Great Blogger Bake Off 2016: Week 3 Bread Week

Well what a week - This week's bake off post is going to be a right muddle.

In the past week alone, this happened:

Yes we spent a wonderful few days in stunning Dubai. You can read Day 1 diary here and Day 2 here with the rest to follow soon.

Then this happened the day after we got back (and the day before the new school term started!):

An innocent bike ride turned into a badly broken wrist (had to stay in hospital overnight and be reset under general anasthetic. All I could think was how glad I was it happened after our trip to Dubai and not before! He's been an incredibly brave lad and I am so proud of him. There have been a couple of difficult situations he's had to deal with since he broke his wrist and he's shown such strength of character.

And then this happened:

Yes - Miss T who we've been blogging about since she took her first steps and said her first words has started school!

And that's not it yet, I've also started a new job on a part-time basis - more on that in a moment. So life has been incredibly hectic to say the least.

So for bread week, I haven't exactly managed to stick to the right categories. I have made a loaf that contains three types of flour as in the showstopper but it's not a showstopper loaf. And I have been using chocolate - but not to bake bread.

But I love GBBO and I love linking up with Mummy Mishaps Great Bloggers Bake Off so here I am linking up my loaf anyway.

This is actually a gluten-free loaf from Henrietta Inman's Clean Cakes book which I absolutely adore! Attending her summer cookery class was a turning point and gave me the confidence to attempt her clean cakes recipes. I've actually made this loaf a couple of times and it really does taste wholesome and delicious. Quite a dense nutty flavour but tastes WAY nicer than other shop-bought gluten free breads I've tasted.

I used oats on top but and gum arabic instead of Xanthan gum but other than that the recipe can also be found online here. I have a feeling that the recipe from the book uses brown rice milk instead of almond milk and there was no need to soak the sunflower seeds. Anyway, I was really pleased with how it turned out.

Today, I've also been playing around with chocolate. I'm hoping to improve the picture quality and post these on Nim's social media pages but here's a sneak peak:

If you haven't heard of them before Nim's Fruit Crisps (and they also do delicious vegetable crisps) make the tastiest crisps around in my opinion! I first fell in love with them as a customer of theirs and just couldn't get enough of their delicious fruit and veg crisps which make great healthy snacks and can also be used in recipes and on top of porridge, musli, yogurt etc. So I'm now working with them on a part-time basis.

Since I've reduced my intake of refined sugar, they have been perfect for me and my family as they are 100% natural air dried fruit and veg crisps with nothing added. The website will be revamped soon but in the meantime, catch us on social media as follows:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/nimsfruitcrisps
Twitter: twitter.com/nimsfruitcrisps
Instagram: www.instagram.com/nimsfruitcrisps/
Pinterest: https://uk.pinterest.com/nimsfruitcrisps/

And do get in touch if you'd like to find out more. We're hoping to work with bloggers a lot more in future!

Disclosure: This is not intended to be a sale pitch for Nim's - I am now working with them but have always adored their product so my opinions are honest as always!

So what an eventful week - I'm hoping next week will be calmer.