Freshly baked Banbury bread with a pumpkin pie glaze over the top.

How to Make Banbury Bread-Utilizing Leftovers

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Hiya and a happy November to you all! I hope this post finds you well.

Wednesday is a good day for a post, right?! Why not?

Hold on to your hats, as this week, I plan to publish two blog posts! One today… and one Friday. So, let’s dive in.

My post from last Friday alluded to sharing recipes that would utilize the leftovers from my Banbury cakes. (If you missed that post, you can read it right here).

So, what are those leftover ingredients, you may ask? The ingredients that I had extra of were my “Banbury fruit filling” and my “candied citrus syrup”. 

Therefore, this week, the children and I will be making two separate treats to share with you guys. 

If you are curious as to how we used these delicious ingredients… keep following along. And if your interest is peaked, stay tuned for Friday’s post- which will give a few more resourceful ideas.

~Waste Not, Want Not~

Like many home bakers, I do not like wasting ingredients. Resourcefulness is important in a big family- as it limits cost and waste. Utilizing the leftover baking ingredients, as opposed to throwing them out, vaguely reminds me of Amish friendship bread. 

Do you know this bread? Basically, a starter is made and allowed to ferment. Once ready, the bread starter is given to friends, where it can continue to be shared and used in an endless manner (relatively speaking). One might say that the starter for the friendship dough keeps on giving- and living- through additions and use.

I have found that new recipes emerge from adapting ingredients to suit what you already have in your pantry or your refrigerator. Waste not want not, as we say in our kitchen.

The recipe I am featuring today, like Amish friendship bread, started as Banbury cakes and evolved into Banbury bread. Therefore, continuing to bless our home from one Banbury, England inspired bowl.

~Enter the Banbury Bread's Creation~

Many recipes are born from another recipe’s inspiration. Pair that inspiration with a bit of resourcefulness, personal taste, and creativity, and you have a lovely new take on the original. The old is good, the new is fresh.

The top of a Banbury Bread loaf.

Banbury Sweet Bread

A soft sweet bread filled with leftover fruit filling from previously made, Banbury cakes.
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Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients
  

  • 1 cup milk
  • 1 packet active dry yeast
  • 1 1/2 Tbsp sugar
  • 4 3/4 cup bread flour
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 2 Tbsp salted butter
  • 3 eggs
  • 2 cups Banbury fruit filling *(see my Banbury cakes post for the recipe)
  • 1 sprinkle turbinado sugar

Method
 

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. In a microwave safe bowl, heat milk until it is warm to the touch.
  3. Add yeast and 1 1/2 tablespoons of sugar to the warm milk and stir. (Set aside as the yeast activates and bubbles (about ten minutes)).
  4. In the large mixing bowl (of a stand mixer), add flour, sugar (1/2 cup), and salt. Stir to combine the dry ingredients.
  5. Pour the milk and yeast mixture into the dry ingredients.
  6. Using the dough hook attachment, begin mixing the ingredients together.
  7. Add the softened butter and the eggs one at a time.
  8. Knead the bread dough for approximately ten minutes until soft and pliable.
  9. Lightly dust countertops with flour and add the kneaded dough to the countertops.
  10. *Add the Banbury fruit mixture (see note) to the middle of the dough. Begin lightly folding (by hand) the fruit into the dough, until the fruit is evenly incorporated throughout the dough.
  11. Place the dough in a mixing bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Allow the dough to rise in a warm area for one hour (or until doubled in size).
  12. Punch the dough down and form it into a ball. Allow the dough to rise a second time (approximately 30 minutes).
  13. Place parchment paper into an oven safe container and add the bread dough.
  14. Brush the top of the bread with heavy whipping cream and sprinkle the top with turbinado sugar.
  15. Bake the bread for 35-40 minutes (or until 190 degrees and golden brown).

Notes

*This bread recipe is delicious on its own- but for a bit of extra special sweetness- a simple pumpkin pie spice glaze adds a festive touch. (2 Tablespoons salted butter (melted), 1 cup sifted powdered sugar, a splash of vanilla, a sprinkle of pumpkin pie spice, and enough heavy whipping cream to make the glaze your desired consistency (one tablespoon at a time).
This bread is delicious eaten fresh out of the oven with a pat of butter or toasted the next day for breakfast. 
*See the recipe for the Banbury fruit filling in my Banbury Cake post (1 cup raisins, 1 cup golden raisins, 1/2 cup candied peel, 5 Tablespoons salted butter (melted), 3/4 cup turbinado sugar. 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice or all spice, and a splash of vanilla all mixed together).

~A Fitting Name~

Every recipe needs a descriptive name; therefore, my Happy Hawks Homeschool crew and I landed on “Banbury Bread”. Banbury Bread is a sweet bread dough, that we added our leftover Banbury fruit filing to. I suppose it is quite similar to a cinnamon raisin bread. A pillowy soft texture with raisins, candied peel, spices, and turbinado sugar layered throughout. Delightful!

First, we made the sweet bread dough. Following this, we added our fruit filling by kneading the raisin and candied peel mixture into the bread. We then allowed our bread to rise twice. Lastly, we topped our sweet bread with turbinado sugar (for added crunch). 

As an added bonus, we made a simple pumpkin-pie spice buttercream glaze for the top. (The Banbury bread was delicious without the glaze, but the glaze looked pretty- all the while, making the bread taste similar to a sweet breakfast bread.) This was a win-win in our book!

~Come Into the Kitchen to Bake with Us~

Right, with my four eager pupils looking on, we washed our hands, tied our apron strings tight, and began our bake.

Armed with our recipe in hand, and our ingredients waiting for us on the countertop, we were ready!

Please join the five of us as we bake and break bread.

Banbury bread ingredients on a countertop.
*A vintage handkerchief, a vintage heart "pot", and a vintage pitcher- all lovely additions to a kitchen and easily found at a thrift store. (With the exception of my grandmother's pink handkerchief, as it is one of a kind)!

Yeast packets are not inherently beautiful, but they do need a place to be stored in a home-baker’s kitchen. Check out my Facebook page to see some easy kitchen organizer ideas. https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1WRvJEPLYz/

~It's Baking Time~

The Banbury bread dough being made in a mixing bowl.
*Making the sweet bread dough.
Banbury bread dough-ready to be filled with fruit.
*Filling the sweet dough with my leftover Banbury cake fruit-filling. As you can see, I had quite a lot of leftover fruit-filling. and I did not want to let all this delicious goodness go to waste.
Banbury cake, fruit filling being added to the center of a sweet Banbury bread dough.
*Adding the fruit filling to the center of the sweet bread dough- ready to be kneaded in.
Banbury bread dough, with fruit filling, being kneaded into the dough.
*After the Banbury cake fruit-filling was added to the middle of the sweet dough- I simply folded the mixture into the dough longwise- and then turned the dough, 90 degrees, to fold the width. Then I kneaded the fruit filling into my dough, before allowing the dough to rise.
Fresh out of the over- Banbury bread- served in a vintage basket with an embroidered basket linen.
*The turbinado sugar again adds a lovely, crunchy texture to the top of my bread. Turbinado sugar is a wonderful ingredient to bake with!
The top of a Banbury Bread loaf.
*Pumpkin pie glaze is totally not necessary as the Banbury bread is delicious without it. However, the glaze does add a lovely nostalgic taste- reminding me of cinnamon rolls and breakfast bread.

~The Magic Happens in the Oven~

As the turbinado sugar, spices, raisins, and candied peel bake into the bread- it creates a lovely, sticky moistness that makes the soft bread even more tantalizing.

Banbury Bread- ready to be served.

Now hold on one moment…Is it just me, or do you see that mean face with a raisin eye and a long nose? Perhaps, I just need to rub my eyes and rest? However, once you see that mean mug, you can’t unsee it. Anyhow, I digress. Back to the task at hand.

On aside note- I really feel like we should give our “bread character” a name. Hmm, something like? Wally or Merlin? No, no, I know. Bernard. Bernard, for Banbury Bread. Seems fitting. Why not?

~A Little Recap from Last Week: Candied Citrus Peel~

Now that our lovely Banbury bread is cooling on the countertop, I thought it might be nice to enjoy a cup of hot chocolate. However, not just any hot chocolate. No, let us take the classic hot chocolate recipe a step further by adding a citrus twist.

Now why does a citrus twist seem familiar? Hmm…

Oh yes, I remember now. Let us rewind a little to last week’s post. “Vroom and stop! Yes, yes, here we are-last week-making the candied peel: the birth of the leftover citrus syrup.

Candied citrus peels boiling in a sugar syrup.
The boiling citrus syrup.
*Citrus syrup is made by boiling water, syrup and citrus peels for 45 minutes until a lovely, thick, citrus-infused syrup is created. The peels are then removed to make the candied peel. It is the thick liquid that is your citrus syrup. Bingo!
Candied citrus peels.

As the candied peel bubbled and boiled in the sugar water, a delicious citrus-infused syrup was created. This syrup was/is too good to throw away. For, it can be used in a variety of baked goods and drinks. Think, freshly squeezed lemonade (see idea here), St. Clemons drink, or even hot chocolate. 

Fast forward again- now cue the hot chocolate.

~Hot Chocolate with Leftover Citrus Syrup~

As I was thinking about ways to use my leftover, citrus syrup I thought about hot chocolate. And, as you may be able to guess, I experimented a little and created -yet another- new recipe twist for my collection.

Using the citrus syrup instead of sugar to sweeten our hot chocolate added a slight orange flavor. 

Spoiler alert: Chocolate orange is a favorite flavor around here (you will find out more about this flavor combo on Friday’s upcoming post).

A mug of citrus syrup hot chocolate, garnished with a candied orange slice.
*We dedicated the drink to dad as it evolved from Banbury cakes.

~Our Orange Hot Chocolate Recipe in a Nutshell~

The short version: 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream, 3/4 cup milk, 2 ounces of semi-sweet baking chocolate, a splash of vanilla, and 2 Tablespoons of candied peel, citrus syrup. 

Of course, all of this can be easily adapted to suit your personal taste. We kind of made this up as we went. A taste here, and an addition there, until we had a product that we all liked.

We hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

~Until Next Time~

Well, it looks like this is the end of another fun post. For, it is time for this mom to begin a homeschool lesson.

I hope you guys enjoyed these simple, resourceful recipes- utilizing leftover goods- to create something fresh and new. Stay tuned for Friday’s post, as it too, is resourceful and delicious.

Finally, I shall leave you with a photo I took yesterday morning. A beautiful reminder of God’s beauty in His creation. Look around, for you do not have to look far, to see the beauty of nature.

See you all in two days for my Friday post, utilizing more leftover ingredients in a new and celebratory way.

~Elizabeth~

A fall tree in all its glory.

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