Swedish Fruit and Nut Bread | susie-dragecouk---music-art-cookery

TRIAL RECIPES

BREAD

Swedish Fruit and Nut Bread with Wholegrain Spelt Flour

Swedish Fruit and Nut Bread with wholegrain spelt flour

Courtesy of suemareep.com - 15 DEC 2022

Takes = 10 minutes prep. and 135 minutes resting
Bakes = 40 minutes
Makes = 16 to 20 thin slices
Tin = large loaf 12 inch x 4 inch

Inspired and translated from this Swedish recipe

Ingredients

Fresh yeast (or dried yeast 1 teaspoon) –10g (2 teaspoons)
Water, room temperature – 300ml (1 cup + 3 tbs +1 teaspoon)
Dried figs, chopped – 200g (about 1 cup + 1/4 cup)
Dried apricots, halved – 200g (about 1 cup + 1/4 cup)
Dried cranberries, raisins or sultanas – 100g (1/2 cup)
Hazelnuts or blanched almonds – 120g (about 3/4 cup)
Walnuts – 100g (about 1/2 cup)
Flour, I used wholegrain spelt flour – 360g (2 cups + 2.5 tbs)
Salt – 1 teaspoon

Method

Preheat oven to 160˚C fan, and lightly toast the nuts for 8 to 10 minutes. Then remove and allow to cool.
Crumble the yeast into the water.
De-stem and chop the figs and slice the apricots in half.
Add yeast, fruit and flour into the stand mixer and mix for a few minutes with a dough hook or mix by hand in a large bowl. Then add in the nuts and salt and continue to knead for about 5 minutes. I found I needed to stop and scrap as the mixture is very thick and knead the last part by hand. Rest for 1 and 1/2 hours. Cover with a cloth or I like to remove the dough and place it in a medium lightly oiled bowl and cover it with plastic (it tends to seal better and helps the dough rise).
Prepare the baking tin. Grease with a bit of butter and line with baking paper a large long rectangular loaf tin of about 1.5 litres (12 inches x 4 inches).
After 1.5 hours, remove the dough and gently knead on a floured bench to form a rectangle. Place the dough in the prepared tin and rest covered for 45 minutes. Preheat oven to 200˚C, 180˚C fan then bake the bread in the lower part of the oven for 40 minutes. After 30 minutes you may need to cover the top with foil to prevent the top from burning.
Remove from the oven and completely cool before removing from the tin. The bread is best sliced thinly and served the following day. You could also freeze the bread for a few months.