Since we are short of time to share the Christmas posts in an exclusive section, I have decided to combine few of them with the toddler challenge, in fact I have been doing it already :) Sarah has been surviving on the Christmas goodies for the past 2 weeks. She does not care if its a slice of cake, Christmas loaf, cookies or panettone, she has to have these for her meals. I am so hoping our week long vacation will get her off this habit and she would be back to eating normal stuff. I guess its the weather or just a phase, she is mercurial these days howling and beating us if we don’t concede to her demands. I lose it at times especially with a lot of work happening at the same time. Today I am quite upset because my maid ditched me, I hate it when people switch off their phones and take a break without informing me and then return the next day with some cock and bull story.
I end up ruminating on how I will give her a piece of my mind the next day and all this eats up my mind. Boy am I fuming! Sarah is down with cold so she has been super cranky today. She slept off early without any dinner. She had a slice of this loaf, a cookie and 8 spoons of chicken soup. I hope she has a nice sleep, else it would mean sleepless night for us parents. So before I fall off my chair here’s today’s recipe. It is just like a Christmas cake except for the yeasty flavour. It stays for a month in an air tight box and that’s the best part about this recipe.
Ingredients for Christmas Spiced Loaf
All purpose flour- 450 g
Salt- a pinch
Mixed spice- 2 tsp (cloves plus cinnamon plus nutmeg)
Unsalted butter (chilled)- 115 g
Yeast- 7 g
Caster sugar- 115 g
Mixed peel- 50 g
Currants- 115 g
Raisins- 115 g
Rind of orange- 1
Egg- 1
Warm milk- 150 ml
Vegetable Oil- for oiling
Directions
Sift the flour, salt and spices in a bowl and rub in the butter till the flour resembles bread crumbs. Now add the yeast, sugar, rind of orange, mixed peel , raisins and currants. Add the warm milk and whisked egg and knead into a soft dough. Knead the dough on to a floured work surface and when its soft and pliable, let it rise in an oiled bowl covered with a dish cloth for 2 hours. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and place the dough in the oiled loaf tin. The tin should be able to bake 900 g loaf. Let the dough prove for 20 minutes and then bake for 1 hr 10 minutes till the loaf is golden and risen. Leave the tin to cool for 15 minutes before taking the loaf out of the tin.
I cannot believe that Christmas is here. I thought I would do more but with the projects I handle and the toddler meal challenge, I lost track of time. But I guess I did a lot more than last year. And I am hoping to do more next year. I have 2 more recipes in the Christmas section hope I find the time to post them. Stay tuned for the meal plan posts for Christmas eve. Till then its sleepy momma signing off.
