Old Prunes

Rosie was sorting through the cupboards the other day and found a packet of prunes that were on their sell by date.  Some of them went into a chutney and I used the residue to make bread.

 I put some strong white flour and some spelt wholemeal flour into a bowl with dried yeast and whisked it together. The prunes were chopped into small nogs.

 Immersing the prunes (and a few sultanas) in warm water for an hour will hydrate them to prevent the bread drying out.  Mix up the prune and water solution, flour and some olive oil to make a loose dough and leave to rise for an hour.

 If the dough is too wet, more flour can be added.  Knock back the dough and form into bread tins (or rolls) and leave for at least 30 minutes or until the dough has doubled in volume, then bake at 220 degrees Celsius for 28 minutes ( 200 degrees in a fan oven or 16 minutes for rolls).  Cool before eating.

 My random mix made 3 loaves.  I also made some Khorasan rolls for soup later in the week.

This bread was a joy with apple and cheese.  It can also be toasted to give a soft tea bread.  Two of the loaves have been frozen for a future treat.  They will defrost overnight when we want them.