I do love cooking and baking, but it’s one of those hobbies that falls by the wayside when life gets busy. This weekend I had a wave of inspiration and baked not only the treats below, but some cinnamon cookies too – going to attempt a vegan version for the office soon!
Sophie from The Very Happy Belly Co. contacted me to try two of their baking kits: the sun-dried tomato and olive bloomer, and the sunshine garlic and rosemary focaccia. This was a super accessible way for me to feel like a domestic goddess for a day – who doesn’t love the smell of freshly baked bread wafting throughout their home?
The kits arrived in lovely presentation boxes, the team take care to use recycled and compostable packaging wherever possible. They each contain a re-useable recipe card, all the pre-weighed ingredients and even the greaseproof paper – all I had to add for the bloomer recipe was water and olive oil!
I was a little nervous about baking bread – we’ve all watched the Great British Bake Off and seen the proving fails. I did a quick Google and found that I could create an ‘ideal proving environment’ with my oven switched off – simply fill a roasting tray with boiling water (be careful!) and place it at the bottom of your oven. Pop the dough on a rack above and you’re in business.
The recipe was clear and easy to follow from start to finish, and I was thrilled with the end result. The bloomer was huge, and has so far been used for a grilled cheese toastie, on it’s own with an oil/balsamic dip, toasted for breakfast and coated in butter to dip in soup.
The Very Happy Belly Co. also offer baking box subscriptions, these would be PERFECT for a Christmas gift! The ‘little bellies’ baking kits are especially adorable. For Christmas baking, there are also limited edition kits available – Christmas cake, reindeer brownies and a chocolate orange babka wreath are just a few!
You can check out my reel of the bread making process below. Next up will be the focaccia – hoping to tackle this at the weekend!
Thank you Sophie and team for reaching out 💚
