Flour power!

SILVIA COLLOCA shares her simple recipes for easy baking

She’s the self-taught cook k who brought an Italian flavour to Aussie homes with her hit TV series Made In Italy. Now with her new book, Love, Laugh, Bake!, Silvia Colloca is set to inspire us to rediscover the joy of baking from scratch. Chatting to Woman’s Day, the actress and opera singer opens up about her foodloving life with actor husband Richard Roxburgh and their family.

What’s your favourite thing to bake?

Bread! We’ve got three kids, and Richard and I love bread too so I bake three loaves a week. We all gather around the bench to get that first slice and Richard and I fight for the crust!

Why should we bake our own bread?

It’s cheap, satisfying, smells amazing and when you hear it crackling, it’s like music. It’s a symphony of flavours that will make you so happy once you cut into it.

What’s your family’s favourite meal?

Pizza night on Saturdays. Our pet rabbit Hazel tries to steal our pizza and even managed to take off with a slice one time!

What do you love to cook as a family?

Raffi, 11, loves to make scrambled eggs for Luna, 16 months. Raffi and Miro, eight, “help” me make cake, but mainly because one gets the whisk and one gets the bowl to lick!

What is your happiest food memory?

My nonna would gather the family around a massive wooden board topped with soft polenta and sausage and pork rib stew. We’d get our forks – no plates – and dig in.

Describe your home kitchen...

It’s not fancy but it’s got all I need – my whisk, food processor and oven.

What’s in your pantry?

Flour and heaps of it! Olive oil, good tinned tomatoes, salt and anchovies. Recipes and images extracted from Love, Laugh, Bake! by Silvia Colloca (Plum, $39.99)