I’ve really enjoyed my recent breakfasts with this bread toasted plus some cream cheese or mascarpone with marmalade or ginger preserve. The trick is to just toast it enough for the chocolate to be nice and soft without making a mess of the toaster. (Yes, I suppose you’re right, I could use the grill.)
This is a “quick bread” with no yeast, therefore no rising or proving time is needed. So, here’s a little friendly challenge for you. Can you make this lovely loaf and have two slices on a plate within an hour?
Makes: Two medium loaves giving 10 – 12 slices each
Time: About an hour or less, provided you don’t faff about
Level: Easy
Need: No special stuff, just a baking tray, bowls, an oven etc. A metal bench scraper is handy, but not essential.
Ingredients
- 350g/12oz plain white flour
- 150g/5½oz wholemeal flour (or use 500g plain white)
- ½ tsp salt
- 50g/1¾oz sugar
- 12g bicarbonate of soda
- 75g/2½oz butter, softened
- 100g/3½oz – 125g/4 oz dark chocolate pieces
- 100g/3½oz dried cranberries
- A large orange (Zest + 50ml/1¾fl oz juice)
- 300ml/10fl oz – 325ml/11fl oz buttermilk
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 220°C / Fan 200°C / 425°F / Gas 7. Cut a piece of baking parchment to fit a large baking tray. Set the parchment aside, but put the tray in the oven to heat up.
2. Put the flour(s), salt, sugar, bicarb soda, butter, chocolate pieces, cranberries and orange zest into a bowl and mix really well.
3. Make a well in the centre and pour in most of the buttermilk and orange juice. Bring the mixture together, either with a fork or use your hands. Add more buttermilk as required, but the dough shouldn’t be wet and sloppy.
4. Tip it out onto a lightly floured work surface. Gently but quickly bring the dough together, without kneading it. Don’t overwork it. (Speed is important because the chemical reaction that gives the loaf its rise will already have begun.)
5. Divide the dough into two equal pieces. Form them into rounds and place onto the baking parchment sheet, with space between them. Flatten them down a little, then use a sharp knife or a bench scraper* to cut a cross shape most of the way through each piece. (* I dip my bench scraper in flour, cut into the dough then rock the scraper side to side gently to create V-shaped cuts.)
6. You could leave them as they are or dust with flour, or brush with beaten egg or milk, or any left-over buttermilk and scatter with oats or some more orange zest. Take your pick.
7. Lift the hot baking tray out of the oven then lift the parchment + two loaves onto the tray and place it all in the oven.
8. Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and tap the bottom to listen for a hollow sound that will tell you that it’s baked. Place on a wire rack to cool and sprinkle over some more zest if you have any left.
N.B. I’ll be remaking this loaf soon, it was so nice, but I think I’ll add some nuts too, maybe 100g instead of the cranberries, or 50/50 with cranberries. If you try it first, let me know. It’ll be a tough choice though – pistachios? walnuts? pecans? Maybe hazelnuts – they go well with chocolate and orange. Mmm.
Anyway, I hope you have a go at this or your own adaptation. Check out my main site for more recipes.
Retired Bloke on Food n stuff 