Raisin bread

500g/1lb2oz strong white flour
2tsp salt
7g sachet easy blend yeast (2tsp)
140g/5oz raisins
125ml/4oz milk
1 egg
2tbsp orange marmalade
1tbsp sugar

Put the flour in a mixing bowl with the salt yeast and raisins. Measure the milk and warm water into a jug. Break in the egg and whisk everything together with the fork. Pour the eggy liquid into the bowl of flour and spoon in the marmalade. Knead the dough and leave to prove.
Grease a loaf tin. Flatten the dough out a little into a round disc. Then roll it up roughly like a carpet so that you get a puffy sausage shape. Place the dough sausage in the loaf tin – it should come about halfway up the sides. Cover with cling film, or a tea towel, and leave to rise for 20-25 minutes
Preheat the oven to 220c place the tin in the oven and set the timer for 12 minutes, then turn the oven down to 190c for another 10 min. Turn the bread out of it’s tin and tap the base to see if it feels hollow. If not, put the loaf directly on the hot oven shelf for 10 minutes to color the sides and bottom.
To finish, make a glaze. Put 1tbsp sugar in a small pan with 2 tbsp water. Switch the heat to medium and stir with a wooden spoon till the until the sugar has dissolved to make a syrup. Let it simmer for 1 min, then switch off the heat. Let the bread cool on a wire rack, then brush the top and sides with the warm syrup. It will shine beautifully.

This was from Good Food Magazine. This bread was so good. It had the perfect texture, which may or may not have to do with rolling it like a sausage before the second raise, but that sure was fun. At first I was going to leave off the glaze, but I’m so glad that I didn’t. It made a great bread into an - oh my god this is fabulous- bread. This one looked good, tasted good, and made amazing raisin toast the next day. Also, if your kids are like mine, then they won’t eat the crust, which is the only part that has sugar, so it’s ok for them too.