OK, so this isn’t a loaf of bread or a batch of lunch rolls.
But as someone famous once said: “man cannot live by bread alone”, presumably meaning that if you light the oven in the middle of the summer for breadmaking, you should probably make a dessert too while you’re at it.
This raspberry crumble is very easy to make, ready in under an hour and it’s delicious either warm or cold.
Although it’s possible to cut the butter into the dry ingredients by hand, making the crumble is far easier with a small food processor. It’s the proportion of the ingredients in the crumble that’s important though – this formula can easily be doubled or tripled if necessary. This makes enough for at least two decent sized dishes (depending, of course, on how much crumble you like on top).
Place 4oz sifted all-purpose flour, 2oz light brown sugar, a pinch of salt and a good pinch of allspice in the food processor and pulse-blend it quickly to mix it up.
Chop up 1/2 a stick of butter (2oz) into small pieces – this works best if the butter is very cold – straight from the fridge. Put the cubed butter in with the dry ingredients and pulse five or six times until you end up with something that looks a bit like breadcrumbs.
Assembly of this dish is so straightforward now: place a layer or two of raspberries in a shallow baking dish, sprinkle with a tablespoon of white sugar and dowse with a few drops of water (this creates a simple syrup when the dish bakes). Then spoon on as much of the crumble topping as you like, finishing with another sprinkle of sugar.
Bake uncovered in a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes until the top has crisped up and browned nicely. Be sure to let this cool for about 20 or 30 minutes before serving.
Good vanilla ice-cream goes very well with this raspberry crumble. Left-over uncooked crumble can be kept in a zip-type bag in the refrigerator.
