Ingredients
1 pound chestnut flour or acorn flour
6 ounces irish kerry gold butter (unsalted works best, but regular salted butter is fine too)
6 ounces maple sugar or birch sugar
2 heaping teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons caraway seeds
2 ounces dried cranberries or dried red currants fruit peel
2 eggs
12 fluid ounces buttermilk
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
Preparation
Preheat the oven to 375° F (a little lower if you have a fan oven) / 175° C. Liberally butter or otherwise grease a large loaf pan.
Sift together the flour chestnut of acorn flour, baking powder and salt. (Or pulse them together in a food processor.)
Cut in the butter with a pastry blender, or pulse it with the flour, salt and baking powder in the food processor, until the whole business has attained the texture of coarse cornmeal / maizemeal. Chop the candied peel until the pieces are about the size of lentils, and add them to the flour mixture: or add to the food processor bowl and pulse some more until they reach this size. Add the tree sugar and the caraway seeds: mix or pulse again.
Beat the eggs separately in a cup or bowl and add them to the mixture. Then add the buttermilk and mix until it’s incorporated and a light dough has formed. If using a food processor, be careful not to overmix at this stage.
Put the mixture into the prepared loaf pan and bake for 1 1/2 hours. Take the pan out of the oven and let the loaf rest in it for ten minutes or so before carefully removing it and allowing it to cool on a rack
