Sourdough tea bread

If you don't have a pet sourdough starter of your own, you can use the instructions here to create one.  It's really simple but don't be disheartened if it dies - I'm currently on my fourth starter and I'm sure it was nothing I did that led to the deaths of the previous ones.  Hmmm maybe my parents knew what they were doing when they wouldn't buy me a puppy.

This tea bread is sweetened by the addition of glace fruit and is a great mid-afternoon snack especially when served with butter.

Day 1 - evening

Ingredients:

• 50 grams sourdough starter
• 100 grams organic whole spelt flour
• 100 millilitres mineral water
• 25 grams mixed peel
• 75 grams sultanas
• 200 millilitres cold black tea

Method:

• Mix together the sourdough starter, spelt flour and water in a bowl and leave at room temperature.  This is known as the ferment.
• In a separate bowl soak the mixed peel and sultanas in the cold tea and leave at room temperature.

Day 2 - morning

Ingredients:

• 40 grams stem ginger in syrup - chopped
• 80 grams glace cherries - chopped
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 150 grams organic whole rye flour

Method:

• Reserving the tea, drain the peel and sultanas and place in a large mixing bowl.
• Add 100 millilitres of the tea to the bowl.  If you have insufficient tea, make up the difference using mineral water.  Discard any excess tea.
• Add the ferment to the mixing bowl.
• Add the stem ginger, glace cherries, salt and rye flour.
• Combine all of the ingredients and mix well.
• Using a Kitchen Aid with the dough hook attachment, kneed the mixture for 15 minutes on a medium setting.
• Cover the bowl with a tea towel and set aside for two hours or until the mixture has doubled in size.
• Grease a 1 pound loaf tin with light tasting vegetable oil.
• Add the loaf mixture to the tin and smooth with a palette knife.  Leave to rise until it reaches the top of the tin.  This will take in the region of 1 hour.
• Pre-heat the oven to 220 Centigrade.
• Place the loaf tin in the oven on the middle shelf.  Fill a baking tray with water and place this on a lower shelf to create steam.  Bake for 35 minutes or until the loaf sounds hollow when tapped.    During this time, add more water if the baking tray is drying out.
• Leave the loaf to cool in the tin for five minutes.
• Carefully remove the loaf from the tin and leave it to cool on a wire rack.
• Once cool, wrap in greaseproof paper and leave to rest for a day (it tends to have a weird gummy texture on the day of baking).

Day 3

• Your loaf is ready to eat.