As some people may know, I have always been into cooking and especially baking. I have been doing more and more, specifically because the crunch came in January with my ongoing health problems and I decided to stop eating wheat once and for all. I have intolerances to sugar (including lactose), wheat, soya and a shellfish allergy. I also have to be a bit careful with yeast because I am prone to thrush ever since I caught a really bad cold virus from my mother in December 2013 that gave me oral thrush, and my poor mum’s oral thrush was so severe she had to have a strong course of antibiotics. In contrast, I treated mine with a mouthwash made with tea tree and rosemary essential oils. It took a while to go but it did eventually but I seem to have been left with something in my bloodstream and since then I can get a bit itchy after eating foods containing yeast, especially if my resistance is low. Mushrooms are one of the worst things for me, it seems. I had some shitake mushrooms a few weeks ago when lunching out with friends and the itching afterwards almost drove me crazy.

My body doesn’t like preservatives or additives or the like and I make all my own bread at home with Shipton Mill spelt flour, and also have the occasional gluten-free treat. Today I made two delicious organic wholemeal spelt loaves. My recipe is really versatile because you can add chopped nuts or dried fruit, or include more savoury ingredients like gently fried chopped onions, chopped olives or sundried tomatoes or even a dollop or two of pesto. I then took a photograph and posted my recipe up on the Shipton Mill website: –

http://www.shipton-mill.com/baking/recipes/very-versatile-wholemeal-spelt-loaf.htm

So have a go at it and see what you think!