hand hot water (150ml cold topped up with 150ml boiling water)

Method

1. Mix all of the dry ingredients together in a bowl.

2. Add the oil to the water before pouring over the dry ingredients. Mix together until a dough is formed and then knead for five minutes.

3. Leave the dough in the bowl. Wet a clean tea towel with cold water and wring out so that it isn’t dripping, before placing over the bread. Leave to rise.

4. When the bread has at least doubled in size, ‘knock back’ and knead again for a few minutes.

5. Shape the dough into a loaf (or cut into eight equal parts to make rolls) and place on a greased baking tray. Cover with the teatowel and leave to rise again – you could always place the tray on top of the oven as it heats up to aid rising (oven should be heated to 220°c/425°F/Gas mark 7).

6. Once risen, place to bread in the oven. Rolls will take 15-20 minutes to bake, whilst loaves (depending on size) usually take 30-40 minutes. To see whether or not the bread is done, tap on the bottom and if it sounds hollow it is ready. Leave to cool on a wire rack and then enjoy!

You may also like…

This yummy banana bread recipe:

Banana bread

These rose shortbread hearts:

Rose shortbread hearts

Try this sun dried tomato and parmesan bread:

Sun dried tomato and parmesan bread

Or some soup to go with your yummy bread!

Pumpkin Carrot and Bacon Soup

Post updated 12th March 2021.

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