this bread was so delicious, I made a pesto with chives, pumpkin seeds, olive oil and some garlic and parmesan and then spread it onto the dough and made it into this spiral loaf, we had it with dinner and it went down so well with every one. I hadn’t made a pesto loaf, or even chive pesto before so this was a bit of a experiment. I just love experimenting with flavours and I was so happy with how this experiment went. what a week its been here in the uk! I’m still feeling really down, sad, confused about the whole “brexit” decision. I was really shocked when I woke up to find that we had voted to leave the EU, I really wish we could rewind and things would be different. I think its a big mistake, but I’m trying to stay positive and hope for the best, I’m sure people wouldn’t of voted or encouraged people to leave if it wasn’t for a good reason right? well lets hope so. sorry to bring politics onto the blog its just something that has really effected my week. I did have some good news my best friend got the all clear from skin cancer last week, so that’s made me really happy (she’s the same age as me, 28 so it was a big shock to find out she had malignant melanoma, she used sunbeds and thought something like that would never happen to her so check your moles and stay safe in the sun!!! sorry for lecture) if you want to learn more she has started a website. also some other happy news I picked the first peas from my new vegetable garden this week I was sooo excited, although my courgette plant doesn’t look too good the flowers keep falling off and the leaves have white patches all over them and I have no idea why any ideas?.

For the dough

• 450g strong white flour
• 1 sachet of fast action yeast
• 2 tsp salt
• 200ml water
• 100ml olive oil

In a mixer add the flour, salt and yeast and then pour in the water and oil and start mixing, if the mix is too dry add a tbsp. of water at a time until a manageable dough has formed, knead on high speed for 5 minutes, then cover and leave to double in size for about an hour or until it has doubled in size.

for pesto

• one bunch of chives (when chopped makes 1/2 cup loosely packed)
• 1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan
• olive oil (about 1/4 cup)
• 4 lemon balm leaves or a tsp fresh lemon juice

in a food processer add all the ingredients and pulse until a loose paste is formed, season with salt and pepper. (add more oil to loosen if needed)

roll out the dough and spread the pesto on, then cut into long strips (see pics below) and take one of the strips and roll up, then continue wrapping the next strips of dough around it, place in baking tin and leave to rise again for 1 hour

preheat oven to 180c bake the loaf for 35 to 45 minutes until golden and cooked through, sprinkle over some flaked salt and chive flowers. let cool a bit (10 mins) before serving.