Ingredients
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2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for kneading
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1 teaspoon baking soda
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2 teaspoons baking powder
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1 tablespoon granulated sugar
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1/2 teaspoon salt
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3 tablespoons sweet unsalted butter or 3 tablespoons margarine, cut into small pieces
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1/4 cup dried currant
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2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice or 2 teaspoons cider vinegar
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1 cup milk (scant)
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2 teaspoons caraway seeds
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1/4 cup golden raisins or 1/4 cup raisins
Instructions
- Place lemon juice into the bottom of a glass measuring cup and pour in enough milk to fill to the 1 cup mark-Do not stir!
- Leave milk on your counter for 1 hour- during this time, measure out all of your other ingredients, but wait to set out the butter until the last 15 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350F and grease a round cake pan or pie plate.
- Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, sugar, and salt.
- Using a pastry blender or two knives, cut in the butter chunks until evenly mixed in and mixture looks grainy.
- Stir in dried fruits and caraway seeds.
- Pour the milk mixture into the bowl and stir with a wooden spoon until all ingredients are moistened- don't overmix.
- Dough will still be tacky at this point but will pick up more flour while kneading.
- Sprinkle some flour onto a flat surface and scape dough onto the floured surface; flour your hands and knead the dough gently until it forms a ball- no more than 2 minutes or you will toughen the dough, and it may be less than that depending upon the humidity of the day.
- (As long as it forms a ball, it can still be little sticky- this is different from yeast bread.) Place dough ball into prepared pan and flatten slightly into a thick disk.
- Using a serrated knife, make a deep cross in the surface of the bread.
- Bake until golden brown and until bread sounds hollow on the bottom when rapped, about 35-45 minutes.