CHRISTMAS LOAF - Festive, fun - and vegan!

To demonstrate just how easy this loaf is to make, this was made in about an hour and a half in one of my special needs breadmaking classes. There are more pics further down the post - some showing how the loaf is assembled.

This is a splendid bread for those who find Christmas cake a bit too rich and heavy. Every slice should show the bright yellow of the marzipan, and the red of the glacé cherries. The amounts of fruit, etc, I’ve given, are merely my suggestions. Vary them as you will. If you aren’t keen on marzipan, use (yellow) dried apricots - or tinned sliced peaches. And use any other glacé fruit you like. The idea is create a colourful, festive appearance when the loaf is sliced.

[For another take on this loaf, which belongs to the large family of fruit breads - with pics - have a look here.]

Ingredients:

200g (or 1 mug) strong white flour                                                    

1 tablespoon sugar

100g (1/2 mug) sultanas (or any dried fruit; chop larger fruit down to sultana size)

25g candied peel

Any spices you like – mixed spice, cinnamon, nutmeg, etc. - to personal taste

1 dsp fresh yeast

125ml (or 1/3 mug) lukewarm water

Good splash of olive oil (2-3 tbs?) (optional)

Plus:

50g golden marzipan

50g glacé cherries, halved (save 3 half cherries for decoration)

Sugar glaze made with 1 tsp sugar and 1 dessertspoon boiling water

Method:

1.    Place the flour, sugar, dried fruit, nuts, mixed peel and spices in a large mixing bowl. Mix to distribute the spices. Measure the water and stir in the fresh yeast. Place the flour and sugar into a mixing bowl and pour in the yeast liquid. Add the olive oil. Have a little water to hand to add if necessary, remember, it is better for your dough to be wetter (slack) rather than drier (tight).

2.   Hold the bowl with one hand and begin to mix with the other. Use one hand to turn the bowl round, whilst the other hand begins to squeeze the mixture together. As it forms into a solid mass, keep turning it over and pressing it down to pick up the flour at the bottom of the bowl – but make sure it stays soft. Don’t be afraid to add more water. When all the flour has been mixed in, wipe the bowl around with the dough, turn it out onto the worktop and begin to knead.

3.   Knead by stretching the dough out, folding it over, stretching it out and so on and so forth. Do this until it becomes smooth and even. This shouldn’t take very long.

4.   Now roll the dough out into a circle about 20cm across, then shape the marzipan into a long rope, just smaller than the width of the dough. Place the marzipan across the middle of the dough and put the halves of glacé cherries along each side of the marzipan (saving 3 halved cherries for decorating the top). Add more cherries if you like.

5.   Fold one side of the dough, towards you, over the marzipan and cherries, then fold it over once more, so that the seam is underneath. Tuck the ends underneath to stop the marzipan from leaking out. Place on a prepared baking sheet.

6.   Using a pair of scissors, snip three cuts in a row in the top of the loaf for the half cherries. Gently, but firmly, insert a halved glacé cherry into the slits, tucking the edge of the cherry under the dough on each side (this stops them falling out as the bread rises). 

7.   Cover with a dry tea towel and leave until it has risen appreciably. To prevent it browning too fast  cover it with baking parchment halfway through baking.

8.   Bake for 25–30 minutes at 190C, 375F or gas mark 5. Brush with a sugar glaze made from 1 rounded teaspoon of sugar and 2 of boiling water.  Cool on a wire tray.

This will keep for a couple of days and it freezes very well.

Here's my Christmas loaf for this year, containing dried apricots, and cranberries

The large one is for us, the small one I've sent to my sister, who sends us a Christmas pud every year.

Bit of a traffic light theme here, which I thought the grandchildren would enjoy!

These pics are of the Christmas loaf we're having this Christmas  - that's now in the freezer - plus my sister's loaf which is in the care of Royal Mail, ATM.

Here are the ingredients:

300g strong white flour

3 dessertspoons sugar

2 teaspoons mixed spice

2 teaspoons cinnamon

100g sultanas

50g cranberries

50g dried apricots, chopped

(These were all soaked for a while in boiling water - then I used the water with the yeast)

175ml lukewarm soaking water (bit less than usual because the fruit was very wet)

10g fresh yeast

25ml olive oil

Plus:

100g golden marzipan

Coloured glacé cherries, halved 

This made for a very sticky dough which I kneaded briefly for several times over about an hour - by which time it had become a lot less sticky.

I divided it into 2 - 500g and 300g (roughly), rolled the dough out into long ovals (I've realised that by making the loaf longer and thinner, it'll bake better) and added the marzipan and the cherries.

Folded the top over the middle, then rolled it over once more, hiding the seam underneath, and tucked the ends in.

On went the cherries and I covered both loaves with a roasting dish to prove.

Whilst the filling was going on, the bread was rising, so it didn't take long before it was ready to go into the oven. I left the cover on in the oven for the first 15 minutes then removed the cover and turned the tray round a quarter turn every 5 minutes until it was done - about 35 minutes altogether at 200C.

When it came out of the oven I put the loaves to cool and brushed them with a sugar glaze

(I'm a bit annoyed with myself, since I forgot to sprinkle some flaked almonds over the marzipan and cherries.)

Friday 16th December.
I've been making this bread with various groups for the past few weeks - here's a few pics:

FUN WITH MINCEMEAT - AND REINDEER DROPPINGS

Or: What to do with that leftover mincemeat!

Christmas shapes, mainly with mincemeat.

Since the beginning of December I have been making nothing but Christmas breads in my sessions:

Christmas loaf recipe:

Mincemeat doughnuts

Mincemeat snowmen, snowballs, Christmas trees, stars – and reindeer poo!

Some sessions I’ve simply called, ‘Fun with mincemeat’.

Here’s my basic sweet dough recipe for the mincemeat filled breads:

Ingredients:

200g strong white flour                                                      

1 dsp sugar      

1 tsp mixed spice (optional)                 

1 tsp fresh yeast

125ml lukewarm water

1 tbs olive oil (optional)

                       

Filling:

A small jar of mincemeat       

Dough:

1. Measure the water and stir in the fresh yeast. Place the flour, sugar and mixed spice into a mixing bowl, pour in the yeast liquid, then add the olive oil if using.

2. Have a little water to hand to add if necessary, remember, it is better for your dough to be wetter (slack) rather than drier (tight). Begin to mix by stirring the ingredients together with a knife, cutting through the dough as it forms. When it gets too stiff for the knife, use your hand to squeeze the mixture together. As it forms into a solid mass, keep turning it over and pressing it down to pick up the flour at the bottom of the bowl – but make sure it stays soft. Don’t be afraid to add more water to keep it soft! When all the flour has been mixed in, wipe the bowl around with the dough, turn it out onto the worktop and begin to knead.

3. Knead by flattening the dough out, folding it over and flattening it again. Knead until the dough becomes smooth – and then stop before you get fed up!

Shapes:

Christmas tree: Divide the dough into two, form into balls and roll out into two ovals. Cut out 2 Christmas tree shapes and a small star. Place one of the tree shapes on your prepared baking tray.

Spread mincemeat over the tree on your tray and place the other tree shape over the top. Place the star at the top of the tree and press the dough of the star and the tree together.

After baking, brush with sugar glaze and stick slivers of different coloured glace cherries for candles on the branches. Or just dredge icing sugar over your tree.

Snowmen: Roll out the dough to a large pizza size. Using a set of pastry cutters, cut an equal number of large, medium and small circles. Place half of them on your prepared baking tray with the medium circles overlapping the large circles, then the small circles overlapping the medium circles to form snowmen shapes. Spread mincemeat over the snowmen, then put the top circles on. After baking, sprinkle with icing sugar. Use a sliver of a red glace cherry for the snowman's nose, and sultanas for buttons.


Snowballs. Exactly the same as snowmen - place one circle of dough on the baking sheet, place a teaspoon of mincemeat in the middle, then cover with another circle of dough.


Reindeer poo. Any leftover bit of dough can be turned into reindeer poo. Divide the dough into four and shape into small balls. Place three on the baking sheet, huddled together, then place the last one on top. When these are baked they can be covered in melted chocolate. When the chocolate is cold, you can sprinkle these with a little icing sugar to represent snow.

4. When your bread is shaped, leave to prove until the dough has become puffy.

5. Bake at 220C, 425F or gas mark 7 for between 10-15 minutes. Look for some shade of brown underneath. Place on a cooling rack. When cool, add the finishing touches.

And this batch was made with one of my students with learning disabilities. They're all filled with mincemeat - except for the reindeer poo, which is simply 4 small balls of sweetened bread dough covered with melted chocolate.

Have fun!


Here's a few pics:

These were made in one of my sessions by a couple of homeless guys...

Thursday 23rd August.

Fun with mincemeat today: mincemeat doughnuts, mincemeat Swedish tea rings, mincemeat apfel kuchen (German apple cake), large mincemeat tart, mincemeat Chelsea buns, mincemeat Bialys.

Chelsea buns and a couple of doughnuts

Swedish tea ring and doughnuts

Mincemeat tart, apfel kuchen (German apple cake) and bialys

There are several ways to approach using mincemeat in apfel kuchens, Chelsea buns and Swedish tea rings: they can be made with dried fruit in the mix as per normal, then spread with mincemeat before being rolled up; they can have the mincemeat incorporated in the mix instead of dried fruit; or, as happened here, they were made with a plain sweetened dough which was then spread with the mincemeat.

I sampled the German apple cake and one of the Chelsea buns - and they were simply gorgeous - we certainly don't make enough of mincemeat away from the Christmas season.

Each of these batches of bread is made using 160g of flour to 100g of water - so they're not very big. Just goes to show that in breadmaking, a little goes a long way!

Thursday 24th March 2011
The pineapple and mincemeat loaf was just a simple spicy fruit dough, rolled out and covered with mincemeat - then turned over on top of the slices of pineapple which were placed on the baking paper.

Pineapple and mincemeat upside-down loaf

Thursday 26th April 2012

At Longrun care home this morning, where the residents made mincemeat doughnuts. A great variation on these is to place a flattened disc of marzipan on the circle of dough before placing the mincemeat on top. The combination of marzipan and mincemeat is very tasty!

 At the back there are several of Adrian's jam pasties, since we'd run out of mincemeat.