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Monday 6 June 2011

A little home cooking.

Picture this - A warm, sunny Sunday.  Men in whites on the village green with the crack of leather on Willow.  A typical 'English' Cricket match.  (For me, the most boring sport in the world LOL!)

My Mom-in-law Brenda May used to make the cricketers tea for the team my brother in law played for.  The house smelt of home baking for a couple of days before 'the match', one of her recipes was for Tea Bread.  It's a family favourite and a very simple fat free, flexible recipe.  I mix it by hand as you will not need a mixer.  I made some today and I'd like to share the recipe with you.  Ideally, start the mix a day before baking to allow the fruit to 'plump up' overnight if possible.

Brenda-May's Tea Bread

Ingredients for a 1Lb loaf

1 cup of black tea.  (I use hot freshly brewed)*
1 cup of sugar
1 cup of any dried fruit
(I used sultanas, currents and candid peel)
2 cups of SR flour
(OR for the US
2 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt)
                                                                             1 egg

Method

Place the dried fruit, sugar and tea into a mixing bowl, mix together.  Cover and leave overnight if possible, but even an hour or two would do.
(After the overnight soak, nice plump fruit)

Then, next day line a loaf tin with enough silicon paper or foil to lift over the mixture to form a loose 'tent' to prevent burning.
Give the fruit mixture a stir and add the flour and egg,

then mix to amalgamate the ingredients well.

  Pour into the lined loaf tin
then lift up the excess lining and make a loose 'tent' to prevent burning


 and bake for approx 1 hour (checking after 30 minutes) at 180 Deg. C, 375 Deg F, or Gas 5.  The loaf is cooked when a skewer** comes out clean. (** no skewer?  Use a dry spaghetti stick!)
Mmmmm!
Lift out the bread with the liner and place on a baking tray to cool.
Slice and serve warm or cold
or, as we do and butter - lovely with a cuppa :o)

Store in an air tight container.  It keeps and freezes well.

* I make three times this amount at a time as I have 3 tins!  I halve the sugar (I'm diabetic).  I use half wholemeal and half white flour.  I have posted this recipe on an American site and it has been adapted to use with other fruits such as cranberries and fruit teas.  I have also added a couple of chopped plums that were left in the fruit bowl.....as I stated a VERY flexible recipe!  They also dared to just grease the tin and not 'tent' over the top without it catching, but I wouldn't dare to as my oven can be unpredictable.

Hope you make it and enjoy it :o)

Best wishes to all, happy baking!


07th June 2011

I've just found a photo of Tea Bread made with all white flour, looks different again!









11 comments:

Unknown said...

Mmmmm, that's making me feel hungry, haven't had breakfast yet, thanks for sharing your recipe...I too remember cricket from when I was young, sitting on the grass watching my Dad play and thinking....I really don't get this!! xx

George The Lad said...

Mom says your tea bread is very tastie, she will have ago at making some.
But I must tell you something, you gave mom a recipe for Elderflower cordial well me and dad today went and got 30 heads just like it said, put them in a bag and brought them home to mom, got it so far OK, the bag was in the kitchen while we had our tea, mom goes in the kitchen and says it stinks in here must be them flower heads so takes the bag outside only to return to see the kitchen windows full and I mean full cus you couldn't see out of them for insects!!!! so the moral of the story is, keep your heads outside and wash them there!!! I thought I better just tell you.
Oh thank you for your comment, I am A OK just off down the pub.
Have a good week
See Yea George xxx

acorn hollow said...

yummmm it sounds so good I would use dried grandberries I may have to try this soon.
Cathy

Vintage Jane said...

Will definitely try this out. I'm thinking it will make a nice Father's Day pressie for my dad. M x

Louise said...

Thanks for your comment! I agree with the things you said and I always believe in things working out for the best as all the things that have happened in life I have thought of as bad always seem to turn out well in the end - I am one of those 'everything happens for a reason' types and always keep my faith in 'it'll be alright in the end'!

Dave says chance favours the bold and honestly, if we completely drain our savings and Dave doesn't find a job for years, it'll be fine - at least the distance has now closed! That will make such a huge difference, even if we are skint! I have been struggling lately because I had given up on hope and convinced myself things were never going to change - and then this happened!

One Gal's Trash said...

Hi Rose,
Thank you for the recipe...I'll be baking your bread thousands of miles away from you in Portland, Oregon. It sounds (and looks) delish!
xo
Pam

Kim said...

Cor! That looks gorgeous!! Thanks for sharing the recipe - methinks this will be on the agenda this weekend!!

Funkymonkey said...

I just wanted to say hello, as I've just found your blog today. I've been reading through some of your older posts. I've tried to add myself as a follower but the gadget isn't working at the moment. I'll pop baack over and add myself at some stage.

Tracey

Linda (Nina's Nest) said...

That looks delish! I'd love to have a slice with a cup of tea (Earl Gray)! Linda

Brownieville Girl said...

This one is right down my hubbie's alley .... love that it is so simple! Looks wonderful too.

#Thanks a million for the tips on blogger, they worked!

Mary said...

Yummy looking Rose, this sounds amazingly delish!!! I haven't always been successful making bread but perhaps this one will do it - it sounds quite easy! I'll definitely have to try it out - but wait for a cool day before running the oven that long - 102 here yesterday!!!! Not planning on being outside for any sport, especially, as you say, boring cricket, ha! ha!

Thanks for sharing this recipe.
Hugs - Mary