Hello everyone! I spend some of my time cooking lunch and dinner parties for people, and whatever the centrepiece of the menu, I am always asked to make some home-made walnut bread to go with the starter or to eat with the cheese. It's fantastically easy and quick to make - you don't need to use a bread making machine or to do hours of kneading – it slices nicely, toasts well, freezes beautifully and did I mention that it's simply delicious? Oh, and nutritious too.

Basic recipe

175 g wholemeal self raising flour
175 g plain white flour
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 carton buttermilk (300ml) or similar quantity of plain yoghurt
150 g walnut pieces

Preheat the oven to 200ºC/gas 6
Put flours, bicarb and salt into a large bowl and mix together. Make a well in the middle and tip in the buttermilk or yoghurt. Mix it all up with a spoon or fork until it’s roughly blended, then gather it into a ball with your hands (dust them with flour first) and knead it until it’s fairly smooth.

Now knead in the walnut pieces.

Dust a baking sheet with flour and shape the loaf into a ball. Flighten slightly and make a deep cross in the top. Bake until golden on top and when the base is tapped, it sounds hollow. This should be between 30 and 35 minutes. Allow to cool and then slice or freeze as you wish.

Tip! You can change the flavourings to suit your mood, by leaving out the nuts and putting in a similar quantity of mixed seeds, raisins or chopped olives and sundried tomatoes.