My friend Ann Nurse has been a loyal customer of Royal Crown Bakery in Brooklyn, New York, for years, and whenever I see her she gives me a couple of their fig and walnut loaves. When I was planning which breads to include in this book, I embarked on an attempt to recreate the flavour, with almonds instead of walnuts. Ann and I both agreed that there might be a little sugar in the dough, and that it looked and tasted as though there mig
