fruit and nut bread

When Da's sister (GN) requested me to bake fruit and nut bread, I searched the internet for suitable recipes. Nowadays, I prefer to use my breadmaker to make the dough. Once the dough cycle has been completed on the breadmaker machine, I will continue with the rest of the steps by hand and bake the bread in our convection oven. I find that bread made this way tends to be softer than bread made in the breadmaker machine.

I did not find any fruit and nut recipes that I fancied. As such, I decided to improvise. When Da and I were doing our grocery shopping at NTUC Fairprice supermarket, I searched for dried apricots. However, I could not find it. Instead, I found several brands of dried mango being sold. Da suggested that I substitute with dried mango instead. Hmm... an interesting suggestion. In the end, not only did I add dried mango, I also added dried pineapple.

INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 cups warm water

2 tbsp butter

1 tsp salt

3 tbsp brown sugar

1/2 cup fruits (I used a mixture of dried mango, dried pineapple and raisins)

1/2 cup chopped nuts (I used a mixture of walnuts, pecans, sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds)

1 1/2 cups bread flour

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

2 tsp instant dry yeast

METHOD

1. Place all the ingredients (except the bread flour, whole wheat flour and yeast) in the bucket of the breadmaker machine.

2. Add the bread flour and whole wheat flour, making sure that the wet ingredients are totally covered.

3. Add the yeast.

4. Place the bucket in the breadmaker machine and set to "dough" cycle. Start the cycle.

5. When the cycle has been completed, turn the dough onto a floured board. Using floured hands, knead the dough 5 times.

6. Place the dough in a loaf pan that has been greased and lined with baking paper. Cover with a damp cloth and leave for 1 hour or until the dough has doubled in size.

7. Bake in an oven preheated to 175 degrees celsius for 35 minutes.