Sultana Bread

I was recently told about Guernsey Gache, which is a yeast based bake, with sultanas and chopped mixed peel.  I looked at a few recipes for that and decided that the resultant bake would be denser than I like for a bread bake.  So I decided that I would make a sultana bread using the recipe I previously used for a milk bread.

The process is quite simple and doesn’t require a lot of kneading of the dough.  It does take a little while to make though as you have to wait for be dough to prove a couple of times.   Adding the sultanas and mixed peel to the recipe didn’t affect the bake, and certainly provided a wonderful flavour to what was already a nice loaf.

So I was very pleased with how the bread turned out and I have already enjoyed it just with butter and then I toasted a slice too and that tasted great as well.

                                                                            Sultana Bread

Ingredients:

• 300ml whole milk
• 80ml cold water
• 12g fast action yeast
• 500g stong white flour
• 5g salt
• 20g caster sugar
• 60g softened butter
• 300g sultanas
• 50g chopped mixed peel

Method:

1. Heat the milk to almost boiling point and pour into a bowl. 
2. Add the cold water to help cool the milk down. 
3. When the milk has cooled to a gentle lukewarm(I had mine at 43C/110F) sprinkle the yeast over it and add a teaspoon of the sugar. 
4. Stir the mixture and set aside for 5 minutes, to activate the yeast. 
5. In a large bowl mix the flour, salt and remaining sugar. 
6. Make a well in the centre and pour in the yeast mixture. 
7. Use a spatula to stir everything together. 
8. Once all the mixture has come together cover the bowl with plastic wrap and leave for 15 minutes. 
9. Remove the plastic wrap and add the butter to the dough mixture. 
10. Use your hands to mix it all together, giving a fairly vigorous knead for about one minute. 
11. Very lightly oil the work surface and tip the dough onto it. 
12. Knead for again to ensure the butter is mixed in thoroughly and then flatten the dough into a circle. 
13. Sprinkle the mixed peel and the sultanas onto the dough and fold it in on itself. 
14. Knead the dough until the fruit is evenly distributed throughout. 
15. Roll the dough into a ball. 
16. Grease the bowl and place the dough in it. 
17. Cover with plastic wrap again and leave to rise for an hour, kneading for 20-30 seconds twice during the hour. 
18. Butter a 2lb loaf tin. 
19. Tip the dough out onto the work surface and shape. Either divide in two and form into balls and place them side by side in the tin, or form into a single sausage shape and place in the tin. 
20. Cover and allow to prove until the dough has increased in size by about 50%(mine took 45 minutes) 
21. As the dough proves preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/350F. 
22. With a sharp knife slice the length of the dough about .5 inch deep. 
23. Bake in the oven for 50-60 minutes, until the top has browned nicely. 
24. Remove and tip the loaf out onto a wire rack. 
25. Tap the bottom to make sure there is a hollow sound(if not hollow sounding bake for a little longer). 
26. Allow the loaf to cool before slicing.