Maggie’s Fruit-n-Granola Bread
She’s at it again. Friend Maggie has become quite the baker, and during our visit last week, she showed me how to make her latest favorite: a delicious—and easy— granola bread.
Doesn’t it look tempting?
It’s chock full of dried fruits, almonds, and honeyed grains. The dough itself is barely sweetened; the abundance of jewel-like fruits provides bursts of sweetness throughout the loaf.
If she could, Maggie would have you over right now, for “a set” on her porch in the country. We’d savor the fall afternoon with a buttery slice and cup of coffee. Lining the front of her yard are the shrubs called burning bush–at this moment in their brilliant red blaze. We’d watch the flurry of chickadees, snatching and storing seeds for the coming winter. We’d talk about oddities we experienced gardening this year–how the tomatoes put more of their energy into vines than fruit, and did you know that groundhogs could climb a fence and eat green beans?
Instead, we’ll have to do the next best thing, and show you how it’s done…
What a fetching assembly of ingredients!
You could make this bread with just raisins and granola, if you prefer. And, if you’d rather put in pecans instead of almonds, you’d be well-pleased with the results.
Maggie had all kinds of dried fruits–apricots, blueberries, cherries, cranberries—in her pantry, so we took the “more is better” approach. For this bread, it proves to be the right one!
Yes, it’s a kneaded, yeasted bread, but don’t be dismayed. Remember, Bread=Time. And most of that time means leaving the dough alone. (after a vigorous kneading!)
This recipe calls for one major rising, followed by a brief one, once the loaves are formed.
The holidays are drawing near. Wrapped up in festive packaging, her fruit-n-granola bread would make a much appreciated gift.
Even better though, would be to have a loaf on hand to serve guests, sliced and smeared with soft butter. Served alongside a cup of hot coffee or tea—ah, I can’t think of a more pleasant way to share a chilly afternoon visiting with friends.
MAGGIE’S FRUIT-N-GRANOLA BREAD
1/3 cup Rolled Oats (not the “quick” kind)
1 1/2 cups Dried Fruit (use a variety & dice if necessary)
1 tablespoon Unsalted Butter (substitute vegetable oil for vegan)
2 tablespoons Honey
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/2 cup boiling Water
1 cup Granola (chop into coarse crumbs if necessary)
1 cup lukewarm Water
1 pkg. Active Dry Yeast
2 1/2 cups Unbleached All-purpose Flour
1/2 cup Almonds, roughly chopped
In a large bowl, combine oats, 1/2 cup of the dried fruits, butter, honey, and salt. Add boiling water, mix well. Stir in granola and set aside.
In a small bowl, combine yeast and lukewarm water. Cover bowl with a dish towel and set aside to ferment.
When granola mixture has cooled down to lukewarm, stir in yeast mixture.
Stir in flour, 1 cup at a time. Stir in the remaining dried fruit and almonds. The dough will be fairly sticky.
Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface. Flour your hands, and adding flour as needed. knead the dough for about 8 minutes, or until it’s smooth and no longer sticky.
Place dough into an oiled bowl, making sure to coat all over. Cover bowl with a dish towel and place in a warm area – the oven with light on is a great place. Let rise until it’s doubled in size – 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
Punch dough down. Cut in half and shape into two slightly oval balls. Place on an oiled sheet pan. Cover with a dish towel and let rise for 15 – 20 minutes.
Preheat oven to 375F. Bake for 35 – 40 minutes. It should have a golden brown crust and sound slightly hollow when tapped. Foolproof test is 190F on an instant read thermometer. Let cool on a wire rack.
Let cool for at least 10 minutes before slicing! (Gives you time to brew up that pot of coffee-)
Makes two small round loaves.
Posted in Breads, Recipes, Vegan
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November 9th, 2011 at 12:38 pm
This looks sooooo good. With butter, and a hot cup of herbal tea in the morning? Sold!
November 9th, 2011 at 1:49 pm
Brilliant idea. I made muesli cookies and they were fantastic. I can imagine how good this bread would be. I will definitely attempt it sometime soon
November 9th, 2011 at 3:04 pm
This bread looks great. What kind of butter do you use? I love the butter we get at some restaurants, but when I buy it from the grocery stores I don’t like it. I believe I am not buying the right kind.
November 9th, 2011 at 3:12 pm
Hi Sruthi–In this instance, Maggie used a European style butter called Plugra. It is slow-churned, and creamier–with less water than most butters you find at the grocery store. Another wonderful butter is from Ireland called Kerrigold. More expensive–but worth it for the flavor. It takes less, spread on bread, to please you!
November 9th, 2011 at 4:03 pm
Three Cookies–I remember those muesli cookies—they looked wonderful.
November 10th, 2011 at 5:07 am
Nancy, this bread is calling my name. Great for breakfast with a cup of hot coffee or, I’m sure,for an afternoon pick me up.
November 10th, 2011 at 7:05 am
i absolutely adore dried fruits and have once tried baking cookies with that but didn’t turn out good. This bread would be my next attempt.
November 10th, 2011 at 7:36 am
This bread is absolutely gorgeous, Nancy! All the fruit in there really makes it something special…this is definitely my kind of fruit cake, lol! It looks perfect toasted with butter.
November 10th, 2011 at 7:42 am
Oh Nance -this bread looks wonderful! I do have a question–with the bread itself being a big “ball”, how do you keep it from cooking too quickly on the outside and it still being doughy on the inside?
I want to make this for my Christmas brunch!
November 10th, 2011 at 7:49 am
Barbara–this recipe will make 2 smaller balls–rather than one big one—and they do cook fairly evenly.
Be sure to bake them in a preheated oven–and place them in the center of the oven for the best results. Maggie uses a kitchen thermometer–and you can check the interior towards the end of the baking time. 190 degrees means done. I just kind of “thunk” the bread–seeking that hollow sound to indicate doneness. I think it would be a terrific Christmas brunch bread. Good Luck!
November 10th, 2011 at 8:14 am
Funny…I’ve just come from making another comment on someone’s else’s blog about not having ventured into bread making yet.
Boy oh boy…I am sure being tempted, especially since I have a big weakness for bread…and an even bigger weakness when all my favourite ingredients are integrated.
Nancy…these breads look amazing!
Have a wonderful weekend,
Claudia
November 10th, 2011 at 8:21 am
This sounds like a wonderful bread to make. I’d love having it with my tea in the morning or along with a piece of cheese and fruit.
November 10th, 2011 at 8:50 am
Nance, this was fun, wasn’t it!? I do hope your readers will try this out. I know once I “let go of the fear” of baking bread, I’ve seen just how easy it is. I agree with Faith, this is my kind of fruit cake, too!!! This bread makes incredible toast!!!
November 10th, 2011 at 10:55 am
I bet that is marvelous toasted! I don’t make a lot of bread now that the kids are gone, but wouldn’t this make a super gift for the holidays?
I watched Martha Stewart make a divine grain bread the other day. It would be fun to combine some of each recipe as she didn’t use fruit. But she did use oatmeal, wheatberries and other grains.
November 10th, 2011 at 10:57 am
That’s a great idea, Barbara. Wheatberries and sunflower seeds and such would be terrific with all the dried fruit in this loaf.
November 10th, 2011 at 12:09 pm
I love the picture with the bread spread with butter. Delicious. I was interested to read the comment about butters. Water in butter? I guess we must be lucky here where butter is just churned milk.
November 10th, 2011 at 2:06 pm
That bread is absolutely beautiful!
November 10th, 2011 at 5:44 pm
What a great idea! Perfect brekkie bread :D actually, I’d eat breakfast lunch and dinner haha
November 10th, 2011 at 9:10 pm
OMG – this looks amazing! I want some like right now!
November 11th, 2011 at 4:03 am
This looks like a lovely loaf of bread. I love that it’s not too sweet, but is sweetened by the fruit. We all need a friend like Maggie!
November 11th, 2011 at 6:55 am
It looks heavenly! I love fruit and granola mixes and now that they are both in the shape of bread form makes it even better- plus the bread is beautiful with all those colors.
November 11th, 2011 at 7:40 am
I love any bread that looks like this one! Whole grainy, full of textural fruits, warm with melted butter….uber yummy.
November 14th, 2011 at 10:32 am
Beyond delicious!
November 15th, 2011 at 10:54 am
A nature-girls panettone. I like that :)
November 15th, 2011 at 11:19 am
We have never tried making our own bread. Your post makes it very tempting! Thanks for the inspiration.
November 15th, 2011 at 1:09 pm
oh i love the look of this festive bread, just my kind of bread. Reminds me in some way of Panettone, but this one is more of a bread. It think it sounds delicious toasted with butter, what a breakfast treat!
November 15th, 2011 at 5:44 pm
Wow, nice loaf of bread, healthy and so tasty with all the dry fruits in it…almost like a dessert.
Hope you are having a wonderful week Nancy :-)
November 16th, 2011 at 12:26 pm
Exquisite! This looks absolutely beautiful (and I bet if there’s any left over, it would make a fantastic bread pudding too).
November 16th, 2011 at 8:22 pm
This bread looks so delicious! I love breads that are dense with dried fruits and nuts. I think this would make a great substitute for fruitcake.
November 17th, 2011 at 6:58 am
I adore breads like this but like others haven’t ventured far into baking. When you say one full and one short rising, how do they differ?
November 17th, 2011 at 8:24 am
Hi Tammy—the second rising takes place after the loaves are formed, and lasts only 15-20 minutes (the time needed to preheat the oven and straighten up the kitchen mess that (in my case!) preceded it. The first rise is the long one–1 to 1 1/2 hours—so that the dough ball is doubled in size.
i hope you’ll try it. It’s easy, festive, and delicious!
November 17th, 2011 at 3:04 pm
Heck yes it looks tempting! I want to eat a buttery slice w/ a cup of coffee while watching the chickadees, with the two of you. I think my mom would like it too, so I’ll bring her along. See you soon ; )
November 18th, 2011 at 2:09 pm
What a lovely gift bread this would make. Wrapped up in a beautiful dish towel.