Molasses Bread

I received a copy of The Complete Irish Pub Cookbook (ISBN: 978-1-4454-6788-7) for Christmas and the first recipe I tried was this lovely molasses bread. I use a pastry cutter for cutting in the butter, and it seems to take a bit longer than the top end, 55 minutes, to be completely done, even with my slightly bigger than called for loaf pan, although I'm using a pyrex pan, not metal.

1 ¾ cup all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp allspice

1/2 tsp ground ginger

5 Tbsp lightly salted butter, plus extra to serve

3 Tbsp molasses

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/3 cup currants

1/3 cup golden raisins

Preheat the oven to 350*F.  Grease and line a small 6 ½ x 3 ¾ inch loaf pan.

Sift the flour, baking soda, and spices into a bowl.  Lightly rub in the butter until the mixture resembles fine crumbs.

Whisk the molasses with the eggs and buttermilk, then stir in the sugar.  Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour in the molasses mixture.  Mix with a fork, gradually drawing in the flour from around the edges.

Add the currants and golden raisins, and mix to a soft dough.  Spoon the dough into the prepared loaf pan, leveling the surface with a wet spatula.

Bake in the preheated oven for 45-55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then invert onto a wire rack and let rest for about 2 hours to cool completely.

Serve spread thickly with butter.