Date and toffee hot cross loaf

Ingredients

For the loaf

• 450g Carr’s Plain Flour
• 2x7g sachets of fast action dried yeast
• A level teaspoon salt
• 150ml milk
• 1 Egg
• 50g caster sugar
• 50g butter (room temperature)
• 100g dates (chopped)
• 50g toffee chunks

For the cross

• 75g Carr’s Plain Four
• Water

For the glaze

• Apricot Jam

Method

1. Put all the ingredients except the dates and toffee, into your bread maker following the maker’s instructions and follow for raising dough. If your bread maker doesn't have a nut dispenser add the dates and toffee when it beeps.

2. Take the dough out of bread maker and shape and place into one large loaf tin, 22cm x 12cm.

3. Cover with a clean tea towel and leave to prove in a warm place until doubled in size.

4. Preheat oven to 180 ˚C (fan 160˚C, gas mark 4). To make the cross mix the flour and water and pipe a cross on top of the uncooked loaf. Bake for approx 40 mins.

5. To make the glaze warm the jam with some water in a pan until softened. Brush the top of the buns or loaf with the glaze when they come out of the oven. Let the loaf cool slightly in the tin, before turning out.

Our thanks to Carr's Flour for providing this recipe, carrsflour.com

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