Those who bake are happier people than those who don't. That was my belief. They must be. When the aroma of baking bread and pastries is floating around, where is there room for misery?

I cheated by getting a bread-maker. All I had to do was put in all the ingredients into the bread tin, select the relevant function and observe the magic that was automation. I was fascinated with the blinking of lights on the display that signalled what was happening in the bread making process. When the baking function started, the aroma of baking bread filled my home. Three hours later, I tipped the loaf out of the tin. Life was complete.

I followed the few recipes that came with the manual. It was the standard white bread recipe but I was happy. The variations were from the differing content of sugar, salt, fat, bread flour, whether I added egg. I put the bread-maker to work at least twice a week. The bread-maker broke down only after a year.

Devastation and desperation awoke the real baker in me. Suddenly filled with daring (because I was too stingy to part with money for a second bread maker), and because I'd watched the machine as it worked, I figured out the kneading and proving processes. There I was kneading and punching dough with my bare hands. I put the dough into a cake tin for the final rise before popping it into the oven and watched the bread rise like an anxious mum. When the bread was baked, I tipped it out of the tin and cut the first slice while the bread was still hot. I put a little knob of butter on it and instantly it started to melt. Bread and butter went straight into the mouth. Heaven.

Since that first hand-kneaded plain loaf, I've experimented with more bread recipes. My favourites are the pandan (screwpine leaves) bread with a coconut filling that's cooked in pine sugar and cinnamon rolls. The aroma drives everyone at home crazy-happy.    

Postscript added on 8 Oct 2023: Note: Thank you to those who have written to let me know you enjoy reading my column but daren't take a lesson because there are parts you don't really understand. I assure you we'll always speak at a level which suits you so that we can enjoy a casual conversation. Also, we can go through words and sentences that are difficult so that we learn together. Perhaps, they will be easy then and we'll always have something to talk about. No stress!