Pumpkin soda bread

Homemade pumpkin soda bread for a Halloween lunch with a crusty topping and a soft inside.

A few simple ingredients and no kneading or proving - what could be easier! Delicious served warm with a homemade soup.

450g plain flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

½ tsp baking powder

200ml buttermilk

125-150ml pumpkin puree (see below)

about 50g pumpkin seeds

Preheat the oven to 200ºC

Sieve the dry ingredients into a bowl and make a well in the middle. Measure the buttermilk in a jug and add the pumpkin puree, giving it a good stir. Then pour it into the middle of your dry ingredients and mix together with a knife, adding more buttermilk if needed. You should end up with a soft dough that is not too sticky.

Put the dough onto a well floured board and using your hands, shape into a round loaf, about 20cm in diameter.

Then place onto a floured baking sheet and cut a deep cross into the dough.

Now all you need to do is press the pumpkin seeds into the top of the dough and bake in your preheated oven for about 40 minutes or until the loaf sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom.

Enjoy with a hearty autumn soup.

Check out the bread category for how to make a plain soda bread loaf.

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Pumpkin puree

Simply cut a pumpkin in half across the width (or length if using butternut squash), scoop out the seeds and place the pumpkin, cut side down, on a baking sheet covered with tin foil.

Roast in a 180ºC oven for about 30 minutes.

Stick a knife in to see if it’s done, and when cool, scoop out the flesh and puree. I put the flesh in a large bowl and used a hand-held stick blender which made it very easy.

This will keep for a couple of days in the fridge and if you have some left over, you can easily freeze it until you’re ready to make the next loaf!

Hot Chocolate Pudding

A rich chocolate sponge pudding that I learnt to make when my children were small. It was a welcome alternative to Christmas pudding with the orange flavoured chocolate sponge giving a festive twist. It is also made in a pudding basin and as it cooks, the sponge rises to the top leaving the rich chocolate sauce underneath.

The Sponge

75g self-raising flour

25g cocoa powder

100g soft light brown sugar

100g butter, softened

1 tsp vanilla essence

2 eggs, lightly beaten

juice and zest of 1 medium sized orange

The Sauce

75g light brown sugar

25g cocoa powder

300ml milk

Preheat the oven to 180ºC and butter a 1 litre pudding basin.

To make the sponge, sieve the flour and cocoa powder into a bowl. Then, in a separate bowl, cream the butter and sugar together and beat in the vanilla essence and the eggs, adding a spoonful of flour in between each egg. Fold in the rest of the flour mixture, the orange zest and 2 tablespoons of the orange juice. Spoon into your buttered pudding basin.

For the sauce, mix together the sugar, the cocoa, the remaining orange juice and the milk. I used a jug to do this which made it easier to pour into the pudding basin.

Then simply pour the sauce over the sponge mixture and bake in the oven for 40-45 minutes. I would recommend putting a baking tray underneath to catch any drips.

When it's ready, spoon into individual bowls and serve with cream or ice-cream. Don't be tempted to turn it out!

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Rosemary Focaccia

An Italian flat bread traditionally flavoured with rosemary and sea salt. It can be served as a side to soups, stews and salads or sliced horizontally and used for tasty sandwiches. Although it's time consuming to make (mostly waiting around for the dough to rise!) this is an easy recipe and something you can experiment with once you've mastered the basics.

500g strong bread flour

7g sachet dried yeast

3-4 tbsp olive oil

250ml warm water + a tbsp of olive oil

Olive oil, sea salt and rosemary for topping

Preheat the oven to 220ºC (200ºC fan) and dust a large baking tray with flour.

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Sieve the flour and mix in the dried yeast. Make a hole in the middle of the flour and add the warm water and olive oil. Mix everything together to form a soft dough - I use a table knife to begin with and then my hands until I have a ball of dough. Turn this out onto a floured board and knead for about ten minutes, folding and stretching the dough as you go. If you have a food mixer fitted with a dough hook, then this will take about 5-7 minutes on a medium speed. Put it in an oiled bowl or onto an oiled baking sheet and leave to rise in a warm place until it has doubled in size.

Now, put onto a floured board and knock the air out of it. If you want to add herbs, cheese or olives, now is the time to gently mix them in. Then, using a rolling pin, shape the dough into a rectangle and lift onto a floured baking tray. The easiest way to do this is to drape the shaped dough over the rolling pin and transfer it to the tray.

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Cover with a clean tea towel and leave to rise in a warm place for another hour until it has doubled in size again.

Once it's risen, push your thumb (or the end of a wooden spoon) into the dough in a good few places to make dimples. Drizzle 2 tablespoons of olive oil over the top and scatter with chopped rosemary and sea salt. Be generous especially if you haven't added any other flavours. Pop it into the preheated oven and bake for 20-25 minutes or until it is golden. Serve the focaccia warm to enjoy it at it best.

If you want to experiment, try roasted vegetables or cheese as a topping. Or you can get creative as my daughter did, and make Focaccia Art!

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