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Mmmm......I can smell bread. Don't worry, I'm not going (any more) mad (than usual). I can smell bread because, well, there's bread cooking.

I recently invested in a bread maker. Now I had a lot of people telling me that this was an outstandingly dumb idea. Bread makers tend to top the charts, along with ice cream and popcorn makers, of things people buy and never use. But I wanted to take the plunge.

I love bread, you see. I can't imagine my life without it. It would make me very sad. I was so glad that it turned out I wasn't blessed with the joys of dealing with coeliac disease as well.

The really good thing about using a bread maker is that I can control exactly what goes into the loaves that I'm making, and I can pick and choose what seeds I put in. This is great. And after a few sad looking little lumps that didn't really qualify as bread, we seem to have got the knack down, and come out with something that's really quite nice.  Warm bread and butter - heaven, I tell you. Thankfully, I got told by David (one of the two dieticians I seem to have acquired) that the way to work out the carb value of bread when you don't have a packet to work with, is to weigh the bread you're going to eat, and then divide that in half. This will give you a reasonably good estimate of the carbs. Plus, it's easy to remember, which is always helpful!

So, as long as you're committed to making it part of your routine, don't let anyone put you off a bread maker. They make nice bread, they're not THAT expensive any more, and you get the gorgeous fresh bread smell. What's not to love?