Kitty and Al say: “Happy Bread was the result of a freak coincidence that led to one of my proudest creations of all time. One day I overestimated the amount of doughnut dough I needed, so I put the leftover amount in a focaccia tray and smothered it in extra caramel sauce from some buns I’d been making. The moment it came out of the oven, golden and bubbling, I knew it was going to be a counter hit. When we first started at the bakery, a local business asked if we could sell their CBD (the chemical extracted from marijuana that can give a legal high). We had a sample pot and at first we would dab a bit of CBD onto the bread before baking, hence the name Happy Bread. I think you’ll find it makes you pretty happy anyway, without any chemical assistance.”

Makes 8 Slices 

Ingredients

• 1 quantity of doughnut dough (see below)

For the caramel sauce: 

• 200g soft light brown sugar
• 60g soft butter (either salted or unsalted)
• 120ml whipping or double cream
• A pinch of coarse sea salt flakes (optional)

For the doughnut dough:

• 500g strong white bread flour
• 80g caster sugar, plus extra for coating
• 7g instant dried yeast (2 tsp or a whole sachet)
• 10g fine sea salt
• Zest of lemon or orange (optional)
• 4 eggs
• 150ml water
• 125g soft unsalted butter

Method

First, make the dough. In a bowl, combine the flour, sugar, yeast, salt and citrus zest, if using. Crack in the eggs and pour in the water. Give everything a good mix and then knead for four minutes until you have no visible patches of dry flour left. This is a very wet dough, so an electric stand mixer is the best option.

Gradually incorporate the butter (a small chunk at a time) until your dough is smooth and elastic. Place a cover over the top and leave for about one hour, or until doubled in size. Knock back the dough and place in the fridge for four hours or overnight. This dough really needs to be chilled before you handle it.

Line a small baking tray, roughly 20 x 15cm, with parchment paper. Tip your dough onto the tray and gently flatten it out to reach the edges and into the corners. It should be about 3-5cm thick. Cover the tray with a tea towel and leave it somewhere cosy to prove for one to two hours. (If the dough has been stored in the fridge, this will probably take a couple of hours.)

Meanwhile, make the sauce. Put the sugar, butter and cream in a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan and simmer over a low heat while stirring or whisking continuously. After about five minutes, the sauce will start to thicken slightly. Keep cooking for a further minute and then take the pan off the heat and let the sauce cool – it will continue to thicken off the heat.

Once your dough has risen nicely, preheat the oven to 220°C/200°C fan.

Gently dimple the dough with your fingertips or the end of a wooden spoon, just like you would for focaccia. Pour over the caramel sauce so that the dimples get filled. If you want a nice, salted caramel taste, sprinkle over a few coarse sea salt flakes.

Bake in the hot oven for 25-30 minutes. After 20 minutes, check that the caramel isn’t burning. If the caramel is turning a bit dark, put a sheet of foil loosely over the tray. Leave in the tray to cool for 5 minutes before lifting the bread out of the tray using the parchment paper. Transfer the bread to a wire rack and leave to cool completely.

Kitty and Al say: “We all know what happened with banana bread during lockdown – it went as big as Beyoncé. It’s simple, sweet without being too indulgent, and a brilliant way to use up ripe bananas (you almost feel you’re recycling when making it). But I always found banana bread to be quite dull and tried to jazz it up by adding anything and everything I could find in the cupboards: among other experiments, there was peanut butter banana bread, cornflake banana bread and Marmite banana bread (that one was not repeated). Then I remembered one of my favourite winter comfort foods – slices of ripe banana, shallow-fried in brown butter and honey until crisp, golden and caramelised. When added to banana bread, the effect of these caramelised bananas is – just like Beyoncé – mesmerising, and will make you want to twerk a little.”

Makes 1 loaf / 10 slices

Ingredients

• 140g soft unsalted butter
• Demerara sugar, for coating the loaf tin
• 150g plain flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp fine sea salt
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground nutmeg
• 150g soft light brown sugar
• 1 tbsp honey
• 2 eggs
• 300g (approximately 2 large) very ripe bananas, peeled and mashed
• Nuts (optional)
• Chocolate chips (optional)

For the caramelised banana slices:

• 2 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1 tbsp honey or maple syrup
• 2 ripe bananas, peeled and sliced

Method

First, make the batter. In a saucepan over a medium heat, melt the butter. Once melted, keep stirring the butter until it turns golden brown and gives off a nutty, caramelised aroma. Set aside the brown butter for 30 minutes to cool.

Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan. Lightly grease a 950g loaf tin with butter and coat the sides in a little demerara sugar.

Sift the flour into a mixing bowl with the baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.

Pour the brown butter into a large mixing bowl, add the sugar, honey and eggs and then whisk together until pale and frothy using a handheld electric mixer. Using a metal spoon or silicone spatula, gently fold in the dry ingredients and mashed banana. At this point, fold in any nuts and chocolate, if using.

Next, make the caramelised banana slices. In a saucepan over a medium heat, melt the butter. Once it starts to turn a caramel colour and smells nutty and sweet, add the honey or maple syrup. Turn the heat down to low, add the banana slices and gently stir for two or three minutes, taking care not to break up the slices. Set the caramelised banana slices aside to cool a little.

Pour the batter into the prepared tin, then cover the top with two-thirds of the caramelised banana slices. Bake for 50 minutes or until golden and risen on top – a wooden skewer or toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean.

Leave the banana bread to cool slightly in the tin on a wire rack for 20 minutes then ease the loaf carefully from your tin and leave to cool on the rack for another 10 minutes at least. Cut the loaf into slices and serve while still warm with the rest of the caramelised bananas spooned over the top.

Variation:

Dark Chocolate and Peanut Butter
Add a handful of chocolate chips and a big dollop of peanut butter just after you’ve added the mashed banana.

Kitty and Al say: “Every Christmas the most disappointing present would be a panettone. It feels really Christmassy, it normally comes in a beautiful, big box, it looks like some strange fairy cake on steroids, but then you cut it open and it’s nearly always a stale, rather dry cake with an occasional mouthful of fruit. I was determined to capture the flavour I thought it should have. So I came up with these.”

Makes 12 buns

Ingredients

For the dough:

• 500g strong white bread flour
• 50g golden caster sugar
• 7g instant dried yeast (2 tsp or a whole sachet)
• 10g fine sea salt
• Zest of 1 orange
• 2 eggs
• 1 egg yolk (save the white for the topping)
• 150ml warm whole milk
• 1 tbsp rum, brandy or amaretto (optional)
• 100g soft unsalted butter
• 100g raisins or dark chocolate chips
• 50g mixed peel
• 50g dried cranberries

For the topping:

• 40g ground almonds
• 70g caster sugar
• 1 egg white
• A handful of flaked almonds
• Icing sugar, for dusting (optional)

Method

First, make the dough. In a mixing bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, yeast, salt and orange zest. Make a well in the flour and crack in the eggs and egg yolk, then add the milk and rum, brandy or amaretto, if using. Mix until there are no visible patches of dry flour. Spoon in the butter, raisins or chocolate chips, mixed peel and cranberries.

Next, knead the dough. We recommend using a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook as it’s a sticky dough. Mix for a good 8 to 10 minutes or until the dough comes clean away from the sides of the bowl. Leave in a warm place to prove for one and a half hours or in the fridge overnight (this’ll give it a much richer depth of flavour).

Tip your dough onto a lightly floured work surface and chop it into 12 equal pieces. Shape each piece into a little round and place on one or two baking trays lined with parchment paper, spacing them 5cm apart. Pop a damp tea towel over the top and prove in a warm, cosy place for at least two hours or until doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan.

Meanwhile, make the topping. In a small bowl, whisk together the ground almonds, sugar and egg white. Brush a thick layer of the topping over your buns and then scatter the flaked almonds on top. (You can freeze any leftover topping for the next time you bake these buns.)

Bake in the hot oven for 15-20 minutes or until golden and crisp. Transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool. Dust with icing sugar, if you want.

Breadsong by Kitty & Al Tait (£20, Bloomsbury Publishing UK) is out now