Sourdough Fruit Loaf - a taste of rich fruit cake any day of the year.

Sourdough Fruit Loaf with a seasonal twist

With December fast approaching I've started preparations towards making one of our family favourite recipes. Rich fruit cake aromas are bringing up family celebration memories each time I open the oven. The tantalising smells of cinnamon and other spices, blended with brandy and locally produced Bundaberg rum wafted through our home last week, and those cakes are now wrapped and maturing in our fridge.

One will be sent down south this year, for family who are unable to join us up north, and the other two will be used here over approximately one month. It's one of our customs that the cake will be gradually used during, and after the festive season, until the fateful day that the last crumb is scraped from the container leaving us to patiently (or not so), look forward to the end of the year when is starts all over again.

Experience has taught me to slice thin slices to make it last - a thin slice gives the same fullness of flavour, but is kinder to my hips, a bit like enjoying cheese - a thin slice, rather than a thick slice, placed on your tongue, allows the flavour to be appreciated exponentially, as the warmth of your tongue develops the flavour, and disperses it to your taste buds more fully.

Why am I waffling about fruit cake? Stay with me. My mind has been racing with "how to" questions. I figure that if those flavours could be replicated in a sourdough fruit loaf it might make the journey through the year a little more bearable. So I've been looking at ways that fruit loaf could be made just a little more festive. There's quite a lot of information online about adding fruit to sourdough and the recognition that some spices are not helpful in the life of the yeasts, in particular cinnamon. Some bakers suggest adding the fruit at the stretch and fold stage, before the bulk ferment and then as a second step; add the spices via a butter and flour paste, but I found this unsuccessful as it tends to leave very concentrated cinnamon and flour veins that taste awful and cause the slices to fall apart when they are used. And, most importantly, it doesn't lend itself to adding brandy for the rich festive flavour.

After a few trials and failures trying to use the technique mentioned above, in which the bread was delicious but the cinnamon a disaster, I've found that utilising an aspect of my fruit cake recipe offers a solution that is quite simple and effective. Therefore, the recipe for fruit loaf below uses a process of soaking the fruit in warmed olive oil, brandy (optional to taste), and cinnamon before adding to the dough at the stretch and fold stage. The added advantage being that it also simplifies the process by adding the fruit and cinnamon in one step, and the flavour is dispersed evenly with the fruit which gives the effect of little bursts of flavour through your bread. Toasted and buttered this simple delicacy is a wonderful light breakfast or a nourishing snack for satisfying kids with ravenous appetites.

Sultanas and Apricot Fruit Loaf (optional choice of fruits)

Recipe: Sourdough Fruit Loaf

Ingredients:

500 g Bread Flour

350 g Water

100 g Sourdough Starter fed and bubbly

10 g Salt

30 g Honey

80 g Mixed Dried Fruit

Cinnamon Soak for fruit

10 g Olive oil (warmed)

1 g Cinnamon

10 g Brandy (optional)

Method:

1. Autolyse:

Place the starter, water and honey in a glass or stainless steel bowl. Mix them together so that the honey is dissolved in the water.

Add the flour and salt, and mix all together with a dutch whisk. The dough will be somewhat shaggy.

Cover your bowl with cling wrap or a damp tea towel or place in your proofer and let it sit for around 1 hour.

2. Marinate the fruit:

While the autolyse process is happening mix the fruit, warmed olive oil, brandy, and cinnamon together and allow to sit until needed, stirring occasionally.

3. Forming Up Your Dough:

Work your way around the bowl, grabbing the dough from the outside, stretching it up and over itself gently until a smooth ball is formed. (It's not like kneading a commercial yeast dough.)

When the dough has formed into a smooth ball, pop the cling film back on and let it rest for 30 minutes.

4. Stretch & Fold / Adding the Fruit:

You need to add the fruit mix to your dough during the stretch and fold phase. The aim is to add the fruit during the second or third set of stretch and folds.

1. Gently stretch the dough into a rectangle.

Roll the dough out of the bowl onto a lightly floured bench or a bench lightly sprayed with water, and gently stretch the dough out into a rectangle.

Sprinkle a third of the fruit over the dough and then fold each side over and then fold the dough again bringing the left side over the right side.

4. Once folded, stretch and repeat the process twice with the rest of the fruit.

2. Sprinkle one third of the fruit across the dough

3. Fold each side into the middle and then fold the dough again.

Repeat this two more times until all fruit is included.

5. Dough after first set of stretch and folds.

Continue the stretch and folds as normal. Try to do around 4 sets of stretch and folds with around 15 to 30 minutes between each set. Form the dough into a smooth ball after each set.

5. Bulk Ferment:

When you've finished your stretch and folds, place the cling film or damp tea towel back over your dough or place it into your proofer, and let it rest and ferment.

6. Shaping Your Dough:

Once your dough has finished its first ferment, it's time to give it some shape and surface tension. A round shape or a batard are fine. Or if you are wanting to experiment use a sandwich loaf tin. (1 1/2x the recipe is a good amount to fill the tin size)

After you've shaped your loaf, make sure you tension the dough tightly. Place it into a floured Banneton.

7. Cold Ferment:

Now that your dough is in its shaping container cover it loosely with a large plastic bag and place into the fridge.

Try to leave it in the fridge for a minimum 5 hours up to a maximum of around 36 hours. In fact the longer you leave it in, the better your bread will be. A longer cold ferment helps to creates the little blisters that form on the crust and a richer sourdough flavour.

8. Preparing To Bake:

Once you're ready to bake your sourdough, you'll need to preheat your oven to 230C/450F. Place your Dutch Oven into the oven when you turn it on to preheat it also.

Leave your dough in the fridge until the very last minute - placing a cold dough into a hot oven will give you a great "spring".

9. Time to Bake:

When your oven is pre-heated. Get your sourdough from the fridge and gently place it onto a piece of baking paper.

Example of loaf not slashed deep enough with the Lame. The loaf didn't rise as much as it could have.

Score your bread with a lame - a single deep slash or cross is perfect for this loaf. (See example to the right in which the slash was not deep enough.)

Carefully take your dutch oven out of the oven. Place the sourdough into the pot using the baking paper as a handle. Spritz the dough with cold water from a spray bottle before you put the lid on and place into the hot oven.

**Note.** To bake a loaf with a thinner crust you can spritz your dough with cold water, and also place ice cubes under the edge of the baking paper inside the dutch oven before you put the lid on.

9. Baking:

30 Minutes with the lid on at 230C/450F and then

10 Minutes with the lid off at 220C/410F and then

10 Minutes with the lid on at 220C/410F

Final notes:

When you remove your dough from the oven, carefully remove it from the dutch oven as soon as possible and place on a wire rack to cool.

Don't cut into your loaf too soon - it will slice better if left it cool for at least 3 - 4 hours.