Fig Bread

Whenever I'm not busy on a Saturday morning, my mom and I bike/drive to the KCC farmers market. Actually, we usually drive there. We buy too much stuff to bike! But anyways, we usually buy a loaf of bread from Ba-le bakery. My dad loves figs, and so our usual choice of bread was their fig and walnut, at least until recently. I think they've changed their recipe or something because, well, let's just say it's more of a walnut bread than a fig walnut bread.

Disappointed by the last loaf we tried, I set out to make my own, and this time the bread would be chock full of figs. So I made the bread, and let's just say my mom and I will be buying a different loaf. The fig bread wasn't bad, it was just too much work. Okay, maybe not a lot of work. I accidentally left a pan of water in the oven, and so there was an extra extra crunchy (almost too hard) crust on the bread.

The bread itself was a little too spongy, and wasn't the dense whole grain loaf I wanted. I'll probably tackle a fig bread recipe soon, but until then I think I will be at the farmers market on saturdays!

Fig Bread
Adapted from Pastry Pal
Ingredients:
4 cups (454 g) all purpose flour plus 1 teaspoon for sprinkling
1 cup wheat flour
2 1/2 (12 g) teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon (4 g) granulated yeast
2 1/3 cup cool tap water (about 70 degrees F, a comfortable room temperature)
1 cup dried figs, chopped

1. Combine flours, yeast, and salt
2. Add water and knead until forms a stick ball, continue kneading. Knead in figs pieces
3. Allow dough to rest for 12-14 hours
4. Punch dough down and place in on a parchment lined baking sheet
5. Allow to rise at room temperature for 1 1/2 hours
6. Preheat oven and baking stone to 425˚F
7. Spritz water in to oven or leave a small baking dish filled with water inside the oven while preheating
8. Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 400˚F and bake for 30 to 45 minutes.