Winnie the Pooh as culinary trend setter...and a treacle bread recipe

When I was younger I liked Winnie the Pooh. Not the voice you understand. That was beyond creepy. Such a pervy voice on such a cute cuddly bear. It just wasn't right. So I'd usually watch the cartoons with the sound turned down. 

And one of the things that Winnie the Pooh made me crave was honey. It looked FANTASTIC. All gooey, golden goodness. I was   sorely disappointed when I took a spoonful of honey out of the jar one day. It was too sweet and gloopy and I didn't really like the flavour. It was like the peanut butter episode all over again. 

While the honey hating passed quite quickly (As I realised you didn't need to eat it by the spoonful to enjoy it) it did lead me to try other baking cupboard syrups. Namely golden syrup and black treacle. The thing is, the two cans are icons of kitchen design. Everyone will recognise the Lyle's tins and they instantly evoke baking memories for me. Even though we never used them that often, there was always a tin of each in the cupboard. 

The golden syrup tasting experiment went ok..I just wasn't a fan of the stickiness. The black treacle on the other hand...the bitter taste has stayed with me since. It was like eating melted liquorice without the aniseed taste. Not all the tea or toothpaste could get ride of the flavour. It took days.

So when my Dad brought home a cake of treacle bread one day from the Food Shop in Claremorris, I was more than a little dubious. Who would want to eat bitter tasting bread? Why ruin a perfectly good soda loaf? (FYI the food store is a fabulous Butchers and food shop and if you're ever passing through Claremorris it's well worth stopping)

Oh how wrong I was. 
It was heaven in a slice of bread. I was instantly addicted. Imagine the texture of gingerbread. Then imagine a deep, rice caramel flavour. Then combine them into a bread. Sheer delight.

 The particular cake from Claremorris came studded with plump sultanas, which had been soaked in the treacle mixture and added even more to the sheer gluttony in each slice. 
I've tried and failed, over the years to replicate the perfect treacle bread, but with no real success. Until today. This recipe, from scouring the Internet and recipe books seems to include everything that would make a perfect treacle-ly cake. 

This cake is perfect for an afternoon snack with a large pot of tea and lashings of real butter. 

you will need:
2 tbsp black treacle
1 egg
300ml buttermilk
450g plain flour
1 tsp salt
1tsp bread soda (bicarb of soda)
30 g sultana's or raisins (optional)

Method:
1) Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 8 (230C)

2) Heat the treacle in a small saucepan until it starts to run, take off the heat. Whisk the egg and add to the treacle. Mix well. Add the buttermilk and mix well again. If using the fruit add to the liquid at this point to allow them to soak up some of the flavour.

3)Sieve the dried ingredients together in a large bowl

4) Make a well in the flour and add most of the liquid. Mix to form a soft dough.

5) Turn out onto a floured surface and shape into a round. Cut a cross on top
6) Place on a baking sheet and put into the oven, baking for 30 mins or until cooked 

Serve with real butter and a big pot of tea.