CURRANT AND CINNAMON LOAVES

Recipe and photo’s: Elsabie Templeton
I baked a deliciously soft currant and cinnamon loaf (actually it made 2 small loaves) from a Snowflake raisin recipe I reworked a bit. It’s got vibes of hot cross buns. Tin size is 22 x 11 x 7 cm.

500 g Eureka Mills white bread flour
7 ml salt
80 g light brown sugar
10 g instant dry yeast
45 ml cinnamon
80 g softened butter
300 ml lukewarm water (I used warm milk and melted butter into it)
1 egg, beaten with a fork to mix
125 ml currants, soaked overnight in rooibos tea (drain before adding to dough)
Sugar glaze:
15 ml castor sugar
12 ml warm water
Sift flour and salt together. Add sugar, mix and add yeast* (*I prefer to bloom the yeast in a little warm water with 1t sugar for 10 minutes before adding to the rest of Ingredients).
Add milk and butter and egg to mix to a soft dough. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 5 – 10 minutes, or until dough is smooth and elastic. I use my Kenwood with dough hook for about 7 minutes.
Place dough in a large, lightly oiled bowl, cover and leave to rise in a warm place for about 20 minutes, or until doubled in size. I left my dough for an hour as it was a cool rainy day today.
Knock down dough on a lightly floured surface, add currants and knead until smooth. Shape into a load and place into a greased 22.5 cm loaf pan.
Cover and leave to rise in a warm place for about 10 minutes, or until doubled in size.
Bake in a preheated oven at 180 °C for 35 to 40 minutes, until golden brown.
Glaze: Combine sugar and water and stir until sugar has melted. Brush over hot bread.
I brushed with melted butter to give a soft top.