Cornish Saffron Loaf

 With my treatments and fatigue level, my main objective right now is cleaning out my inbox. haha. Found this recipe from Mom...thought I'd add it here. In case it wasn't here. Along with a bit of family history.

Cornish Saffron Loaf

Saffron breads and buns appear in Southern England.  My grandmother, Gladys Holman, used to make this my Godmother, Patsy just told me.   She said that at bedtime, tea cups and plates were set out and they'd all have tea and this type of loaf ...but they called it a cake but that it looked like a loaf.  One night when Patsy was visiting my grandparents, my grandfather Poppy, Richard Holman, would pull one of his pranks.  He went to the basement, turned off the lights at the fuse box, crept back up, grabbed Patsy's huge slice already buttered, and washed her face in it, everyone laughing all the while.

This recipe is adapted from a recipe of Wilfred J. Fance, who wrote brilliantly about British baking in the middle years of the twentieth century.

SPONGE

3  teaspoons yeast

2/thirds  cup warm tap water about 100°

1  cup +2 T  bread flour

DOUGH

1 cup whole milk

1/eighth teaspoon crumbled saffron threads

2-3/4 cup bread flour

1/third cup sugar

5 T unsalted butter, cut into 10 pieces and softened

1 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt

1-1/2  cup currants

1 cup golden raisins

1/2 cup candied orange peel, 1/4" dice or more golden raisins if you prefer

2 8x4x2 pans buttered or prayed with cooking spray

1. SPONGE  whisk the yeast into the water; wait 30 seconds, whisk again.  Stir i fliur and cover the bowl.  Let ferment until more than doubled in bulk, about an hour.

2. Meanwhile, bring the milk to a simmer in a small pan.  Off the heat, stir in the saffron.  Let cool until the sponge is ready.

3. Pass the milk through a fine-meshed strainer over the sponge and stir; set aside.

4. put the flour and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and used a rubber spatula to  combine.  Place the bowl on the mixer with dough hook and add butter.  Mix on lowest speed til the butter is absorbed by the flour about 1 minute

5. Add the sponge and saffron mixture to the bowl and mix on  low speed til there are no longer any dry bits of flour, 2 minutes.  let dough rest for 15 minutes

6. Sprinkle in the salt and mix the dough on low for a minute, then add currants and raisins and candied peel. Continue to mix til the dough is smooth and elastic and the fruit is evenly distributed, about 2 minutes longer.

7. Scrape the dough into an oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap.  Let dough ferment til doubled about 60-90 minutes.

8. Scrape the dough onto a lightly floured surface and divide it in half. Form each half into a rough square, then roll each up and drop into the prepared pans, seam side down.  cover and let proof til risen about an inch over the rims of the pans.

9. About 20 minutes before the loaves are fully proffed, set a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat to 400°

10. Place the fully proofed loaves im teh oven and lower the temp to 375°.  bake until well risen and deep golde with an internakk temp of 200° about 45 minutes.  Check after 20 minutes and, if the tops of the loaves are coloring too quickly, reduce the tep to 350°

11. Unold the loaes and cool them on racks on their sides to prevent falking.

Yield: two 8" loaves