Fruit Bread

Name: Fruit Bread
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 35 min
Cuisine: International
Ingredients: 350 g Strong white bread flour; 5 g / 10 g Fast action dried yeast / Fresh yeast; 50 g Unsalted butter; 150 ml Milk (any kind); 2 tsp Sugar or honey; ¼ tsp Salt; 1 small Lemon - finely grated zest; 1 Egg; 275 g Dried fruit*

Love Baking Over a year ago 3,926 views

Cook: 35 mins

Ingredients

350 g Strong white bread flour
5 g / 10 g Fast action dried yeast / Fresh yeast
50 g Unsalted butter
150 ml Milk (any kind)
2 tsp Sugar or honey
¼ tsp Salt
1 small Lemon - finely grated zest
1 Egg
275 g Dried fruit*

Accompaniment

Description

A lovely soft white loaf, crusty on the outside, packed with dried fruit. Perfect for toasting and buttering too. Vary the fruit to suit your own personal taste.

Method

1
Melt the butter in a small saucepan then add the milk and warm the milk to around 37-42 degrees C.
Put the flour, yeast, sugar / honey, salt and lemon zest in the bowl of a stand mixer or a large mixing bowl. If using fresh yeast, crumble it in to the flour and rub in as if making a crumble, until well distributed throughout the flour, then add the other ingredients. Lightly beat the egg and add to the bowl with the warm melted butter and milk. Mix together then knead with the dough hook for 6-8 minutes, or by hand for about 10 minutes until the dough is smooth.
Lightly grease a large bowl with a little butter or oil, shape the dough into a ball and place it in the bowl. Cover the bowl with a clean tea towel, cling film or plastic shower cap and leave in a warm place for about an hour, or until doubled in size.
Meanwhile, pour hot water over the dried fruit and leave to soak for 20 minutes. I don't soak soft dried apricots and prunes as I find they are moist enough - I just snip them into little pieces with scissors. Drain the fruit through a sieve and then tip out onto a few sheets of kitchen roll to soak up any excess liquid.
Once the dough has doubled in size, tip it onto a lightly floured surface. Pat into a rectangle, scatter over 1/3 of the fruit, fold 1/3 of the dough over the top, followed by 1/3 from the other side, to cover the fruit. Pat into a rectangle again, and repeat twice more.
Lightly grease a standard (900g -1 kg / 2 lb) loaf tin with a bit of soft butter, place the dough in the tin with the seam-side down and cover loosely with lightly oiled cling film or a shower cap. (Even better, to avoid the cover touching the bread, place in a large plastic bag puffed up with air). Leave in a warm place for 45 minutes to an hour, until it has doubled in size (I find it takes 45 minutes with fast action dried yeast and up to an hour with fresh).
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C. Bake for 35 minutes until it is crusty and golden. When you turn it out of the tin, it should sound hollow when tapped on the bottom.
Can be served warm or cold. You can also slice it and toast it over the next couple of days.

Chef's Tips

* I like to use 50 g each of raisins, sultanas, currants, dried cranberries, and 75 g soft dried apricots and soft dried prunes. Also good with just one or two fruits. If you prefer less fruit, reduce the quantity to 150g.

Sometimes I use orange zest instead of lemon. It's also good with the addition of a little spice - e.g. ground cinnamon / nutmeg.

For a wholemeal version, use 200 g white bread flour and 150 g wholemeal bread flour.