Orange Bread with Turkey and Ginger-Apple Butter

 Print This Recipe

Orange Bread with Turkey and Ginger-Apple Butter
Makes 1 loaf

Ingredients for the Bread:
2 cups sifted flour – from stock
½ teaspoon salt – from stock
4 ounces unsalted butter, softened – from stock
1 cup granulated sugar – from stock
2 large eggs – from stock
1 cup buttermilk – $1.99
1 teaspoon baking soda – $0.99
1 cup currants – $2.99
The grated zest of 1 orange – $0.69
1 Tablespoon freshly squeezed orange juice – $2.69

Ingredients for the glaze:
2 Tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice – calculated above
1 Tablespoon granulated sugar – from stock

Ingredients for the filling:
¼ lb. smoked turkey breast, sliced thin – $2.00
A small bunch of watercress, washed and tough stems trimmed – $1.69
½ cup ginger preserves – $4.99, can be purchased online here
¼ cup apple butter – $3.39
Grand Total Assuming Well-Stocked Pantry: $21.42
Cost per Serving:$0.89

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Butter the sides and bottom of a six-cup loaf pan.  Dust with flour, tapping out excess on a piece of waxed paper, or over your sink.

2. In a small bowl, sift together the20flour and salt.  Set aside.

3. In the medium bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter with the sugar until light, about 2 minutes.  Add the eggs, one at a time, until the batter is light and fluffy, about anther 2 minutes.

4. In a food processor, armed with the metal blade, grind the currants with the orange zest.

5. Combine the buttermilk and baking soda in a measuring cup.

6. On the lowest setting of your mixer, combine half the flour/salt combination to the butter/sugar mixture.  Follow with all of the buttermilk/baking soda combo and then the remaining flour/salt.

7. By hand, stir in the ground currants, orange juice and zest until fully incorporated.

8. Transfer batter to the prepared bread pan and bake for 45 to 50 minutes, until cake tester or toothpick when inserted in the middle comes out clean.  (If the bread is browning too fast, loosely tent it with a piece of aluminum foil.)

9. Remove the loaf from the oven, loosen its sides with a rubber spatula and invert the bread to a wire cooling rack.  The bread should be topside up so that you can apply the glaze, so invert it twice.  With a pastry brush, paint the top with the orange juice and then sprinkle with granulated sugar.

10. Cool completely before wrapping in plastic and then tin foil.

To assemble:
1. Slice the bread about a ½ inch thick with your best serrated bread knife.  The loaf is moist, but if you are gentle, it will not crumble.  After you have sliced it, cut each slice in half again length-wise.  (These are not technically “finger sandwiches”, but more in the order of three-finger size.  In the event that you want to remain true to the parameters of what constitutes a tea, by all means cut the halves once more to produce quarters.)

2. In a small bowl, combine the ginger preserves with the apple butter.  Apply a thin coat to half of the sliced bread.  Top with turkey slices and a few sprigs of watercress.  Top with remaining slices.