Harvest of Bread

I'm a sucker for catalogs that comes in the mail. The glossy photos in catalogs always make stuff, especially kitchen stuff, look so appealing. I have to throw them away as quickly as they come, or else I take them into the "library" to browse and next thing you know I've got a wish list a mile long. The exception to the quick toss rule being cool kitchen catalogs that also contain recipes. Obviously you can't just chuck a perfectly good recipe. You might want to make that someday!

One of the worst offenders in the put-a-recipe-in-and-they'll-end-up-ordering category is the King Arthur Flour catalog. Not only do they have cool gadgets, nifty pans, spiffy tools, and hard to find ingredients, they also feature at least 3 mouth-watering recipes in each catalog.

A recent catalog featured a beautiful loaf they called Harvest Bread. It had me drooling just looking at the pictures. All of the ingredients sounded fabulous. Plus it was almost no knead. Time saving bonus! How could I resist?



The bread was beautiful- a symphony of flavors with a rustic texture that made each bit a pleasure. My husband said it was addictive. One slice was filling, but he kept wanting to go get another because it was so good! I loved the fruit flavors playing off the crunch of the nuts. Spread with a good butter, we had it for dinner. Delicious.

Harvest Bread
adapted from King Arthur Flour
(If you prefer ingredients listed by weight, those are available on the King Arthur website)

3 1/4 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1 cup King Arthur Traditional Whole Wheat Flour
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
1 3/4 cups cool water
1-1/4 cup mixed, dried fruit (I used the Trader Joe's mix of golden raisins, blueberries, cherries, and cranberries)
1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

1) Mix the flours, salt, yeast, and water in a large bowl. Stir, then use your hands to mix and form a sticky dough.

2) Work the dough just enough to incorporate all the flour, then add in the fruit and nuts.

3) Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and let it rest at room temperature overnight, or for at least 8 hours; it'll become bubbly and rise quite a bit, so use a large bowl.

4) Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and form it into a log or round loaf to fit your 14" to 15" long lidded stoneware baker, or 9" to 10" round lidded baking dish. Any fruit that is on top of the dough will burn, so try to have it all incorporated in the dough.

5) Place the dough in the lightly greased pan, smooth side up.

6) Cover and let rise at room temperature for about 2 hours, until a slight indentation remains when you poke it with a finger. Just before baking, slash the top several times to allow for expansion. Cover with the lid.

7) Place the pan in the cold oven. Set the oven temperature to 450°F.

8) Bake the bread for 45 minutes, then remove the lid and continue to bake for another 5 to 10 minutes, until it's deep brown in color, and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center registers about 205°F. Remove the bread from the oven, turn out onto a rack, and cool before slicing.