Sunday breakfast and a book review

If you like to bake, you need to put this book on your Christmas list.  Kim Boyce has opened my eyes to a whole new world of grains that I didn't even know existed!  This isn't a book full of dainty petit fours or Martha Stewart decorated cookies.  You wont find food coloring or low fat ingredients.  There are big chunky chocolate chip cookies that fill the palm of your hand, rustic tarts and spiced cakes.

She breaks the book into sections depending on the different flour being used.  Besides the usual whole wheat, there is rye, spelt, amaranth, corn, barley, teff(??) , quinoa, kamut and buckwheat.  A brief history of the grain is given at the beginning of each chapter.   Suprisingly most of these are available in my local supermarket.  Regular all purpose flour is always added to the recipes to balance out the texture and flavor.  I was truly amazed at the different flavors of these grains as they are used in baking.  I would never have made a whole wheat chocolate chip cookie, (too heavy?), but these are now my favorite.  A good quality dark chocolate bar, which is roughly chopped, is used instead of the usual milk chocolate chips.  With the wheat flour?  What a difference!  Don't be afraid to use real butter and cream, or even olive oil in a cake.  This is real, whole food!

I love the scones in this book.  They are made with spelt and all purpose flour. And cream.  And currants. And they are rustic and full of warm crumbly goodness.

Some things I learned from this book......always sift your dry ingredients, rotate your  pans halfway through baking, and don't be afraid to try something new!

Have a great weekend xx