Hillside Cherry Bread

Paul Berry

Ingredients:

200g (before de-stoning) Pip Neaves, fresh local organic cherries – select the ripest and sweetest.
100g dark chocolate covered ginger pieces.
300g Whole-wheat flour, stone ground, biodynamic from Perry Court Farm. As freshly ground as possible – it’s sweeter and gives a better rise.
200g Durum wheat flour, Farina tipo “00” di grano tenero. This hard flour, normally used for pizzas provides the dough with added elasticity for containing the fruit. From MacNade.
1 tsp/5ml quick yeast. Doves farm.
1 tsp/5ml salt.
2 dsp/20ml raw cane sugar.
40ml olive oil, extra virgin Greek Kalamata
330ml water, normal (cold) temp in summer, tepid in winter.

When cherries are not in season I substitute with chopped dried prunes, without mineral oil – irresistible with afternoon tea. Increase water to 350ml.

Fresh Spices:
• Star Anis x3 average size
• All spice x16 mixed sizes
• Green Cardamoms 12-16 depending upon taste.
• One medium nutmeg (whole), avoid pre-ground, grate to a fine powder.
• Cinnamon ½ stick, cut into small sections – not too hard.
Grind all spices to a fine powder in the spice mill.

Method

Add all the ingredients, except cherries and chocolate ginger, into the bread-maker, which should be set to its pizza/dough setting to give a 45-minute mix. Set a timer to 1¼ hours in summer, 1½ for winter, and start the timer at the same time as starting the bread machine. Ignore the bread-maker’s 45 minute alarm when it goes off and leave the machine on to continue proving the dough until the main timer goes after 1¼ hours. We are not going to bake the bread in the bread machine.

Place the stoned cherries and their juice into a bowl and scoop the dough from the machine’s bucket out on top of them with a spatula. Gently fold in the cherries until evenly mixed, adding a little extra flour as required – be careful not to add too much! Rest the mixture for a few minutes then fold in the chocolate ginger. The dough is handled gently at this stage to avoid loosing too much of its rise, which we wish to retain.

Place a pizza or baking stone into the oven, or heavy metal tray, if the stone is not available, for the bread to bake on. Set oven to 250C, 500F mark 10, or max heat for half an hour.

Carefully transfer the dough into the middle of a prepared sheet of baking paper. Dust a little (spelt) flour over the lump before patting with a large spatula into a loaf/bloomer like shape from the sides. The narrow sides may require practice. Do not press down heavily from the top, and do not knead, or the final rise will be reduced.

After 30 minutes with the oven ready, finely dust the risen dough with flour again and draw a knife length ways along the dough to a depth of 1cm. A serrated cheese knife is best, as it should not stick. Place a thin metal sheet under the baking paper and transfer the paper and dough onto the baking stone in the oven. Reduce the temperature to 200C, 400F, mark 6 and turn off any convectors. Bread likes a quiet oven to rise in. Leave for 15 minutes before turning and bake for a further 15 minutes. If the bread sticks to the paper when turning, just turn the paper. If a browner crisper loaf is required, increase heat during the second half to 210C.

Remove bread after 30 minutes and place on cooling trivet for (ideally) one hour before eating.

The work of the Park Farm Cherry Orchard Project has been recognised and supported as part of the Food Lovers' Britain Cherry Aid campaign

foodloversbritain.com