fruit loaf

Date & Walnut Loaf

Leave a Comment / bread /

This is a favourite in our house and a recipe that I teach on my Bread Basics course at my cookery school Veg Patch Kitchen. I have been filming how to make it for my new online Sweet Dough course and want to share it with you so that it can become a favourite in your household too.

It is a simple white dough with added dates, walnuts and honey and is delicious toasted for breakfast. It stays good for toasting for several day.

date and walnut loaf
Date & walnut loaf

Ingredients

500g strong white flour or 250g white bread flour and 250g wholemeal bread flour
100g walnuts
100g dates
20g runny honey
10g salt
1 sachet of easy bake yeast or 5-10g fresh yeast
320-340g water (in total, add 100g with the dates and 220-240g later)

Equipment:

3 bowls, scales, knife, chopping board, proving cloth or shower cap, loaf tin or baking tray, cooling rack

Method: 

Finely chop 25g of the walnuts and coarsely chop the rest. Chop the dates and cover with 100g of boiling water. Leave to stand until the water is tepid. 

Place the flour, salt and yeast (keep the salt and yeast separate) in a large bowl. If using fresh yeast crumble it into the flour.  Add the walnuts and honey.  Drain the dates but reserve the soaking water. Place the soaked dates in the bowl with the rest of the ingredients.  Measure the reserved water into the bowl and then add more water until you have 320g of water in the bowl.  

Using a clawed hand mix well, the dough should be on the sticky side. If it still feels dry add a bit more water until it feels softly sticky.  Leave to rest and use the stretch and fold method as described in this video. 

Once you have done all of the stretch and folds, leave to prove until light and airy. Preheat your oven to 200℃, gas mark 6, placing a solid tray on the shelf to heat up.  Tip the dough out of the bowl onto a lightly floured surface, shape and leave to rise again until ready for the oven. Place your bread onto the solid tray and bake for 30-40 minutes until a rich brown and sounds hollow when tapped or has an internal temperature of at least 88℃. Leave to cool on a wire tray.

If you like you can glaze this loaf with a simple sugar syrup as soon as it comes out of the oven. This gives it a lovely shine. Place 25g sugar and 25g water in a small pan and bring to a simmer. Simmer for a few minutes. Brush this all over the top of the loaf as soon as you turn it onto the cooling rack. (You may want to place some kitchen roll or baking parchment underneath to catch the drips). 

Ready to learn more?

If you would like to learn more about making sweet breads my online course can help. I show you how to master making an enriched dough and turn it into Shropshire butter buns, Chelsea buns, babka and cinnamon knots. You will also learn how to make buttery brioche and fruity spiced teacakes.

Find out more about my online bread courses

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Bara Brith – the cake and the loaf

6 Comments / bread, cake, The Ordinary Cook /

The cake version
The cake version

 

The loaf version
The loaf version

I have become a little obsessed with bara brith. A long time ago someone used to make our family a bara brith on a regular basis. It was delicious. It became a little less delicious when we heard that she mixed it in her bath.

There are two types of bara brith. The cake version and the yeasted bread version. Bara Brith translates from the welsh as speckled bread, referring to the currants, raisins and candied peel within each slice. The arguments about which is  the real bara brith rage on. History has it that bara brith would have been the last loaf put in the dying oven at the end of the weekly bake, adding the fruit to the bread dough to make it a more palatable loaf.  When raising agents came into regular use the bread became a cake.

The cake version is often a tea bread with the fruit steeped in strong cold tea overnight. This makes it a very moist cake that lasts for days. Spread with butter, it goes very well with a flask of coffee and a beautiful view.

The bread version, though, I have been having trouble with.  I initially tried a version from a traditionally welsh cookery book. This particular recipe asks for wholemeal flour. However, I found that the enriched dough became just to heavy to get anything more than a small rise, making for a heavy bread. It tasted OK, but the cake tasted better. However, I was determined to keep trying.  I found another recipe, and this one uses plain white flour. The rise was much more successful, but perhaps not authentic, traditional bara brith.  If anyone makes a bara brith bread (the yeasted version) that they enjoy then I would be very interested in their recipe.

At the moment I think my heart belongs to the cake version. It lasts for days making it a handy cake to have in the tin.  The bread is just a little too heavy, even when made with the white flour and if I want a fruit loaf then this one wins hands down.

I would be interested in your bara brith thoughts to keep the obsession alive.

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Fruit loaf bread pudding

18 Comments / bread, cake, leftovers, pudding, vegetarian /

A bit unusual for us this, but this morning I found myself with about half of the Fruit Loaf left.  Now, I made this three days ago, so whilst I was happy to have one more slice toasted I feared that the rest might end up as chicken food.

My youngest loves bread pudding, so it seemed the obvious way of getting the rest of the loaf consumed.  Sorry chickens!

Actually this is the perfect way to use up this loaf, my normal bread pudding recipe requires dried fruit, mixed spice and the zest of an orange.  Well, all of this is already in there, with the marmalade taking the place of the orange zest.  So this was easy peasy to put together and tastes really lovely. I did add a little extra mixed spice and some nutmeg because I love aromatic bread pudding.

750 – 800 g (10-12 oz) leftover fruit loaf
50g (2oz) melted butter
300ml (½ pint) milk
1 egg
½ tsp mixed spice
½ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
75g (3 oz) dark brown muscovado sugar

Method

Break the bread into a large bowl.  Traditionally you are supposed to remove the crusts but it would be a shame to remove the crust of this loaf as it is so tasty so I didn’t.  I just made sure the crusty bits were broken up quite small.  Combine the melted butter and the milk and pour over the bread.  Give the mixture a good stir and then set aside to soak for 30 minutes.

Beat the egg and add to the bready mixture, along with the spices and sugar and stir well to combine.

Butter a shallow dish, I used my ceramic flan dish with measures 23 cm.  Pour the mixture in and level the top.  Place in a preheated oven at 180°c, gas mark 4 or the Baking Oven of the Aga for about 1 hour.  It may take a little longer, depending on your oven.  It should be golden brown and firm to the touch. Allow to cool a little.  It’s good warm or cold.

 

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