St Patrick's Day Fruit And Spice Bread

Total Time: 1 hr 5 mins Preparation Time: 30 mins Cook Time: 35 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 8
• 4 ounces oats (rolled breakfast oats)
• 7 ounces flour, all-purpose
• 7 ounces wholewheat flour (plus extra for dusting)
• 2 ounces butter, firm, cut into small dice
• 4 ounces superfine sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda (bicarbonate of soda)
• 2 teaspoons mixed spice
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4 ounces raisins, golden, seedless (sultanas)
• 2 ounces dates, finely chopped (fresh is lovely if available)
• 3 tablespoons mixed peel (dried mixed peel, used for christmas baking)
• 16 fluid oz buttermilk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 3 -4 tablespoons sugar, dark brown (demerara, or use any brown sugar)

Recipe

• 1 preheat oven to 350 deg f.
• 2 in a food processor, whizz the oats and butter together. (can also be done with fingertips, saving you cleaning the processor!).
• 3 tip into a big bowl, and stir in the 2 flours, superfine sugar, baking soda, mixed spice, salt, raisins, dates and mixed peel.
• 4 pour over the buttermilk and vanilla, and stir in briskly with a wooden spoon.
• 5 tip on to a flour-dusted surface and gently form into a flattish ball. transfer to a baking tin (cover it with baking paper first).
• 6 sprinkle over the dark brown sugar (any brown sugar will do) and press the sugar in, all over the top. to be traditional, cut a cross in the top of the bread.
• 7 bake for about 35 minutes, until crusty on the outside. do test with a skewer, as ovens can vary a lot. allow more baking time if necessary.
• 8 nicest if eaten warm, in thick slices, slathered with real butter!