Festive fruity walnut beer bread
Recipe taken from Channel 4's River Cottage: Three Go Mad Christmas special
Preparation 20mins
Ingredients
350g white self raising flour, plus extra to dust
150g wholemeal self-raising flour
2tsp salt
1tbsp caster sugar
2 handfuls raisins and/or sultanas
1 handful walnuts, roughly chopped
500ml beer or lager
butter to grease
Method
Preheat an oven to 180C
Sieve the flour into a mixing bowl and add the salt and sugar. Stir in the raisins/sultanas and the walnuts until well combined. Open the beer and pour into the bowl, mixing as you pour until all the beer has mixed into the flour.
Grease the sides and base of a 2lb (900g) loaf tin. Dust in flour and shake out any excess.
Pour the batter into the loaf tin (the batter will be alarmingly loose, this is correct!) and transfer to the preheated oven. Bake for 1 and a half hours or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the loaf comes out clean and the bottom of the loaf sounds hollow when tapped.
Once cooked remove from the tin and transfer to a wire rack for cooling. This can be eaten warm or cold and will last a couple of days in a sealed container. Ideal to eat with cheese.