Cinnamon, raisin and candied orange bread crown

This particular bread has been gazing out of the 'Readers Digest Complete Guide To Cookery' book for as long as I have had it.


It's been bookmarked for anyone else who wants to try it on the virtual recipe drawer that is Bookmarked Recipes - your one-stop shop for tried and tested recipes from the food blogger community updated every Monday.

The page stayed open in the middle of a pile of books while I looked at some new spring menu items, and, as it turned out I had some leftover bread dough, so the time had come to make it.


What I didn't have though was mixed glacé mixed peel, so it was almost put on hold once again, until I found a pot of leftover candied orange zest (made the same as the lemon zest here) from new year and an assiette of desserts. By this time however, it had dried out - no good for garnishing chocolate tart that weekend, but ideal for this bread.

Makes 1 large loaf

125 ml milk

60 g unsalted butter

7g (1 sachet) dried yeast
60ml lukewarm water

375 g bread flour

¾ tsp salt

45g sugar

1 egg

Filling:

60g currants

60g sultanas

2 tbsp chopped glacé mixed peel

45g dark brown sugar

½ tsp ground cinnamon

¼tsp nutmeg

grated zest 1 lemon

Heat the milk and butter until the butter has melted. Let this cool to lukewarm. Meanwhile dissolve the yeast in the warm water.

Sift flour into bowl. Add salt and sugar and make a well in the centre. Add the yeast mixture, milk and egg. Mix by hand, gradually drawing in the flour to form a smooth dough. If the dough is sticky work in more flour.

Knead the dough as for normal bread doughs, around 10 minutes. Leave it to rise for ¾ - 1 hour.
Roll it out on a floured board or work surface to 9 x 16in / 23 x 40 cm rectangle. Mix together ingredients for the filling and sprinkle over dough, leaving a ¾in / 2 cm border all around. With a rolling pin press the filling lightly into the dough. Roll the rectangle like a cooked swiss roll and press the seam to seal it.

Now curve the roll into a circle [as shown above here], overlapping and sealing the ends.

Transfer the circle to a greased/ floured baking tray.

Make a series of deep cuts around the circle with a sharp knife without cutting right through the circle. Pull the slices apart slightly and twist them over so they lie flat revealing the sprial design.

Let the dough rise - around ¾ - 1 hour - then bake it in a pre-heated oven at 200 oC till deep golden brown and a skewer comes out clean - around 25 - 35 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool.

Glazing - there's two ways you can glaze this:

1 - Egg wash just before you put it in the oven.

2 - Don't egg wash it, but while still hot after you have baked it, brush with soft icing made with 60g icing sugar mixed with 2 - 3 tbsp water.

This was served as part of a Sunday brunch.