Friday 26 February 2016

No Knead Overnight Sourdough Fruit Bread

You might have noticed my fruit bread on my recent cake fail post.  I wanted something easy and indulgent for my birthday breakfast.  My idea of breakfast heaven is a slice of good fruit bread.  So I finally got around to adapting my favourite overnight sourdough bread to a fruit bread recipe.  Easy and delicious!  Perfect!

All I did was add lots of dried fruit and just a little honey and spice to my usual recipe.  It smelled wonderful as it baked.  The final loaf was pleasingly rustic and tasted wonderful.    It is a beautiful thing to wake up to a fresh loaf of bread on the kitchen table.

The loaf was far more dense than my usual plain loaves of bread but I love dense bread.  Most of it went into the freezer.  Having a slice toasted and buttered each morning was luxury.  It had enough fruit to be sweet enough with just some butter.

However if you want something more fancy, it is great with cream cheese, jam, cashew cheese or slices of cheese.  And it is delicious at any time of day.

I am delighted this recipe worked as a fruit bread.  It is such an easy and forgiving recipe.  I make the plain loaves quite regularly and always make two at a time.  One of these days I will try dividing the dough to make one plain and one fruit bread.  That, of course, will be a day when I have more energy.

More yeast/sourdough and dried fruit recipes on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
Cranberry nut rolls
Freshly fruited yeast bread
Fruit mince scrolls (v)
Pumpernickel rolls with currants (v) 
Sourdough hot cross buns
Vegan sourdough hot cross buns with marzipan (v) 

Sourdough fruit bread 
Adapted from Green Gourmet Giraffe
with guidance from Fig Jam and Lime Cordial and Milk and Honey
makes 2 loaves

350g of sourdough starter
500g water
18g salt
1 tbsp honey (or other sweetener)
1 tsp mixed spice
100g walnuts
150g sultanas
75g cranberries
150g chopped dried apricots
1 kg flour

A few hours before making the loaf, take sourdough starter out of the fridge and feed it so it gets nice and bubbly.  Also you can soak dried fruit in hot water if desired.  If so drain before using in bread dough.

About half an hour before going to bed (or first thing in the morning) mix everything together.  It is easiest to mix everything except flour first and then add flour.  Use hands to mix if required.  Set aside covered with a tea towel for half an hour.  Knead in the bowl for about 1 minute.  Cover with greased clingwrap and leave at room temperature for 8 to 12 hours.

Scrape dough out onto a lightly floured board.  Very gently without punching the air out, fold the dough in three.  Cut the dough in half and shape into two loaves.  Place on a floured surface and cover with the lightly greased clingwrap.  (Maize flour is great here.)  Set aside to rise for 30 minutes.  While the loaves rise, preheat oven to 240 C, with casserole dishes heating if you are using them.

Slash the loaves and put in the heated casserole dishes with lids on (or on a tray or in a tin).   (They don't need greasing.)  Bake for 20 minutes with lid on.  Remove lid and bake another 20 minutes.  Then reduce oven heat to 180 C and return to oven for another 10 minutes to make sure the crust is crispy and golden brown.  Cool your loaves on a wire rack for at least an hour before slicing.

NOTES: For more extensive notes on this method, go to my post on overnight sourdough bread.  Update: since making this bread I had made quite a few fruit breads and if I make this again I would add a few tablespoons of olive oil for softness and also soak the fruit first which also keeps it from drying out.

On the Stereo:
A Short Album about Love - The Divine Comedy

19 comments:

  1. I can imagine how wonderful that would smell in the oven. I do enjoy baking bread but we all like it so much here that a loaf is gone within hours (and part of my past bread baking efforts was to save money!)

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    1. Thanks Faye - one of the joys of home baked bread is the smell - I like to believe we save money by my baking sourdough because I don't feel the urge to buy expensive loaves of bread regularly. Sometimes we eat it quickly and sometimes it goes in the freezer and either is good as we can also go through a loaf of bought sourdough quickly

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  2. Looks like a picture perfect distribution of the fruit Johanna! I've been told that adding fruit at the end just before the last proof is good as the fruit (or grains or whatever you are using) break the gluten strands.

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    1. Thanks Lorraine - I haven't heard that but sounds like reasonable advice. However this bread does not have kneading so it probably doesn't matter so much about putting it in at the start. But would like to hear more.

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  3. Your fruit bread looks heavenly Johanna! I can just image the aroma of that tangy loaf of goodness wafting through the house on any morning especially a birthday morning:)

    Thank you so much for sharing, Johanna...The next time you bake it, save some for me!!! {{please}}

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    1. Thanks Louise - sure I can save you a slice - just rock up in my kitchen when it is fresh and we will be happy to share :-) you will know it is ready when you smell the bread baking :-)

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  4. Oh this is so wonderful - the sort of bread I would happily pay more for if it was for sale near me. I love fruit sourdough and if anything will inspire me to make sourdough this is it! Thanks for the inspiration.

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    1. Thanks Kari - I have paid for loaves lie this with joy before (possibly made a bit better but pretty similar) and it does feel great to be able to make it myself

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  5. I found you via your comment on Nourish Me.

    Please tell us what the vivid flowers are, too! And anything about how to grow them, if you can.

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    1. And a belated Happy Birthday!

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    2. Thanks Patsy - I wish I could tell you what the flowers were - was so amazed when E brought them home (from a florist in the city) - he didn't have a clue what they were so I am sorry I can't give you more info

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    3. They are Singapore orchids🙂

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    4. Thanks Unknown! A friend was just telling me about all the orchids they saw in Singapore so that makes sense

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  6. Yum! I do this too... and I've had some success baking two loaves from the one mix, one fruit, and one plain. What I tend to do is divid the starter in half and do two bowls overnight... I add the fruit at the beginning and then I add extra water to the fruit loaf mix as I find that the dried fruit soaks up more and I get a moister loaf with more water. Gosh your bread pictures make me hungry :-)

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    1. Thanks Lisa - I've made two loaves in separate bowls before so I had thought about doing a similar separation to what you say - though I can't see myself baking bread for another month or so at the moment :-( I had wondered about adding extra water so will try this next time, thanks.

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  7. Looks lovely Johanna. And Happy Birthday!
    The fruit looks so pretty. I can imagine is being perfect toasted and slathered in butter!

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    1. Thanks Kate - yes that is just as I love to eat it

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  8. I do love fruit bread though I am bad with the sourdough starter - I can't be bothered feeding it.

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    1. Thanks Cakelaw - oh your poor starter :-) one day I will post an update on my sourdough starter and the easy recipes I make to keep it going but I suspect if I lived by myself I might find it harder.

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