Fruit Loaf

Today I’ll be showing you how to make a super simple, light and fluffy fruit loaf.

If you have never tried a fruit load, you are missing out – trust me when I say that. The closest thing to this version of a fruit loaf is perhaps a hot cross bun, just bigger and without the ground spices.

The bread itself is lighter and fluffier than you’d expect and with the addition of dried fruit into the bread, it all ties together very well. You may also have noticed that I glazed the top of the bread, which isn’t a usual task but for this loaf it provides a sweetness/stickiness as well as a way to preserve the bread for a bit longer.

The dough is enriched, so tastes fairly richer than a standard bread but as a treat, it’s acceptable. I enjoy mine thickly cut, toasted and well buttered – trust me when I say its a winning combination.

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

 

Ingredients:

500g Strong white bread flour.

5g Salt.

50g Fresh yeast.

75g Butter.

75g Granulated sugar.

15g Milk powder.

1 Egg.

175ml Water, warmed.

200g Mixed fruit.

 

Simple syrup:

100g Water.

100g Granulated sugar.

 

Method:

Before you get started on the bread, you’ll want to do some prep work. I like to start by weighing up all my ingredients, lining a loaf tin with a piece of parchment, oiling a bowl with flavourless oil and getting any equipment you may need such as a stand mixer and a silicon spatula.

Into a mixing bowl, place the flour and salt, giving it a brief mix just to incorporate the two.

Then you can go ahead and place in the yeast, butter, sugar, milk powder, egg and water. Mix on a low speed for 2 minutes, followed by 4 minutes on a high speed. You should have noticed that the dough has come together and holds it’s shape well – it will be softer due to the addition of egg and butter.

Stop the mixer and place the dried fruit into the bowl and mix on a low speed, just until the dried fruit has been incorporated – try your best not to overmix the dough at his stage.

Flour your work surface with some bread flour and place the dough onto it, giving it a knead until some of the flour has been incorporated. Bring back into a ball shape and place into your lightly oiled bowl, cover with clingfilm and leave somewhere warm to prove for 45-60 minutes.

After the first proof, you can flour your work surface with a small amount of bread flour, then place the dough onto it, knocking it back. The process of knocking the dough back is where you remove the gases that have built up in the dough during the first proof.

You will then want to bring it back into a ball shape, before rolling it a little and turning it into a fat sausage shape.

Place the dough into you lined loaf tin, pressing down a little and the loosely covering the dough with some clingfilm for around 45-60 minutes or until the loaf has risen well, should be visible above the edge of the loaf pan and be domed towards the centre – this is normal and what you’re looking for.

Now that the end of the second proof is almost over, go ahead and preheat your oven to 230˚c/445˚f.

Once the dough has proved, you can then go ahead and place into the preheated oven and bake for 20-22 minutes.

While the loaf is baking, you can go ahead and make the simple syrup for the glaze. Into a small saucepan, place the water and sugar, giving a good mix, then placing it on the hob over a medium heat, allowing it to reach a boil before you taking it off the heat. Allow to cool down a bit before use.

After your loaf has baked in the oven, remove from the oven and the loaf tin and place the bread on to something like a cooling rack or similar. Take a brush and brush over the simple syrup, giving the loaf a good coating.

Now simply allow the bread to cool down fully before you enjoy the loaf.

My favourite way is to cut it quite thick, toast it and slather with butter – trust me its a good combo!

That’s all for today guys, I hope you enjoyed. If you did, don’t forget to share this recipe with your family and friends and enjoy it. I’ll be back soon with another blog post and YouTube video, so join me then. In the meanwhile, don’t forget to check out my other social’s – Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube. The YouTube tutorial will be linked down below.