For as long as I can remember I have loved cooking shows. I remember sitting in front of the television mesmerized as a child and loving how each little bowl in front of the chef had the right amount in it for the recipe. It always looked so organized and perfect. I used to scribble down the notes, run to the kitchen put all the right amounts into a bowl, making sure everything was perfect and then pretending I had a cooking show. Then cooking or baking away. Never mind that every single bowl in the house was dirty after a simple chocolate cake.
Over the years its been a constant to sit down and enjoy a great cooking show. Picking up tips and tricks as well as great recipes. Trying them out and then adapting them to become my own.
This recipe is one of those. I was watching the Barefoot Contessa and simply loved the sound of this bread as it requires no kneading and is very little fuss, yet it is delicious and very more some bread. So true to my childhood I jotted it down and rushed into the kitchen. The only thing that has changed is that I use less bowls now!
serves: 6
ingredients:
- 4 cups of flour
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 55g butter
- 1 3/4 buttermilk
- 1 egg
- 2 tsp orange zest
- 1 cup dried raisins
Instructions:
Preheat your oven at 190°c
Grease a flat baking tray and leave aside ready for dough.
Sieve the dry ingredients into your mixing bowl.
Add the butter and mix when electronic mixer using the whisk attachment. Once the better is the size of peas, stop mixing.
Add your orange zest and wet ingredients and mix using your dough hook. Don’t over mix the dough.
Once everything is mixed add the cup of raisins and beat again. Don’t ever beat. Stop when the raisins are evenly mixed into the dough.
The dough will be a very wet dough.
Empty the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and pull in together, the flip it over so that you are left with a neat round ball.
Take a sharp knife and make a cross on top of the dough.
Place the dough on the baking tray.
Bake for 45-55 minutes or until you tap the top of the bread and it sounds hallow.