Hot Cross Bun Bread

January is a great time for a clear out and my baking cupboard is no different. This came about as I found a nearly full bag of strong bread flour and a load of packets of dried fruit with a little bit left in each. I have a bad habit of forgetting about them, buying new ones and then the vicious cycle starts. I do the same with packets of lentils but there are less opportunities to bake with them.

                                             

Anyway bread is amazing to make because you can whack anything into it. Really – just give it a whirl. I’ve used up nuts, seeds, almost used up brown sugar by shoving them in dough and baking the result. Bread is hard to get wrong. Yes you need to knead it but it really doesn’t take that long and you experience the fabulous result (well not me as I’m off gluten but you go crazy).

Ingredients

20g dried active yeast

1 tsp sugar

850g strong bread flour

5g salt

2 tbsp caster sugar

Dried fruit – sultanas, raisins, candied peel (I think I probably had about 200g in the end but it can take more)

1 tbsp mixed spice

600ml warm water (200ml boiling water and 400ml cold water)

1 egg, beaten

1. Take 200ml of the water and put 1 tsp of sugar in. The sprinkle the yeast on top, mix and leave for about 10 minutes. A massive foamy top will develop which means the yeast is getting excited about making bread.
2. Put the flour, salt, caster sugar, dried fruit and spice in a bowl and mix well.
3. Add the yeast mixture and the rest of the water. Mix well to make your dough and use your favourite kneading method. One here uses dough hooks andthis one takes a while but requires very little labour from you.
4. Once you’re at the second proving stage (the second time you leave it to double in size) either leave the dough as one big loaf or you can make two loaves by proving in loaf tins.
5. Before baking, brush the top with beaten egg and then put in an oven heated to 180°C/GM 4. For one big one about 45 minutes should do, for the smaller loaves about 35 minutes.
6. Obviously, as with all bread, it’s best eaten warm from the oven but it seemed to work well toasted as well.