Freshly Fruited Yeast Bread

Thanks everyone for all your nice comments about our wedding photos. :)

This yeasted fruit bread was so flavourful and delicious. It has cranberries, banana, apple, lemon and orange - though you don't taste the apple and banana much. The texture was perfect for me - dense sort of like a pound cake (but it's yeast bread), and still soft. I loved eating it toasted with butter smeared on top mmm. I'm submitting this bread to yeastspotting.

If this sounds good, you might also like:
Bon Ton Bakery Cinnamon Bread
Noreen Kinney's Irish Soda Bread
Braided Lemon Bread
Hot Crossed Buns

Freshly Fruited Yeast Bread
Adapted from The New Enchanted Broccoli Forest

The apple and banana I used were small, so I ended up adding less unbleach white flour than was called for, which is why I put a range of 3-5 cups (instead of the original recipe which says 4-5 cups). Next time I'd be sure to use the full 1 cup grated apple then I'd probably need more flour.

The Sponge:
1 cup wrist-temperature water
2/3 cup orange juice
2 1/4 tsp (1 pkg) active dry yeast
drop of honey
2 cups unbleached white flour

Combine water and juice in a large bowl. Add yeast and honey; beat in the flour. Cover; let rise for 30 to 45 minutes.

The Mix:
1 cup finely minced dried cranberries
1 large ripe banana, mashed
1 packed cup grated peeled apple (I used 1 small apple which was ~1/2 cup)
1 tbsp grated orange rind
1 tbsp grated lemon rind
1/2 cup honey
1 tbsp plus 1 tsp salt
3 tbsp melted butter

Beat into risen sponge.

Additionally:
2 cups whole wheat bread flour
Approximately 3 to 5 more cups unbleached white flour
a little butter or oil for the pans or baking tray

Add the flour a cup at a time, beating at first with a wooden spoon, then kneading it in with a floured hand and dumping it out onto a smooth floured surface. Continue adding flour and kneading the dough until the dough loses its stickiness, about 15 minutes. Oil or butter a bowl generously. Place the dough in it, swish it around (to oil the surface of the dough). Cover the bowl with a damp cloth and let it rise until it has doubled in bulk (about 1 hour). After it has doubled, punch down the dough.

Grease two 8"x4" loaf pans. Divide the dough in 2. Place the dough into the greased pans, press it hard into the corners and bottom of the pan. Cover the dough with a damp cloth, and put it in a warm place to rise until it has doubled, about 30-45 minutes. (Mine didn't rise much in the pans.)

Preheat the oven to 350F at least 15 minutes before baking. Bake at 350F for 40 to 50 minutes, or until it sounds hollow when thumped on the bottom. Remove the loaves from the pans. Cool for at least 30 minutes on a rack before slicing.

(Ashley note: Johanna made this bread also and said her bread didn't rise much - which was a problem I also had. The recipe in an older version of the cookbook suggests baking it at 425F so I'll try that next time and then not bake it for as long.)