Bread for beginners

Despite being a blogger and supposedly interested in all this social networking malarkey, it wasn't until just over a year ago when we started the blog, that I joined Facebook and Twitter. I had always seen them as timewasters rather than useful - I really was a social networking innocent. Friends had advised me that I also needed a bog roll, oh, blog roll, a list of other blogs that I liked, to put on our blog.
It was tricky, there were so many good ones out there. But one day I alighted on one in particular and I loved it. Beautifully written, crisp photos, and fantastic recipes. I made a cherry flapjack from it for the teachers at my son's nursery and when I returned to pick him up they ran towards me, tearful with gratitude. I don't often get that level of happiness for the food I produce, so when it happens I remember.
Anyway, I'm pretty sure I put the blog on our roll around then, but soon after I read that the author, a mother, was due to have her second baby. I laughed hollowly to myself and thought "that's the last we'll see of her for a year". But lo! Within a month or two she was baking cupcakes and cheesey biscuits with renewed vigour, and blogging all the while. Who was this phenomenon? I knew her as Normal Mum as her blog was called Recipes from a Normal Mum. You may know her as Great British Bake Off white hope - Holly Bell. GBBO must be the big hit of this season's telly, and Our Hol, as I now call her, is in the grand finale this Tuesday.
Now, I may have been a very late arrival when it came to Facebook and Twitter, but I was definitely an early adopter when it came to Ms Holly Bell. So who would I turn to on my first attempt at making bread? Yup, the mistress baker herself. I followed this simple recipe and it turned out as you can see above. I was very pleased. I'll be tweeting about it later, and probably putting it on Facebook...
Claire