Plum Butter Bread

Total Time: 2 hrs 30 mins Preparation Time: 2 hrs Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients

• 1 cup lightly packed pitted dried plum (prunes-about 8 ounces)
• 3/4 cup water
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 -3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 (3/4 ounce) package active dry yeast
• 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 cup chopped walnuts
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon butter, melted

Recipe

• 1 for plum butter, in a saucepan combine plums, water, and lemon juice; bring to boiling then reduce heat.
• 2 simmer, covered, 40 minutes. remove from heat; stir in honey.
• 3 cool, place in a food processor bowl and process until smooth.
• 4 cover and set aside.
• 5 in a bowl stir together 2 cups of the all-purpose flour, yeast, and cardamom.
• 6 heat milk, 1/2 cup butter, sugar, and salt until warm (120 degree f to 130 degree f).
• 7 add to flour mixture along with eggs and vanilla and beat with an electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds.
• 8 beat on high speed 3 minutes.
• 9 stir in whole wheat flour and as much remaining all-purpose flour as you can.
• 10 on a floured surface, knead in enough remaining all-purpose flour to make a moderately stiff dough that is smooth and elastic (about 6 to 8 minutes). place in a greased bowl, cover; let rise until double (about 1 hour).
• 11 turn out onto a floured surface, divide in half.
• 12 cover; let rest 10 minutes.
• 13 roll each half into a 12x7-inch rectangle and spread each with 1/2 cup of the plum butter to within 1 inch of edges.
• 14 sprinkle with nuts and cinnamon.
• 15 roll up; seal and place loaves, seam down, in two greased 8x4x2-inch loaf pans.
• 16 cover; let rise until nearly double (30 to 45 minutes).
• 17 bake in a 350 degree f oven 30 to 35 minutes or until bread sounds hollow when tapped.
• 18 remove from pans, brush with melted butter.
• 19 cool., serve with remaining plum butter.
• 20 makes 2 loaves (32 servings).
• 21 make-ahead tips: transfer remaining prune butter to freezer container; seal, label, and freeze up to 1 month. thaw overnight in refrigerator before serving. cool loaves completely. wrap bread in foil and place in airtight freezer containers or plastic freezer bags; seal, label, and freeze up to 1 month. thaw bread for 2 hours at room temperature.