Plum Butter Bread

Submitted by Annacia

"When you want something a bit special for a holiday or Sunday morning give this delicious bread a try. Don't let the list of ingredients scare you, it's really not difficult and gives a real sense of satisfaction when they come out of the oven. Prep time includes rising time"

 

• Ready In: 2hrs 30mins
• Ingredients: 17
• Yields: 2 loaves

ingredients

• 1 cup lightly packed pitted dried plum (prunes-about 8 ounces)
• 3⁄4 cup water
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1⁄3 cup sugar
• 3⁄4 teaspoon salt
• 3 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 - 3 1⁄2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 (3/4 ounce) package active dry yeast
• 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1 cup milk
• 1⁄2 cup butter
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 cup chopped walnuts
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon butter, melted

directions

1. For plum butter, in a saucepan combine plums, water, and lemon juice; bring to boiling then reduce heat.
2. Simmer, covered, 40 minutes. remove from heat; stir in honey.
3. Cool, place in a food processor bowl and process until smooth.
4. Cover and set aside.
5. In a bowl stir together 2 cups of the all-purpose flour, yeast, and cardamom.
6. Heat milk, 1/2 cup butter, sugar, and salt until warm (120 degree F to 130 degree F).
7. Add to flour mixture along with eggs and vanilla and beat with an electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds.
8. Beat on high speed 3 minutes.
9. Stir in whole wheat flour and as much remaining all-purpose flour as you can.
10. On a floured surface, knead in enough remaining all-purpose flour to make a moderately stiff dough that is smooth and elastic (about 6 to 8 minutes). Place in a greased bowl, cover; let rise until double (about 1 hour).
11. Turn out onto a floured surface, divide in half.
12. Cover; let rest 10 minutes.
13. Roll each half into a 12x7-inch rectangle and spread each with 1/2 cup of the plum butter to within 1 inch of edges.
14. Sprinkle with nuts and cinnamon.
15. Roll up; seal and place loaves, seam down, in two greased 8x4x2-inch loaf pans.
16. Cover; let rise until nearly double (30 to 45 minutes).
17. Bake in a 350 degree F oven 30 to 35 minutes or until bread sounds hollow when tapped.
18. Remove from pans, brush with melted butter.
19. Cool., serve with remaining plum butter.
20. Makes 2 loaves (32 servings).
21. Make-Ahead Tips: Transfer remaining prune butter to freezer container; seal, label, and freeze up to 1 month. Thaw overnight in refrigerator before serving. Cool loaves completely. Wrap bread in foil and place in airtight freezer containers or plastic freezer bags; seal, label, and freeze up to 1 month. Thaw bread for 2 hours at room temperature.

Reviews

[averybird]

A very pretty loaf of bread that tastes delicious too. I cut the recipe in half to make a single loaf as did pammyowl, and on her advice used two small eggs. I was a little confused on the amount of prunes to use because my 1/2 cup of prunes only weighed 2.3 ounces and not 4 ounces that the recipe indicated it should be. I went ahead and increased the amount to 4 ounces to make the bread. I would probably double the cardamom next time for a stronger hint of spice (although my cardamom bottle is a few years old, might that make a difference?) Overall I really enjoyed making this bread with its lovely deep purple swirl. Thanks, Annacia [Made for I Recommend]

 

[pammyowl]

Droolingly good, Anna! So happy you posted this delicious bread recipe:) I changed several things though, I added the nuts and cinnamon to the dough, left out the cardamom, not a fan of it, the rest I left alone. Oh, I did only make one loaf, but still used 2 eggs. Thanks for posting! Made for Newest Zaar 2012