I found my old recipe book yesterday, and found a cut out and stuck in recipe for fruit loaf which I’d never actually tried, so, full of energy for a change and bored out of my skull, I made one yesterday evening.
I’ve just eaten a slice of this, and it’s not bad. Not bad at all 
Bill toasted a slice for his breakfast and said it was good, although he’ll eat anything that’s not nailed down, so don’t take his word for it!
You end up with a light, but close textured loaf. The best thing about this recipe is that you can add fruits and spices to taste. I think an ounce or so of chopped up pecan nuts would also add to the flavour. I kept to the basic recipe because it was a first try, and I would say it has distinct possibilities for tailoring it to your taste. A dash of cinnamon or mixed spice would turn it into a very seasonal loaf.
PS Cochise. This seems to be a very responsive mix, so you don’t have to hang around for hours waiting for it to rise.
Indgredients
1lb strong white bread flour
1 ounce of soft light brown sugar
1 level teaspoon of sa
2 ounces of soft butter
4 ounces of dried fruit of your choice – I used half currants half sultanas.
7 fluid ounces of tepid half milk, half water
One packet of dried yeast
1 lightly beaten egg. [optional.] I forgot to put one in, and it didn’t seem to hurt it.
Finely grated peel of one lemon.
Method
(1) Put the warm liquid in a mixer with the yeast – or whisk by hand.
(2) Whisk in enough flour to the yeast mixture to form a batter.
(3) Cover the batter with a damp cloth and leave for 20 mins.
(4) Add all the remaining ingredients to the liquid mixture. Either use a mixer to form the dough or work it in by hand. If the mixture is a little dry, gradually add some more water - I made a medium sticky mix.
(5) After the dough is mixed, turn it out onto an oiled board and knead briefly.
(6) Cover with a damp cloth and leave in a warm place until it’s doubled in size.
(7) Tip from the bowl, knead briefly and put it in a bread tin.
(8) Cover with a damp cloth and leave to double in size.
(9) Put into a very hot [bread temperature] oven and bake for 35 minutes.
I can tell that must be good. The basic dough is a variation of brioche, which is a multi-tasking bread, and used to make anything from cinnamon buns to hotdog/hamburger buns.
Using half milk half water must be a ration era thing.
Mikedow:
I’ve made fruit bread in the past and it’s always been a bit heavy, so this recipe was a pleasant surprise.
I hadn’t thought about the bread/milk thing being as a result of old wartime habits, but you might just be right. I see very few recipes that use all milk.
It will make superior bread and butter pudding I should imagine.
The only drawback from making my own bread is that I only bake when we’re down to the last couple of slices, so there is very little leftover.
I can remember my gran showing me how to make the pudding and using a white and blue enamel pie dish.We have come on a ways since then but it’s what goes in
I did see a master class on iced buns filled with cream and jam the other day. They looked good and they’re a favourite of the kids so I’m going to give them a go.
My nine year old granddaughter has half term holiday next week, so we’ll be doing plenty of baking plus making our own butter. Butter is incredibly easy although sadly it isn’t any cheaper to make your own.
Di-Ohso; I saw butter made by accident one day in a bakery. Someone put about 4 litres of cream in a mixer to be beaten, but got distracted and forgot about it. But the resulting butter was used, so not a complete loss. After it’s beaten you need to squeeze out the last of the buttermilk.
Apologies I made a muck up of my post. My only excuse is my granddaughter has just started to learn to play the cornet at school,. She had bought it round to let us hear how she’s doing and whilst here, our son told us his company has told all the blue collar workers all of whom were praised up hill and down dale for the excellent work they’ve been doing and won an award for the company just last year, have been told they have to re-negotiate their contracts. If the company decides to keep them on, which isn’t a given, they must take a £3,000 dollar a year pay cut…Needless to say management aren’t having to do the same, and won’t lose a penny in salary. To say my head was ringing is an understatement.
I’m getting more and more angry at what’s happening…
Di
Oh boy, been there, done that.
Papa was less that delighted, but since I think he had done the very same thing himself as a young sprout, he didn’t make too big a deal out of it.
I spilled four gallons of gravy on the floor once too, right before it was due to go out the door to a wedding reception catering gig at the Masonic Lodge.
Live and learn, eh?
By the way, y’all, as you see there is now a handy-dandy thumbs-up recommend button for you to play with.
I resisted doing this until now, and am still unsure if it’s something that fits the spirit of this blog, so let me know what you think.
There is the capability to add a “dislike” button too, but I’m pretty sure that would not be our style here – best to just ignore things we don’t like around here, that’s my thinking.
Eh?
Anyway, I think you can only recommend a comment once, and you can’t recommend your own. Do let me know if any of you spot bugs in the system though.
I also got rid of the “code”, “close tags” and “strikethrough” options on the comment box – they seemed kinda unecessary. Those of you who want to use code in your comment will have to do it the old fashioned way from here on.
I’ve just logged in and immediately saw the recommend button. Fantastic.
Re Butter:
I have a weakness for butter that’s salted using chunky sea salt crystals. You crunch on the salt and it releases little extra bursts of flavour. The only brand made that way comes from Brittany in France. It’s quite a bit dearer than regular English butter, so I should in theory be able to make a cheaper version.
I quite anticipate having to concentrate my mind on other things when I pour out the double cream otherwise thinking about all that fat will put me off, but I shall be fine once it’s made.
I just want to warn everyone, that If I’m not recommended regularly, I’ll feel rejected.