Fig Jam and Lime Cordial

I know, I know. I bang on about this all the time.

The very best part of sourdough baking (for me) is being able to share bread with others.

And as my friends on the Bay Run found out recently, if you stand still long enough, I’m likely to hand you a loaf. In turn, Sue and Mel shared their warm baguettes with our favourite barista Samira, and when I popped in for a coffee the following day, she asked me if I’d bake a fruit loaf for her.

I don’t normally bake to order, but I couldn’t refuse Sami – after all, she’s been cheerfully making brilliant decaf piccolos for me for over a year. So I took the box of dried fruit she gave me and baked three sourdough fruit loaves for her the next morning…

She was excited, but didn’t want to take all three loaves. I figured she could share one and take two home, which is exactly what she did. By the time Mel and Sue had made their way over for coffee, Sami had already cut up and handed out a whole loaf to customers. How cool is that!

Big Boy and I shared a hot buttered slice as we walked, and it was divine…

I came home, fed up Priscilla, and made another batch. Here’s the formula I used:

• 100g bubbly sourdough starter (see note)
• 1kg bread/bakers flour
• 700g – 750g water (the flour I’m currently using is very thirsty, so adjust the water quantity as needed)
• 18g fine sea salt
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 100g dried dates, chopped
• 50g dried apple, finely chopped
• 50g dried apricots, chopped
• 100g walnut pieces

Note: Over the past couple of years, I’ve adopted the current trend of using less starter in my sourdoughs, and the results have been very pleasing. You could, however, simply add the dried fruit and cinnamon to the basic overnight sourdough recipe and it should work fine.

1. In a large mixing bowl, stir together the starter, water, cinnamon and dried fruit.

2. Add the flour and salt, and squelch everything together with a clean hand. Cover and allow the dough to rest for about half an hour.

3. Uncover the dough and give it a brief knead in the bowl (less than a minute), then cover it again and allow to prove overnight.

4. The following morning, the dough should be well risen and puffy. Dust the bench with flour or fine semolina (my preference) and scrape out the dough. Stretch and fold it onto itself so that all sides are coated in flour – this makes it easier to work with. There are photos of this process in our earlier tutorial.

5. Divide the dough into two or three even pieces. I bake three smaller loaves in my ginormous oven, but you could just as easily bake two larger ones. If you have a tiny oven, just halve the quantities and bake a single loaf. Shape each piece into a ball, then let it sit on the bench for 15 minutes, covered in a tea towel. This short rest will make shaping the loaves much easier.

6. Shape each ball into a round or oval loaf, trying to keep as much fruit inside the loaf as possible. Sit each loaf on a sheet of parchment, or nestle it seam-side up in a tea-towel lined banneton. If you’re going to use bannetons, I suggest rolling the shaped dough in fine semolina first, which will help prevent sticking. Preheat the oven to 220C with fan. Allow the dough to prove until puffed up – about 30 minutes to an hour.

I line my bannetons with Tenegui (coarse weave cotton hand towels) from Daiso. They work brilliantly!

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7. If using bannetons, carefully turn the loaves onto sheets of parchment and slash a long cut on the top, either in the middle or offset to one side. Try to avoid any bits of fruit.  Place each loaf into an enamel roaster and cover with lid. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes.

My grotty enamel roasters. I never bother to wash them!

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8. Remove the lid and bake for a further 20 minutes (you might need a bit more time if you’re baking larger loaves). I like to reduce the temperature to 210C with fan at this point, as the sugars in the fruit can cause the top to burn a bit. Bake until well browned and hollow sounding.

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In theory, you should let the loaves cool before slicing, but this bread was so delicious hot and smothered in butter that all I can really recommend is letting it rest for half an hour or so before cutting into it.

This is hands down my favourite fruit and nut sourdough so far! It doesn’t have raisins or sultanas in it, nor is there any added sugar, yet the dates, apples and apricots add rich sweetness and depth of flavour. The walnuts turn the dough a gorgeous purpley-grey which carries through to the finished bread.

I took a leaf out of Sami’s book and invited all the neighbours over for a slice…

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Break bread with others, folks. Share the sourdough love as often as you can! ♥

PS. If you’re just starting out, you might enjoy our earlier sourdough tutorials:

Overnight Sourdough Tutorial

Overnight High Hydration Sourdough Tutorial