Recipes, Styling & Photos Emma Boyd

Makes 2 loaves, Prep Time 15 minutes, Cook Time 45 minutes

200 g raisins

750 g water

200 g starter

80 g sugar

8 g cinnamon

4 g mixed spice

4 g nutmeg

330 g wholemeal flour

670 g bread flour

18 g salt

 

The night before you want to start your loaves, put the raisins into a heat-proof jug, pour boiling water over them so that they are well covered and leave them overnight to rehydrate.

Put the water and starter into a large bowl and using clean hands mix until it has mostly come together. There will be a few lumps here and there and that is ok. Drain the raisins then add these to the liquid along with the remaining ingredients aside from the salt. Mix again until the dough comes together. Cover and leave for 30 minutes. Sprinkle the salt over the surface of the dough and using your hands scrunch it all together to incorporate the salt. Leave for a further 10 minutes then perform your first stretch and fold. Repeat the stretch and folds roughly every hour until your dough has doubled in size and has visible air bubbles through it. The time this takes will vary depending on the temperature of your kitchen and can take up to 7 hours.

Grease two loaf tins and flour a clean bench. Divide the dough in two. Take one piece and gently stretch it out to form a rectangle a little longer than your tins. Fold all four corners in a little, like you would dog-ear the page of a book, then fold the arrow head you’ve made in at each end so that you have a rectangle again. Gently roll this rectangle up so that you have a long sausage shape roughly the length of your tins. To create tension on the surface of your bread, get rid of the flour underneath this rolled loaf and gently pull it towards you. Then flip it 180 degrees and repeat several more times before putting it into the loaf tin and repeating with the next piece of dough. Put the tins onto the top shelf of your fridge, set to 7°C, cover with a tea towel and leave overnight to prove. In the morning your dough should have visibly puffed up. Pre-heat the oven to 220°C, put a shallow tray towards the bottom and boil the jug. Once this oven is at temperature, remove your loaves from the fridge, score them and put them into the oven then quickly tip a cup of boiling water into the shallow tray and shut the door. Cook the loaves for 45 minutes or until a deep brown colour and cooked through (turn them once to ensure even cooking). Remove the loaves from the oven and place on a cooling rack. Once cool, wrap in a clean tea towel or store in a paper bag. These loaves also freeze really well.