Raisin bread with whipped whisky butter

Preparation

Start your meal in style with this delicious raisin bread, served with a heavenly whipped butter flavoured with Islay whisky.

1. In a bowl weigh out the flours, salt and yeast. Make a well in the centre of the flour and using your hands mix in the water. Bring to a dough and then turn out onto a floured work top.
2. Knead for 10 minutes until the dough becomes elasticated. Add the raisins and knead once more until they are evenly distributed through out the dough.
3. Cover the dough with a damp tea towel and leave to prove at room temperature for 1 hour or until doubled in size.
4. Shape the dough into a round boule and place onto a sheet of baking parchment, once again leave to prove until doubled in size. Meanwhile, remove the butter from the fridge and leave to come up to room temperature for 1 hour.
5. Preheat the oven to 220ºC/200ºC/gas mark 7 and place a large heavy-based pan with a lid inside the oven (it must be big enough to contain the bread - a casserole dish would work well).
6. Once the dough has doubled, carefully remove the pan from the oven and gently lower the bread on the parchment into the pan. Place the lid on top and return to the oven. After 30 minutes remove the lid from the pan and bake for a further 15 minutes to colour the top.
7. Take the bread out of the oven when you have a rich brown colour and remove the bread from the pan to cool. Leave to rest for 20 minutes before slicing.
8. For the whisky butter, place the butter in a large mixing bowl and add the salt, whisky and black pepper. Using a large balloon whisk, whip the butter until light and aerated and all the ingredients are combined.