Fennel Fig & Almond Bread

Name: Fennel Fig & Almond Bread
Yield: Makes one 9 × 5 × 3-inch (23 × 13 × 7-cm) loaf, 12 to 16 slices
Cuisine: United States
Ingredients: 2 cups all-purpose flour (spoon flour into a dry-measure cup and level off); 1½ cups (8 to 9 ounces/225 to 250 grams) stemmed and diced white or black dried figs; 2 large eggs; 2 teaspoons fennel seeds, crushed; ⅔ cup sugar; 1 cup (about 4 ounces/100 grams) slivered almonds, lightly toasted; ¾ cup milk; ½ teaspoon salt; 2 teaspoons baking powder; 6 tablespoons (¾ stick) unsalted butter, softened

Preparation info

Makes one
9 × 5 × 3 inch
loaf

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

The Modern Baker

By Nick Malgieri

Published 2008

About

This delicious bread was inspired by a fragrant golden raisin, fennel, and cornmeal bread created by my friend Amy Scherber, owner of Amy’s Bread in New York City. The touch of fennel is a perfect foil for the figs and somehow emphasizes their sweetness. To crush the fennel seeds, place them in a jelly-roll or small roasting pan and press on them with the bottom of a heavy saucepan.

Ingredients

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rob hindle

updated 2 years ago from United Kingdom

The recipe worked OK and the result worth trying, unusual and interesting, it's getting eaten. I may keep it in my repertoire but probably won't repeat. That's not a criticism, but to earn 5 stars I need the outcome to be a revelation, something I'll definitely repeat.

For those wanting to give it a try, these were the metric units I used: Butter 85gm; Flour 240gm; Sugar 150gm; Milk 100ml/gm.
I didn't have slivered almond so used nibbed instead. I shook the diced fig in flour to prevent clumping.
As oven type is not specified and I use a fan oven, I baked for an hour at 170C, covering with foil for the last 15 mins as it was looking dark enough.

Matthew Cockerill

2 years ago from United Kingdom

Fennel and fig is a surprising but excellent combination. Made this as an Easter treat and it proved very popular.

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