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It's not all cupcakes and pies in Leila's book, "A Piece Of Cake", she also has a fantastic chapter on savoury breads. Apart from the delicious homemade baguettes below she has a wonderful recipe for the typically Scandinavian, crisp bread, which has whole aisles dedicated to it in Swedish supermarkets. Aswell as numerous variations on the the classic Italian focaccia bread, and mouth watering options for transforming plain old scones!

The first thing you will notice when you read Leila's books, or any Swedish books for that matter, is that fresh yeast is used in many of the bread recipes. Here in Ireland and in many other countries, fresh yeast isn't readily available in the supermarkets, whereas in Sweden it is sold in little foil packs stored in the fridge. If you are going to be following Leila's bread recipes, you're going to get your hands on some fresh yeast. So, for all the Irish readers out there with no fresh yeast, I have the solution, if you go to the bakery in most supermarkets and ask one of the bakers nicely for some fresh yeast, they will generally sell it you for a really reasonable price!

Leila Lindholm's Baguettes
We associate the baguette with France, but actually the French didn't start to bake it until the 1920's. That was when Austrian journeymen brought a Polish method using sourdough to France and started to use this for baking baguettes. The approach gives the baguette its typical light structure containing large air bubbles.

Makes 4 loaves
For dough 1
5g fresh yeast
300ml cold water
300g strong bread flour
Vegetable oil for the baking sheets
Flaked salt, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds or poppy seeds

Crumble the yeast into a bowl and dissolve it in the water.
Add the flour and mix to make a smooth, soft dough.
Cover the bowl with clingfilm and leave the dough to prove for at least 4 hours at room temperature, or overnight in the fridge.
Preheat the oven to 240oC/475oF/Gas Mark 9.
Turn out the dough onto a floured surface and divide it into four. Gently press each portion into a rectangle.
Tuck in one of the long sides and roll up the dough. Shape the ends into points.
Twist the baguettes slightly and put them in a greased baguette tin or an ordinary baking sheet.
Leave the baguettes to prove under a tea towel for about an 1 hour.
Brush the baguettes with water and sprinkle flaked salt and the seeds of your choice on top. Use a knife to make diagnonal cuts in the surface of each loaf and immediately put the baking sheet in the centre of the oven.
Reduce the heat when the baguettes start to colour.
Bake for about 30 minutes. Leave to cool uncovered on a wire rack.

For dough 2
15g fresh yeast
300ml cold water
1 batch of dough 1 (see above)
1 tablespoon of salt
1 tablespoon of caster sugar
420-480g bread flour

To make dough 2, crumble the yeast into a bowl and dissolve it in the water.
Add dough 1, the salt, sugar and flour and mix until the ingredients bind together. Knead the dough by hand or at a low speed in a mixer for about 15 minutes.
Cover the bowl with a tea towel and leave to prove for about 1 and 1/2 hours. Proceed as above.

Myself and Sofie made this bread to go with the Spatchcock chickens the other weekend. It is Sofie's adaptation of a Swedish recipe. The bread is a really great discovery and I would definitely try other flavour combinations for the filling.

Sofie's Rocket and Feta Cheese Bread
This is a really healthy tasty bread with a really different filling.

3 x 7g sachet of dried yeast
2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon of honey
600ml lukewarm water
125g oat flakes
Approx 500g wholegrain flour

2 large handfuls of rocket
200g feta cheese
A good handful of fresh herbs of your choice.
A good handful of green olives roughly chopped.

Put the yeast in a bowl, and mix it with the salt and honey, add half of the water and let the yeast dissolve. Allow the mixture to sit for 10-15 minutes or until it has become frothy.
Add the rest of the water and mix the oats and flour into the bowl.
With a wooden spoon, combine the ingredients until a dough forms. Sprinkle 1-2 tablespoon of flour over the dough and leave it for an hour and a half.
While the dough is rising, in a bowl mix together the rocket, feta, herbs and olives.
Preheat the oven to 225°C and dust a baking tray 30x40cm with flour.
Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface and divide in two. Roll out both halves into equal shaped oval pieces.
Put the first piece on the baking tray. Sprinkle the rocket, feta cheese, herbs and olives evenly over the dough. Gently put the second piece of dough over the filling and squeeze the edges so that they are sealed.
Place the bread in the oven for 30 minutes or until it is nicely browned. When the bread is cooked leave it to cool on a wire rack before serving.

So things are all set for the big day tomorrow, I spoke to the lovely Faye at Market Kitchen yesterday and she talked me through each step of the filming process. Apparently all the members of the audience will be given a little sample of what I'm cooking, so no pressure like! It's my first on air experience, so there are a few butterflies, but I have done a bit of cooking to camera so I guess it's more excitement than anything else. The really good news is that Faye said I was allowed to take pics over there, so expect lots of them up here!

There are some days when recipes just float around my head after reading something or seeing something on tv, in most cases they go as quickly as they come, but sometimes, when I am organised, I write them into a little notebook I have with me at all times. I have had this recipe in my mind since last summer, probably because of my love of Swedish Cinnamon Buns, I guess it just stuck, so as you can imagine I have been dying to finally make it.

Pink Berry and Almond Swirly Buns

This recipe is a fresh take on the Swedish Cinnamon Buns which have been so popular on the blog and in the book! Inspired by Leila Lindholm (my current hero!) who uses blueberries in the filling, I decided it would be great way to use up the last of my leftover frozen berries. This recipe makes a lot of buns, but they freeze really well in ziplock bags and can reheated straight in the oven.

Makes about 40 buns
400ml/14fl oz milk
110g/4oz butter
2 x 7g sachets of dried yeast
110g/4oz sugar
750g/1½lbs flour
½ teaspoon of salt
1 egg, beaten
A handful of flaked almonds

For the filling:
200g of butter, at room temperature
150g of sugar
2 teaspoons of cinnamon
450g of mixed frozen berries
2 tablespoons of icing sugar

Melt the butter in a large pot gently on a low heat and then add the milk.
When the mixture is lukewarm, remove from the heat and add the two sachets of dried yeast, sugar and salt.
Slowly incorporate the flour one cup at a time; be patient, as the mixture will eventually come together and you won’t be left with a sticky mess forever!
You may need to add less or more of the flour to get the right consistency.
When the dough has taken shape and is no longer sticky, turn out onto a floured surface and knead for about 3 minutes.
Leave the dough to rise in the bowl covered with a damp cloth for 45 minutes.
Try and find somewhere warm, as the yeast will do its job a lot quicker.
While the dough is rising, prepare the filling. In a small bowl beat the butter with cinnamon and sugar until you get a light and creamy consistency. In another bowl combine the berries and icing sugar. You may have to zap the berries in the microwave to defrost them first.
When the dough has risen, cut it in half and roll it into a rectangle about 5mm thick, and then spread half the creamy butter filling all over. Top with half the berry mixture and spread evenly over the dough.
Then, from the long side, roll the dough so you get a snail effect and slice into approximately 15–20 pieces. Repeat the process with the second half of the dough.
Place the slices in paper wrappers face up and bake the rolls in the oven at 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4 for about 10–15 minutes or until they are a light brown colour. Remove from the oven brush with a little beaten egg and sprinkle with flaked almonds. Place back in the oven for another 5-6 minutes or until the buns are golden brown and the almonds are toasted.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a wire rack, if you can wait that long!