Fruit Toast Loaf

August 14, 2020

Nothing beats a good fruit loaf or the glorious waft of it cooking in your oven. Whether its for breakfast, afternoon tea or a sneaky late-night snack, toasted fruit loaf is one of life’s simple pleasures. Serve hot with a dollop of your favourite Nuttelex.

Makes 2 x loaves (each with 8 thick slices) so you will  need 2 x 2lb Loaf tins

Ingredients

The Dough

50 g Nuttelex melted, plus extra for greasing

450 g strong white flour, plus extra for dusting

2x 7 g sachets easy-blend yeast

50 g caster sugar

150 ml warm milk of your choice

1 egg, beaten

For the spice & fruit mix

1 juice of 1 orange

1 1/2 tsp Dutch cinnamon

1 tsp ground ginger

50 g dried apricots, chopped

50 g dried figs, chopped

50 g pitted dates, or raisins chopped

50 g sultanas

Directions

1Soak the dried fruits in the orange juice for about 30 mins, strain and set aside the fruit and juice- keeping both.

2Place flour, yeast, caster sugar and 1 tsp salt into a large mixing bowl with the spices and soaked fruit and mix well. Make a well in the centre and pour in the warmed milk, fruit-soaked orange juice you set aside, the beaten egg and the melted Nuttelex. Mix together to create a dough – start with a wooden spoon and finish with your hands. TIP: If the dough is too dry, add a little more warm water; if it’s too wet, add more flour.

3Knead until dough is smooth and springy. Transfer to a clean, lightly greased bowl and cover loosely with a clean, damp tea towel. Leave in a warm place to rise until roughly doubled in size – this will take about 1 hr depending on how warm the room is.

4Next, get the dough back into shape with an extra few seconds of kneading before placing in tins.

5Dust your two x 2lb loaf tins with flour. Halve the dough. Use a little flour to help you shape each half into a smooth oval, then pop them into the tins. Then again, cover each loaf tin loosely with a clean, damp tea towel and leave them to prove for another 20 mins.

6Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas and bake for 20 mins.

7Let cool in the tins before turning out and slicing.

8Serve with lashings of Nuttelex

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