Fruit loaf recipe and a giveaway

This year’s Adelaide Craft and Quilt Fair, November 5 - 8 at Adelaide Event and Exhibition Centre, will feature the latest trends including adult colouring-in, textile and wearable art, embroidery, knitting, paper craft, vintage fashion and a stunning array of quilts! I have two tickets for the Fair to give away. If you live in Adelaide and can go during November 5 - 8, make a comment below and I'll put all the names in a hat to choose. If you're one of the readers who can't comment, leave a post on the forum and I'll include your name in the draw.  FINISHED

A few people asked for the fruit bread recipe shown in Monday's post. It's from my Sunbeam bread maker manual, with a few minor changes.  I mix the dough in the bread maker, then bake in the oven.

INGREDIENTS

• 375 mls water - depending on the weather and the flour, you may use more or less water.
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons room temperature butter
• pinch salt
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons milk powder
• 1 teaspoon bread improver - I put this in because it's a dense loaf and bread improver lightens it
• 4 cups bread flour
• 2 teaspoons yeast

• 1 cup dried fruit
• ½ cup chopped dried apricots - add the fruit 15 minutes before the end of the kneading process

Add ingredients in the order given in the above list. Turn your machine on to "dough", it will take about 90 minutes to mix and rise the first time.  Look at the dough as it starts mixing and if it needs more water, add it tablespoon by tablespoon. 

About 15 minutes before the end of the cycle, add the dried fruit to the dough.  When the cycle finishes, take the dough out, knead it a couple of times, then shape it and sit it in a warm place until it almost doubles in size. When the dough has risen, brush the top with beaten egg, slash the top a few times with a very sharp knife and put it in a pre heated oven at 200C. Ten minutes into the bake, turn the oven down to 180C.  This is a sweet loaf and it can burn easily. Check 20 minutes into the bake and if it looks too brown on the top, cover it with foil until it's finished baking. Depending on your oven, it will take 30 - 40 minutes to bake.

I serve it warm, with butter. The loaf will keep for two or three days in a plastic bag in the fridge.

I hope you enjoy it.