The best bake

SIR – Alex Turner (Letters, March 10) says that “today’s bread is nasty”.

My breadmaking machine is 20 years old, and I have not bought a loaf in all that time. The basic ingredients are just flour, oil, butter and water, and the secret is to use good-quality flour and mix white flour with wholemeal and granary. Then add a variety of healthy seeds – sesame, sunflower and pumpkin.

It takes me three minutes to put everything into the breadmaker. A few hours later, the house is filled with the most appetising aroma and there is the prospect of a delicious slice of bread.

Jennifer Harper-jones

Farnham, Buckinghamshire

SIR – While I do not share Michael Stanford’s dislike of sourdough bread (Letters, March 9), I am not fond of two other recent food obsessions – kale and chard.

How should I prepare these vegetables to make them not only wholesome but delicious as well?

Neil Sewell-rutter

Oxford