Happy new year my dear Substack readers! I am back from a much needed break as 2024 really took it out of me. If I am being honest, it was an extremely tough year as I navigated the world with a toddler, newborn and small business. When I had my first daughter, Daen’s Kitchen was more of a hobby than a full time job and the balance between work and motherhood was much more manageable. When I had my second daughter, Daen’s Kitchen had turned from a hobby into a full blown career and I wasn’t willing to stop working as I absolutely love what I do. But by pushing myself both mentally and physically, I burnt myself into the ground. And through that, a little bit of my creative spark and passion dwindled away.
As I enter 2025, I am feeling refreshed and creatively inspired (a little New Years photo on my rooftop with my family below). I have so many new recipe ideas that I can’t wait to share with you all. I am also working on a brand new website that will be live at the end of the month and I cannot wait!!
As we stride into January, a month that has been conditioned for years and years to be of reset and elimination, I am asking you to not eliminate but embrace. Embrace food and food practices that make you feel good about yourself. For me, I am starting the year with making homemade bread. While we are told that we should avoid bread and carbs during January, I am making more homemade bread than ever because it makes me feel good to eat something that I have made from scratch, with love and high quality ingredients.
Bread is so readily available to us at the supermarket but it’s full of preservatives and sugar which can sometimes upset my stomach and disrupt my skin. So I have made it my goal to make a loaf of bread every week for my family and I to enjoy. It’s what makes me happy and that’s what January is all about in my eyes.
So here are two recipes that uses my no knead focaccia dough. This dough is so incredibly easy to make that once you start making it you will become slightly addicted to making bread from scratch. The first recipe uses this dough in a loaf tin so it has the look and feel of a loaf of bread. It’s just far tastier than any bread you can buy from the store! The second recipe uses the dough in a muffin tin to make the most perfectly bite sized focaccia’s.
I have also lowered my Substack subscription prices as I do believe in offering my recipes free to everyone. If you do choose to pay, it’s more of a contribution that goes towards the creation of these recipes. I am so grateful to all my paid subscribers!
I would love to hear what you would like to see more of from me this year! I hope you are all having a lovely year so far.
What’s cooking this week
If you love focaccia as much as I do then you are absolutely going to love these bite sized muffin tin focaccia. The recipe uses my easy and fool proof no knead focaccia dough to make up to 24 muffin sized focaccia’s. They are crispy and golden on the outside, soft and fluffy on the inside and make for the perfect snack.
For a lot of home cooks, bread stays well and truly off the menu as it is seen as difficult. There’s some science involved: how does it rise? How does it stay fluffy? So many variables with bread. But when it comes to focaccia, it’s a lot more simple than you might think. Once you start making my focaccia in a loaf tin, you will never go back to bread from the store!
Speaking of bread, I shared a long form ASMR video on how to make my no knead focaccia. Go check it out here!