No Fruit Again!

 Well the second Spiced Fruit loaf was put on last night before I went to bed.  We have yet another fail on the fruit dispenser and I had to drag G into have a look at the machine.  It turned out that from not opening the trap then stayed open and it appeared that a little clip had broken on it.  I therefore took the trap out of the other machine and replaced it so that I have one "bread-maker" now geared up for making anything with fruit or seeds in it.  The other will be just for dough or anything plain.

I now have two spiced loaves without fruit.  Pudding i.e. bread and butter pudding with lots of fruit sprinkled over the bread instead of in it.  I am not wasting a jot.  There is no need to, you just have to find ways to use it that suit your family's tastes.

There is of course the option of making cinnamon toast if you make up a cinnamon and sugar mixture.  Good for baking too.  I love hot buttery cinnamon toast especially in these cooler months.  Proper comfort food.  Food does not have to be complicated just tasty.  Spiced loaf might also be very good with chocolate spread dribbled all over it.  Behave Tricia!

So I now have one and a half Spiced bread loaves and two XL white bread loaves to use up.  

I am going to make bread buns and something else tomorrow.  If the fruit trap works on the machine (I am going to put on another loaf later on), then I might have a go at making Cinnamon rolls or fruit tea cakes.  Will see if it works first though.  The recipes were obtained generally from the Panasonic website by searching on Google.  

I also intend to bag up the ingredients in batches so that I can just go and grab a bag and bung it in the machine.  For the sake of having the scales out for a little while I will be able to bag up ingredients ready to go, just with a label on each bag with the additions to be added to each bag i.e. eggs!  Will make so much more of my time.

Recipe for Spiced Fruit Loaf is as follows:

I used the Dough setting on my machine as it is an older model, but on the newer machine it is denoted as a "Basic bake Raisin".

The recipe for the Spiced "Fruit" Loaf is for a medium sized loaf only:

1 teaspoon of yeast

400g/14oz Bread flour

2 teaspoons of sugar

75g/3oz butter

1 teaspoon of salt

2 teaspoons of Cinnamon

1 teaspoon of Mixed Spice

2 Medium sized eggs

110ml of water

110ml of milk

150g/5oz Mixed Dried fruit

The white bread is to the left of the picture and the Spiced "Fruit" loaf is to the left.

The bread has come up well and I am pleased with the mix on it as well.  This is it sliced:

The recipe for the white loaf is as follows:

For a medium sized loaf:

3/4 teaspoon of yeast

400g/14oz of bread flour

1 teaspoon of sugar

15g/ 1/2oz of butter

1 teaspoon of salt

270ml of water (I used tepid water)

For a large sized loaf:

1 teaspoon of yeast

475g/1lb 1oz of bread flour

1 1/2 teaspoons sugar

25g/1oz Butter

1 1/4 teaspoon of salt

320ml of water (I used tepid water)

For an Extra Large sized loaf:

1 1/4 teaspoons of yeast

550g/1lb 4oz Bread flour

2 teaspoons of sugar

25g/1oz Butter

1 1/2 teaspoons of salt

360ml of water (I used tepid water)

General Instructions for all sizes for both recipes:

I did use Waitrose Canadian Strong Bread flour which is also good for pasta  as well as for the bread.  I find it gives a better rise although I have found that if the room is warm where the bread-maker is the bread rises even further.  My kitchen for the best part is cold.

Add ingredients to the pan in the recommended order for your bread machine.

Will take about four hours in a Panasonic Bread maker.  Mine is an older model and was set on Dough setting.

We are having Lasagna for tea this evening. Just on its own and served with thick slices of homemade bread and butter, which is something I tend to do in any event.  I might even make a little garlic butter to slather over the bread for a change, especially as I managed to get a lot of fresh garlic earlier in the week.

Considering it has been a while since I made any bread in the bread machine, I am quite pleased with how the white bread in particular has come out.  

I am looking forward to experimenting more in due course.  I do have Rye, Spelt, French Bread flours, as well as plenty of the Shipton Mill Canadian Bread flour to hand as well as a healthy supply of different yeasts for both bread-makers and hand made bread.  All part and parcel of the useful ingredients I keep on my Pantry shelf.  Bread is a staple and so useful for padding out meals.  Homemade Butter can be made to complement the bread from reduced cream and kept in the freezer (if you have one) or the fridge.  At the end of the day it is about getting to know your ingredients and working with them to make those things that are important to you and  your family as we are all different and all have different tastes and sometimes allergies/low tolerance to different ingredients.

Basic ingredients are there for a purpose, to fulfil the basic needs of your food repertoire but with the added bonus you have more choice as to what to make.  I always grab different flours when I can and also sugar, porridge oats, rice etc.  Just a few of the ingredients I do keep to hand, plus a load more.

Shopping habits have changed of late especially since the shortages and I go only for ingredients these days, that I can get more than one meal out and I bake cakes and hopefully now bread rather than buy it.  I also buy in lots of tinned goods where I can as well, as they really do provide lots of meals in their own right.

Catch you soon.

Pattypan

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