Portuguese Honey, Spice And All Things Nice, Fruit Bread.

Total Time: 2 hrs 10 mins Preparation Time: 40 mins Cook Time: 1 hr 30 mins

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups unsalted butter, softened, plus additional for buttering pans
• 3/4 cup dried cranberries or 3/4 cup dried sour cherries
• 3/4 cup chopped mixed candied fruit, fine-quality candied fruit such as pears, citron, and candied orange peel (1/4 lb)
• 1/4 cup port wine
• 1 1/4 cups walnuts (4 1/4 oz)
• 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 3 teaspoons active dry yeast (from two 1/4-oz packages)
• 1/4 cup warm water (105 115 f, 40-45 c)
• 3/4 cup molasses (not blackstrap)
• 1/2 cup honey

Recipe

• 1 put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 325°f (160 c).
• 2 butter 6 (6 by 3 1/4 by 2 inch) metal loaf pans. (2 to 2 1/4 cup capacity)
• 3 put cranberries, candied fruit, and port together in a small saucepan and heat until it simmers. remove from heat, cover and set aside.
• 4 coarsely chop walnuts using a food processor then add the flour, salt, baking soda and spices and pulse just enough to combine.
• 5 cream together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy, and then add the eggs 1 at a time, beating each in well.
• 6 stir together yeast and warm water in a small bowl and let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. if your mixture doesn't foam, discard it and start over with new yeast.
• 7 starting with one and a half cups of flour mixture added to butter mixture and mixing with an electric beater at low speed . add each of the following and combine after each addition : molasses, then another one and a half cups of flour mixture, then the yeast mixture, the final one and a half cups of flour mixture. then hand stir in the candied fruit mixture.
• 8 divide batter among pans, smooth the tops. you don't need to let the batter rise.
• 9 bake for about 50 to 60 minutes or until a wooden pick or skewer inserted in centers of loaves comes out clean.
• 10 cool in the loaf pans on a rack for about 10 minutes, then remove loaves from pans and cool completely on rack.