Crumbs of comfort

On Sunday, I baked bread. I love making bread. It makes you feel like a better person.

- Michele Hewitson

A virtuous person. You are making bread and this must somehow be a good thing to do. Kneading dough makes you a contented person. You can't worry about anything when you are kneading dough. Also, it makes the house smell glorious. As though a domestic goddess might live here, and like Nigella, you get up in the middle of the night, tiptoe down to the kitchen in your satin dressing gown, open the fridge, slip a spoon into the leftover chocolate mousse and scoff it, sexily. A domestic goddess does not live here, I can assure you.

A bread-maker does. Sometimes I make no-knead bread. Here is one of the. New York Times' best-loved recipes, first published in 2006: "Mix flour, water, salt and yeast in a bowl just until they all come together. Cover the bowl and let it sit on your counter overnight. The next day, shape it into a loose loaf, let it prove, then bake it inside a preheated Dutch oven with the lid on. That's it." You take the lid off for the last 15 minutes. The result is a golden, cracked top. It looks as fancy as one of those loaves you pay almost a tenner for at flash artisan bakeries.