Recipes – Earl Grey Loaf

I found this recipe book on sale a few years ago, and being the lover of tea that I am I just had to have it. The problem is, that I have never actually made anything out of it, so the other day when I came across it on my bookshelf, I decided it was time to change that. I browsed through it and came across this recipe for Earl Grey Loaf. Now Earl Grey tea is one of my favourite teas, so this decision was a no-brainer.

I used Thompson raisins for this recipe. For the tea, I steeped it at about twice the strength I normally make my Earl Grey. The taste of the tea is very faint, so I will probably try to make it a bit stronger the next time around. I also made a bit more tea than was required, because I was worried about how much the raisins might soak up. It turns out I was right to worry. The mixture was quite dry, so I added some of my reserved tea when mixing everything.

Earl Grey Loaf

1 1/2 cups raisins or golden raisins
3/4 cup strong cold Earl Grey tea
1 2/3 cups self rising flour
generous 3/4 cup demerara sugar
1 large egg

Soak the raisins in the tea overnight. (Or put the raisins and tea in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer gently for 20 minutes.)

Preheat the oven to 325 F and grease and line a 1 1/2 lb loaf pan.

Put the raisins and tea into a large bowl. Add the other ingredients and stir.

Put the batter into the loaf pan and bake about 1 hour, or until a knife or tester comes out cleanly. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto wire rack to cool completely.

Serve with butter and of course tea! For a simple bread this is quite tasty, and I can’t wait to try it again with a stronger tea base.

I’m looking forward to testing out more recipes from this book, they all look so tasty, especially if it means I can serve them with a lovely cup of tea!