So, it is a freakish 26 degrees here with a projected humidex of 31! 
Ok, I’m not hoping for snow or anything like that but this is bizarre.  It also means that I’m headed into the land of salads and skimpier clothes so the bread recipes should slow down a bit and my nightly runs need to get amped up a bit.
However, why not have a few more slices of crusty goodness (you know, for old time’s sake).
I made this bread up after literally dreaming one night that I’d mistakenly put tea in my bread dough instead of water.  I obviously have a very exciting dream life.  Actually, I’ll take that dream over the constant zombies of the other night after watching a total of 10 minutes of “The Walking Dead”.  MUST NOT WATCH AGAIN.  Really well done, really engaging but it totally freaks me out.
I digress (as usual), lets have some bread.
I took 1 cup of raisins and combined with 2 tsp. yeast and  2 T. molasses.
Preemptive sorry for the blurries in the next two photos.
I took 2 T. of loose chai tea leaves and made 2 cups of the tea.
Let sit until REALLY strong and lukewarm.
Proof your yeast with the lukewarm tea (should I mention you strain off the leaves?) and add 1/2 cup butter.
Make a soft dough with 7 cups of flour.

Knead for 3 minutes.

Cover with a bowl.

Let proof until double (about an hour).

Form into a big cottage loaf and score the top.

Now, I actually doubled this batch and made; a big loaf, a small one and four buns. I’m cooking them on a preheated pizza stone with a tray of water underneath at 360 degrees for approx. 30 minutes (or until the loaves sound hollow when tapped on the bottom).

This is totally worth the extra running time.

Now, this bread was delicious but tomorrow come back and I’ll show you how nice those buns can be when paired with a special burger.
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