currant slice and 'in it goes bread'

i played in the kitchen today and made this currant slice which is a recipe from one of my recent old recipe book op shop purchases..the book is a hard copy of '100 delicious biscuits and slices' published by the australian women's weekly in 1972 bought for $1..

currant slice

lately i've been making at least one yeasted loaf a week of what i call my 'in it goes bread'..what i mean by that is that if i have a bit of leftover whipped cream, a bit of milk sitting in a jug, the end of a carton/bottle of milk, whey from yoghurt straining, the end of a batch of yoghurt, a little previously melted butter, the last scraps of a pat of butter, some close to use by date semolina, discarded sourdough starter and so on, well, in it goes..i've cut down on the amount of yeast i use to 1/2 a sachet and i don't measure the liquid any more..i just add enough cold liquid to form a wettish dough and i find that by the time i've rested and kneaded it a few times it's very manageable..i've also been practising my slashing technique and i'm much happier with the way i am getting an 'ear' on one side of the loaf (as described here)

the 'ear' refused to show up in my whole loaf shots

the 'ear' shows up a bit better here

currant slice recipe

ingredients

base

1 cup plain flour

pinch salt

125 gms butter

3/4 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup brown sugar* lightly packed

topping

1 cup currants

1/2 cup sultanas

1 tablespoon (tbs) cornflour

1/2 teaspoon (tsp) cinnamon

1 cup water

1 tsp grated lemon rind

1 tbs lemon juice

glace icing

3/4 cup icing sugar

1/2 tsp butter

1 tbs milk

pink food colouring

method

base

~sift flour and salt and rub in butter and add oats and butter

~press mixture into 18 cm x 28 cm greased lamington tin

~spread over cooled topping

~bake 180 deg c for 35 minutes

~ cool and drizzle** with pink icing

~cut into bars

topping

place fruit, cornflour, cinnamon and water in a saucepan

~cook over medium heat stirring until the mixture boils and thickens

~add lemon rind and juice

~cool

glace icing

~sift icing and add butter and milk***

~colour pale pink with a few drops of food colouring

~stand bowl of icing over hot water and stir until pouring consistency

note:

* i used moscovado sugar

** i put the icing into a small sandwich bag, cut the corner off, and piped the icing onto the slice

*** i decided to adhere to the recipe the first time i made it but next time i would add a little lemon juice

wishing you all a happy week..x