Herb & Spice Loaf

Today I wanted to make something quite different - I had been thinking of using up some of the dried fruit leftover from Solstice as well - so I put these two ideas together to come up with a bread/cake that everyone would enjoy.

There is a traditional loaf made most often with a strong tea (Tea Loaf or Tea Bread) however, as I don't drink tea, but I do drink anything with herbs in it, I decided this could be made using some of the more flavourful ones.

A tea loaf is usually spiced as well with either pumpkin pie spices or apple pie spices. If you don't have any, this is not a problem as we most often have the ingredients for these in our cupboards. To make apple pie spice mix together cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, allspice and a little cardamom.

Now for the bread - I mixed about 1 and half cups of dried blueberries, dried cranberries, sultanas, dates, and my personal favorites, elderberries. These were soaked in 1 1/3 cups of boiling water to which I added 3 teabags of lemon and ginger.

However, anything would do - perhaps lemon verbena, chamomile and lavender or any combination of herbs for taste, flavour or added health benefits. I put the apple pie spices (about 1 teaspoon) in with the soaking fruit - just to blend the flavours more.

This fruit was left for about an hour in the hot water, but could easily have been sitting overnight to bring out the full blend and tastes. As well, the spices could have been added to the flour mixture for a more subtle taste.

Next I put 3 cups of spelt flour in a deep mixing bowl and then sifted in 1/2 teaspoon baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, 1/4 teaspoon sea salt. Once these were thoroughly mixed I rubbed in 3 heaping tablespoons of goat's butter until the flour was forming peas.

In another bowl I had an egg well beaten with 1/4 cup of molasses - I like to use the black strap because it has the most mineral and highest nutrient content. I poured this in with the flour mixture and then the fruit was gradually added together with the water it had soaked in.

Once this was mixed it resembled a thick cake batter. I spooned the batter out into a prepared loaf tin and baked it for about 1 hour at 180C. It is a rich dark cake with a lovely moist texture...great with a cup of herbal tea.

April

Herb & Spice Loaf

Molasses Buns - Sugar free, probiotic winter treat!

I have been busy baking and cooking for the last couple of days as we have had a birthday celebration as well as our little Thanksgiving, so have made a few oldies as well as some new recipes to me. Amongst them is roasted pheasant (which was delicious), molasses buns and a steamed pudding...

To be honest I haven't done any of these in years. Once upon a time I would have made roasted game birds quite often at certain times of the year. And as we approach Solstice it is nice to try out some of these and give them a trial run. I like to make things a few times to get it down pat, but also to tweak my own recipe..

Another recipe I tried out on the gang here was old fashioned molasses buns - this is something I would have grown up eating as molasses is a common enough additive in Newfoundland. However, my children would have never eaten this type of food, until we bought molasses to make feed for the goats!

So, now we have organic molasses and I have been itching to bake and use it in my cooking... So far I have made these buns and of course they are great and very easy to make. Actually we used to refer to them as hockey pucks growing up, come to think of it they do look a little like that.

To make molasses buns you would start off with all the usual ingredients....

Molasses Buns

4 cups spelt flour

1 duck egg

1 cup molasses

1 cup butter (melted)

¼ cup agave syrup or honey

½ to ¾ cup goat’s milk

1 cup raisins

2 teaspoons baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon, cloves or allspice (or 1 teaspoon of a mixture of these)

Preheat your oven to 180°C and line a large cookie sheet or some other pan with parchment paper. Measure out the flour, baking soda, spices and salt into a deep bowl and sift together. 

In a small saucepan melt the butter and add molasses and honey to this mixture. Add the milk to the egg and whisk well. Pour these wet ingredients into the dry flour mixture and stir until a soft dough forms. If too dry, add a little more milk as you add the raisins.

Roll out onto a generously floured surface to about 4 or 5 cm thick or more if desired. Using a cookie cutter or a glass, punch out round shapes and transfer these onto the cookie sheet. Then quickly into the hot oven.

Bake for about 14 -15 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. These are delicious warm with butter and a tart jam or on their own with a cup of herbal tea. 

A little taste of something very old and wintery - but also great as a gut probiotic! 

April

Floury Molasses buns