I am not a bread maker. I am a pastry maker (oh, wait until you try my pastry), I am a cake maker, I am an improvisator. But bread, no. It always goes wrong - the yeast doesn't fluff or the dough doesn't rise or the freezer destroys it completely. (Yes, who is foolish enough to put amateur dough in the freezer?)

But I have a machine. Such a clever, trusty machine: I weigh, it kneads, warms, and bakes to perfection. So now I can have the baking-bread smell without so much as a minute of hard work. I do love domestic rewards, and all the more when I've hardly lifted a finger.

This is my recipe for wholewheat walnut bread. I don't do anything special except throw everything at the clever machine, and push a couple of buttons. It's extremely delicious with soup. And isn't this just the weather for it?

WHOLEWHEAT WALNUT BREAD

1.5tsp instant yeast (I use Hovis)
1.5 cups strong white flour (Dove's organic)
1.5 cups wholewheat bread flour (actually you can use any interesting brown flour here, including soft grain and other country rye-type blends. The proportions mean that the white lightens the load.)
1.5tsp salt
3tbsp walnut oil
2tbsp honey or maple syrup
1 cup warm water

... and that's kind of it. Throw everything in the machine (in this order), select the wholewheat option (not rapid, please) and wait for the scent of bakeries to tell you it's ready.

BREADMAKER WALNUT LOAF

Mm, this is baking right now and I am dying to have a warm slice with cream cheese and maybe some caramelised onion pickle. Or beetroot? Well, anyway, I am looking forward to lifting it out of the tin, all warm and bready, like a proper domestic goddess. I've improvised this from the regular wholewheat recipe, which makes a light wholewheat bread with a very crusty crust. Walnut oil isn't as expensive as you might expect - mine was £1.50 from Sainsbury's.

If you don't have a breadmaker, the January sale is the time to buy one! Even if you don't eat bread on a daily basis, it's worth the cost for weekend toast alone. I use the timer to have bread ready, the smell wafting upstairs, on a Saturday morning. Slice, toast, and add egg or jam. I also use mine for pizza and focaccia, a crowd-friendly tear-and-share bread that already has fans in my family.

1.5tsp dried yeast
1.5 cups wholemeal flour
1.5 cups strong white flour
2tbsp walnut oil
1tsp caster sugar
1tsp rock salt
1 cup warm water
Large handful chopped walnuts

Add the ingredients to the bread pan in the order above. Put the walnuts in the fruit/nut compartment (or add when the machine orders you to). Set to BAKE RAISIN on the wholemeal setting.