Crostini, called in France Croutons, are small slim slices of toasted bread. They are served with different toppings: pâtés, rillettes, and spreads and make a fabulous canape or aperitivo with a drink. Ideal crostini are bite-size, made from a stale baguette, brushed with olive oil or butter, and baked in the oven until golden. Once you discover how to make crostini/croutons, you will never again resort to store-bought varieties. I serve my little crusty rounds with homemade Vegetable Spread, Pork Pâté and Duck Rillettes. Find the recipe here…

They usually are engaged in architectural grand designs but also are food enthusiasts and home cooks. Two amazing ladies and architects on a daily basis attended my first sourdough bread baking course.  It was a great pleasure to share with them the knowledge and experience I’ve gained for over last eight years, show them a technic of how to make sourdough lavain, feed and care for sourdough starter, and finally make bread. My keen students rolled up their sleeves to put all theory into practice and got their hands dirty while stirring and mixing, so they created their first sourdough bread we could enjoy. More about the course here…

Panettone, sweet enriched bread comes originally, according to many sources, from Milan and is a true symbol of Italian Christmas. It’s more bread than a cake, although brioche-like dough of slightly sweet flavour is studded with dried fruits, almonds and raisins. The most traditional panettone is made by wild-yeast fermentation, augmented by a small amount of commercial yeasts. Making of this Christams sweet bread is a lengthy procedure, but the result is well worth it: you will end up with a golden, aromatic, and delicious Christmas bake that melts in your mouth with every bite.  Find the recipe here…

This round flatbread with a pocket inside originated within communities west of the Mediterranean Sea and is considered the oldest type of bread in the world. Pita Bread is made from yeast-leavened wheat dough and baked at high temperatures in the oven or on a cast-iron skillet. It goes well with meat, cheese, and grilled and raw vegetables. The pita also makes an excellent starter when served with sauces and dips such as hummus, baba ghanush, and tzatziki. My homemade Pita Bread puffs up beautifully and forms the signature interior pocket you can fill with anything you like. Find the recipe here…

I love this recipe and this flatbread because it is delicious and relatively easy to make. It only requires 4 ingredients, a bit of kneading, and some resting time to get fluffy rounds. No yeast, no baking powder, no elaborate method and no long waiting time. The flatbread is soft and pliable. It can be used as a wrap stuffed with baked or fresh vegetables, meat, and beans and topped with a sauce – whatever comes to your mind and whatever you fancy. Soft homemade flatbread is better than store-bought ones. Find the recipe here...

This soft and slightly sweet bread is perfect for sandwiches and toast. The dough enriched with milk and butter can also make many different types of rolls, such as hamburger or hot dog buns. You can refrigerate the dough overnight, just after kneading and bake it the next day. It's called slow rise and helps develop the dough's flavour. However, it can be risen and baked the same day - both methods work and make delicious bread. Find the recipe here…

Wonderfully crisp, extraordinarily delicious and super healthy. Danish crispbread - Knækbrød - makes a beautiful snack served with dips, spreads, and pâté; it can also be eaten for breakfast with butter and sweet toppings. Flat and very dry bread contains rye and spelt flour, rolled oats, sunflower, sesame and flax seeds with a small amount of water. It can be shaped round or broken into irregular pieces.  I find Knækbrød a fantastic and elegant starter served with pickled herring or a thin slice of smoked salmon. Find the recipe here….

If you are a rye fan, for a real treat try this double rye sourdough bread. It contains dark and light rye flour as well as bread flour to give light texture. Double rye requires overnight sponge made of light rye flour starter and some amount of dark rye flour, but on a baking day, it needs only 3 hours to be ready to pop in the hot oven. The bread is delicious, moist, sweet and tastes great next day if kept in the container. Great served with herring tartare or pickled herring. Find the recipe here… 

This is dark, moist and dense bread with a hint of sweetness - a bit in Lithuanian-style. Barley malt syrup and a little of honey give this beautiful colour of the crumb and a caramelized crust. My recipe uses light rye sourdough starter and a mix of bread and dark rye flour. It requires patience as the sponge needs to be prepared a day before and give it time to rise. But as a reward, the final rise of bread takes only two hours. Malt and Honey Dark Rye Bread is the perfect winter bread which tastes amazing with hard cheese, pickled herring or paté. Find the recipe here…

Brioche Dough is an enriched dough, part bread and part pastry. Apart from yeast, flour and salt, it includes eggs, milk and butter which enrich the dough and produce tender and rich crumb. The simple brioche dough from this recipe consists of less amount of butter, eggs and is the easiest version to handle. It’s great for wraps, simple buns and as a sandwich bread although it lacks buttery flake of the richer brioche dough. Find the recipe here...

This is a menu for a casual come-and-go gathering on Halloween Night or after Trick-Or-Treating. Neither creepy nor spooky but frightfully delicious and based on seasonal and autumnal products. Here there are Orange Vivid Squash Soup served with Hot Parmesan Biscuits that warms up, filling Hot Pork Empanaditas, delicious Mushroom Tartlets for foodies and sweet aromatic Apple Muffins that are loved by everyone and always turn out well. The courses of the menu are quite simple but need some time to be prepared. Some of them can be made in advance. Find the recipes for perfectly arranged Halloween Dinner Menu here…

There is nothing better than homemade challah bread. A freshly baked loaf is so delicious that calls only for butter, while the leftover bread makes wonderful French toasts and delicious Bostock served with almond cream and berries. Challah, the braided Sabbath bread is made with the enriched yeasted dough which contains oil and eggs. The generous use of eggs gives challah a beautiful deep golden crust and exquisite flavour. This bread doesn’t require any special techniques although its braided form may look complicated. The dough is quite versatile and can be used to make any other baked goods such as dinner buns and cinnamon rolls. Find the recipe here…

As a snack – perfect. For dipping – even better. Crispy Italian Breadsticks widely called Grissini, are served in restaurants as an appetizer accompanied by antipasti such as olives, cheese and cured meat. They are made of flour, yeast, water and olive oil, shaped by hand and baked in high temperature ideally in a wood-burning oven. Breadsticks are essentially all delicious golden-brown crust and that beautiful crust makes them so addictive. Make grissini at home as a party nibble.  Bake them as you like - plain or flavoured, sprinkled with sesame seeds, poppy seeds or sea salt before baking. Serve with favourite hummus or cocktails. Find the recipe here…

A cast iron pot is perfect for making crusty golden artisan-style bread at home. The pot with its thick walls and a tight lid is a moisture-sealed chamber which traps steam and provides a temperature-stable baking environment. Moisture is important during the early stage of baking because allows the bread to rise fully. It creates this beautiful shiny crispy crust outside and let the interior of bread be white and soft. The crusty white bread requires a bit of work and time but its flavour and smell is worth this effort. It is the best just after cooling when the crust is fresh and very crispy. Find the recipe here… 

This bread has a divine firm close-grained crumb and golden soft crust. It can be used for sandwiches, toasts, French toasts and croutons. In French bakeries, white sandwich bread (pain de mie in French) is usually formed and baked in special covered moulds to get absolutely symmetrical loaves. That helps to make perfect slices which are essential for professional-looking canapes or fancy sandwiches. I baked my bread in a straight-sided uncovered tin which made the loaf look more conventional. Find the recipe here...

This is my everyday bread. Very comforting, healthy, delicious and far different from what is mostly available now in local shops. You can buy the sourdough loaves in many artisan bakeries across London, they are decent but unfortunately pretty expensive. Making the sourdough bread at home is neither costly nor difficult however requires a bit of patience, effort and experience. You can read a lot of recipes on the Internet and in cook books but the sourdough bread is something you learn by doing. Anyway, you need to start somehow so let’s get started together. Find the recipe here...

A sourdough starter - called here also levain - is a naturally fermenting mixture of flour and water. It contains a combination of Lactobacillus culture and wild yeasts. A levain produces a vigorous leaven and develops the flavour of the bread. You don’t need ready-to-make starter from a shop or mashed organic apples. The easiest way to make a fresh batch of starter is by combining rye or light rye flour and water and allowing the mixture to sit for a couple of days. The sourdough starter I have made and used for several years to bake my every day bread needs to be looked after and fed every day so patience of a cook is crucial. Find the recipe here...