These large teacakes make several portions each. To serve, I split them across, and then cut each half in half. They can also be started in the bread-maker; instructions below.
INGREDIENTS:
- 2 tsp dried yeast
- 1 tsp caster sugar
- 300ml warmed milk
- 25g brown sugar
- 450g strong white bread flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 25g lard
- 50g currants
- 50g mixed peel (optional)
- Milk for glazing
METHOD:
- Grease a couple of baking sheets, and warm the oven to 220C
- Stir the yeast into the warm milk with the sugar, and leave in a warm place until starting to ferment and frothing.
- Mix the sugar, flour and salt, and rub in the lard.
- Add the currents, peel and the yeast/milk mixture, and kneed on a floured surface to make a soft dough.
- Set aside to rise for around 1 hour 15 minutes
- Divide the dough into six equal pieces, and roll to around 15 cm across, 1 cm thick. Put these onto the baking sheets, and cover while they prove. This will take around 40 minutes.
- Brush the tops with milk and bake for around 20 minutes.
- Cool on a wire rack.
If you are going to make the dough in a breadmaker, follow the method below:
Put the ingredients into the breadmaker in the order below:
Yeast, flour, sugar, salt, lard, milk (or water and milk powder). Set the bread machine to ‘basic dough’. Once the dough is ready, kneed in the dried fruit before dividing into buns and leaving to prove.