Currants and raisins

Currants and raisins are often soaked for a few hours before use, but this isn’t preferable for all bakes. When it comes to some cakes, fruit loaves and buns, it’s better to use currants and raisins that haven’t been soaked. If you add soaked fruit to a bread or bun dough, it will get damaged during the kneading process and if you add it before shaping, it might introduce an unnecessary amount of moisture to the dough, often making it annoyingly sticky. I prefer to work with a wetter dough that compensates for the fact that the fruit isn’t soaked. I add the fruit before the first rise and it attaches itself perfectly to the structure of the dough. You should, however, always rinse the fruit to remove any dust and then pat it dry with paper towel.