Using your leftover lard in sweet bread…
Bread, sweet bread, sourdough and everything. It wasn’t – obviously – planned that I’d have three bread recipes in as many weeks. I certainly didn’t think that I’d find myself with dough-sticky hands again, making another loaf. But leftover lard left me needing to dive into the cookbooks.
When I have a leftover I’m happiest leafing through my growing cookbook collection. I do sometimes google but there’s too much or I’m being too specific, not giving myself the chance to be surprised.
And, naturally, this is where I found the recipe for your lazy afternoon use of leftover lard: tea cakes. The mighty Jane Grigson wrote a version of this recipe in ‘English Food’. I turned to the index and only “lardy cake” under lard. So I thumbed my way and found these.
I adore fruited loaves. And they are cheap as chips. I’ll admit – the pork flavour comes through so I wouldn’t offer a slice to everyone. But if you’ve got an adventurous pal, go for it. Swap your butter for leftover lard wholesale or an equal 50/50 split and, next time you reach for the butter, be grateful that there’s a little more left in the fridge, because you allowed your leftovers to be your inspiration.
Leftover lard tea bread
Ingredients
- 600 grams strong white bread flour
- 6 grams dried yeast (or one sachet of grams)
- 60 grams sugar (I used caster)
- 30 grams lard (or butter)
- 200 grams dried fruit (I used 150 grams sultanas and 50 grams of raspberries)
- 1 teaspoon mixed spice
- 300 ml milk plus more for glazing
- 150 ml boiling water
Tools
- Scales
- Bowl
- Measuring jug
- Loaf tin
- Brush
- Clean tea towel
- Wire cooling rack
Instructions
- Add flour, sugar, yeast, mixed spice and salt together and rub in the lard
- Add the dried fruit
- Pour the boiling water into the measuring jug with the milk - this is an easy way to get the right temperature
- Lightly dust your counter
- Mix together and turn out onto your floured counter and knead for about ten minutes
- Shape into a round, return to the bowl and cover with the clean tea towel
- Leave to rise - this will take anything between an hour and or two, depending on your kitchen
- Grease the loaf tin with a good amount of unsalted butter or lard
- When the dough has doubled, shape into a loaf shape and place gently into the tin
- As the dough reaches the sides of the pan, turn your oven to 180 C
- When the dough is ready to go, pop into the oven and bake for around 45 minutes; keep an eye on it and reduce the temperature if the top looks as though it'll burn
- Turn the loaf out - if it's hollow when you tap it on the bottom, it's done. If in doubt, leave for another few minutes, checking every couple for readyness
- If at all possible, leave to cool for about 45 minutes to allow to dough to complete cooking
Storage
- This loaf will keep well but will be better for toast, eggy bread or bread and butter pudding after a couple of days.You can freeze whole or in slices for months
Got a question? Ingredient you need help with? Get in touch:
ann@storrcupboard.com