Baker's Intuition!

In my last post I mentioned that I was going to try and blog one recipe a week. Well, Sunday was my chosen day for trying out the recipe, and photographing it.

I was a bit apprehensive about the recipe I was trying - Mum reminded me that the recipe came from Grandma, after a search I found it in  Mum's recipe book. So I set about making a sultana loaf. This is a pretty heavy "loaf", and I had visions of cutting it and having to pop it back into the oven, just to cook the inside, as when I have made it in the past I have sometimes had a 'gooey centre' (Not my favourite texture)
One of my sisters used to make this quite a bit when her family was younger, and it always seemed to be a success, so I thought I'd give it another try.

The recipe is one of those that really relies on the intuition of the baker...This is the original recipe as written in Mum's book.

SULTANA LOAF
2 large cups S.R. Flour, 1/2 cup sugar, pinch salt, 1 cup sultanas, 1 cup milk. Grease tin and bake about 1/2 hour or more. See what I mean??

All went according to plan with the ingredients and I used baking paper to line the tin, set the oven to about moderate (I have to guess as the temperatures have all worn off) and popped it into the oven for half an hour...or so...

Next thing I know I am waking to the smell of Sultana Loaf wafting through the house on a very warm snoozy Sunday! Yep you guessed -  I had laid down for a bit of a read and woken intuitively an hour later. Result? Perfectly baked Sultana loaf! With picture to prove it.

Sultana Loaf - just as it should be.

I wouldn't recommend this method of timing your baking so I have included a more updated version for you to try.

Sultana Loaf

Ingredients:

2 cups Self Raising Flour

1/2 cup sugar

pinch salt

1 cup sultanas

1 cup of milk

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
2. Grease a loaf tin or line with baking paper.
3. Put all dry ingredients including sultanas into a bowl.
4. Mix them thoroughly and make a well in the centre.
5. Pour in about half the milk and mix, adding remainder of milk gradually.
6. Place mixture into tin.
7. Place in oven and bake for approx 30 - 40 minutes. 
8. Use a skewer to test - if cooked skewer will come out clean.
9. Turn onto a rack to cool. This will allow the crust to harden, if you prefer a softer crust, leave in tin to cool.
10. Slice and serve buttered. Also nice hot. Can be sliced and frozen too.