Seasonal Clementine and Cinnamon Malt Loaf - (adapted from a Paul Hollywood Recipe)

It's a miserable and wet afternoon and I'm home with a poorly little boy.

Other than snuggles with my little man, what better is there to do than spend the afternoon making bread !

I've adapted an original Paul Hollywood recipe to give it my own twist. 

This smells really Christmassy and is very flavourful without being over-powering.

25g salted butter

25g white granulated sugar

90g malt extract

70g black treacle

2 clementines, with very thin, tight skin

2 tsp cinnamon

350g white bread flour

150g spelt flour

200mls warm water

225g mixed vine fruits (sultanas, raisins, etc)

14g fast action yeast

Put butter, sugar, malt extract and black treacle in a pan and stir on a medium heat until sugar has dissolved. Set aside to cool.

Take two, tight skinned clementines (the type where there is no bitter white pith under the skin) and check they have no pips. Blend to a puree and then add to the warm syrup mix in the pan.

Put flours, salt, vine fruit, cinnamon and yeast (away from the salt) into another bowl. Add the water and bring together. Tip on to a floured work surface and knead lightly for a few mins until a soft dough comes together.

Cut dough into two equal pieces. These can either then be put into 1lb loaf moulds and then covered and left to rise for about 2 hours. I chose to use 1 x 1lb loaf mould and 1 x 10 cell mini loaf mould (of which I filled 9 small cells with 75grams of dough per cell)

Bake larger 1lb loaf for 30mins at 190deg C, small ones for 12mins.

On removing from the oven, brush the tops with agave nectar, honey or syrup whilst still hot. Remove from moulds / tins and allow to cool.

Sarah-Jane Nash - www.siliconemoulds.com - November 2013