This post was first written in October 2013. Re-written and refreshedin September 2021.
If you take 250g flour, some yeast and water, you can add many, many different things to it and get a lovely loaf, with 4 portions, to use for any meal, as an anytime snack or after school filler.
I don’t know why I called this Carrot & Sultana Loaf as I am quite clearly using raisins!
How do I make Carrot & Sultana Loaf
First, line a 1lb loaf tin with greaseproof paper. I have tried heavily oiling the tin, buttering and flouring and dusting with polenta, but the baked loaf sticks like crazy and the only thing that works is to line the tin. When it sticks, by the time I’ve prised it out, it’s a most peculiar shape!
Mix all the dry ingredients together.
Add the water and mix well. There is no need to knead, the gluten will develop on its own, just leave it. You want a nice soft dough. All flours are different, so you may need a little more water, add a tablespoon at a time.
Cover with a plate and leave to rise. This may take half an hour, an hour, or longer. If you don’t have anywhere warm, or it’s winter, so cold, heat the oven to 40C, (hand hot) turn it off and put the plate covered bowl inside and shut the door.
Once the dough has risen, tip it into the lined tin.
Leave to rise again until it is above the top of the tin. Don’t cover it, the dough will stick to whatever you cover it with. You could put it back in the warm oven while proving.
Bake in oven at Gas 6 / 400F / 200C / 180C Fan for about half an hour. Tip it out of the tin and remove the lining paper. The bottom may well not be cooked enough at this point, so pop it back in the oven for about 10 minutes.
Leave until cold and slice it into 4 portions. This may be 2 or 3 slices each portion, depending how thick your slices are.
What substitutions can I make?
Try and use raisins rather than other dried fruit as raisins give you a portion of ‘purple’, which is the hardest one to get into your day
If you can afford to get a little tub of yeast rather than 2 sachets, do that as it is a quarter of the price
You can use any type of flour here, as long as it has gluten in it. Bread flour will give a higher rise and a springier finish, cheapy flour gives a perfectly fine loaf. I have used both.
If you are following meal planner 2, this loaf divides into 4 x 2slice portions, to be eaten on 2 different days. If you aren’t following the planner, do what you like! Even more delicious eaten warm from the oven with butter melting over it
Variations
If you have any thyme growing on your windowsill, a few sprigs would give a lovely flavour, or maybe some bayleaves, keep them whole though, you can’t really eat them, unless you use the ground version. Some fine chopped rosemary would work well. Or how about some orange or lemon zest and juice. You could add some spice, maybe some ginger, or mixed spice, cinnamon or a bit of nutmeg.
You could replace the carrots and raisins with courgette and apple, or sweet potato and sultanas. Have a look in your cupboard and see what you have.
This features in Meal Plan 2, a complete 7 day plan for 2 adults. Contains 3 meals a day, plus snacks , all recipes and a shopping list
You may also like these delicious savoury loaves
Ingredients
- 100 g carrots grated Asda 2kg/£1.18, 6p
- 50 g raisins 500g/84p, 8p
- 250 g flour 45p/1.5kg, 3p
- 7 g yeast 28p/2x7g sachets, 14p
- 160-180 ml warm water
Instructions
- First off all, line a 1lb loaf tin with greaseproof paper. I've found the loaf has a tendency to tick if the tin is not lined.
- Put all the dry ingredients in a bowl and mix well.
- Add the water and mix until you get a soft dough. The water is variable as flours vary, some need more, some less, you are aiming at a fairly soft mix, this gives the yeast a chance to do its job. There is no need to knead the dough.
- Cover with a plate and leave to rise for half an hour or so in a warm place. If you don't have a warm place, heat the oven to 40C, turn it off and place the tin inside, shutting the door
- Tip the dough into the lined tin and put back in the oven, uncovered, to rise until the dough is above the top of the tin.
- Bake the loaf at 180C and cook for about half an hour. The bottom should sound hollow, if it doesn’t, pop it back in the oven for a few more minutes, You can leave it out of the tin at this point.
- Leave to cool. Cut into 4 x 2 slice portions if you are following meal plan 2
Equipment Needed
Notes
Variations
If you have any thyme growing on your windowsill, a few sprigs would give a lovely flavour, or maybe some bayleaves, keep them whole tho, you can’t really eat them, unless you use the ground version. Some fine chopped rosemary would work well. Or how about some orange or lemon zest and juice. You could add some spice, maybe some ginger, or mixed spice, cinnamon or a bit of nutmeg. You could replace the carrots and raisins with courgette and apple, or sweet potato and sultanas. Have a look in your cupboard and see what you have. This features in Meal Plan 2, a complete 7 day plan for 2 adults. Contains 3 meals a day, plus snacks , all recipes and a shopping list Got a great recipe? How about submitting it to appear on Thrifty Lesley!
Brenda – so sorry, I was improving the post yesterday, made a recipe card for it and then didn’t add it in! Doh!
Where do I find the ingredient list please, or am I just stupid, lol
mmm, that sounds good!
Try it toasted with a crushed ripe banana spread over rather than butter – heavenly!
They sound really good. Love the apple fig and ginger one, will have to try that
Love this recipe, thank you Lesley. I am on our third loaf of the week. Using up old dried fruit during isolation, I had some 24p dried figs that I had never found a use for.
So far I’ve made a loaf with carrot and one with sweet potato (which makes the loaf lovely and squidgy). Todays loaf is a cooking apple, with figs and a bit of grated ginger.
I make the dough and leave in fridge overnight so I can take out and cook in morning.
The meal plan just has a bag of white value self raising flour available and that will make a very acceptable loaf. If you have any strong bread flour, you’ll probably get a bigger rise
Bread looks fab
But what kind of flour do i use?
Glad it worked for you Scotty
Nailed it everytime eith your simple instructions. Thanks.