almond fig and rosemary bread

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This one was inspired by the lovely Joanna at Zeb Bakes, who recently made a Roast Hazelnut and Fig Bread. It all sounded a whole lot of lovely, so I wanted to play with the flavours. I didn’t have hazelnuts… or cicely… or whole figs. But hey, I’d give it a crack.

I’d pilfered some Maggie Beer Burnt Fig Jam from my mothers pantry awhile back, and had happily been slapping it on to my sourdough in the mornings. However this was all the figgy-ness I had in the kitchen so the last bit would have to go in, (I was thinking some figgy streaks through out the bread). I only wish I’d made this bread at the start of the jar, as now, I might have to get some more, (at a real shop, not just my mother’s pantry).

The rosemary addition held its own and seemed wonderfully paired up with the fig jam. It wasn’t overwhelming in flavour, but did smell great when I sliced in to it. The almonds, I could have done better. I should have pushed them into the dough before the overnight prove, as in the fridge the dough developed a slight skin and I wasn’t sure just pushing them into the dough just before baking would be enough to keep them in. I think the bread needed some proving time around the whole almonds. Hugging them tight. Once toasted though they added a lovely subtle crunch to the rest of the bread.

I wasn’t the only one inspired by this bread. Heidi from Steps on the Journey also did her version of the same loaf. So it seems like a good one to play with… and play again, yes… I think I will.

Almond Fig and Rosemary Bread

200g starter

375g strong bakers flour

1/2 tsp dark malt flour

200mls water (approx)

1 tbls fig jam

1 tsp finely chopped rosemary

1 tsp salt

whole almonds

Mixed starter, flour, dark malt flour and water. Rest period (40 mins). Added remaining ingredients, mix, (I put the jam in last as I didn’t want it to be thoroughly mixed through, more of those figgy streaks). Leave for an hour or so. Quick knead on a lightly floured surface, and shaped into a boule and popped on a tray- decorate with almonds, covered with a plastic bag and left for about another hour and into the fridge for 12 hours. Brought back to room temperature, slash, and then baked at 240C with steam.

* submitted to the wonderful yeastspotting

30 thoughts on “almond fig and rosemary bread”

  1. I love the marbled look of yours, Brydie!
    And it’s completely sourdough- I was playing with the idea of making it sourdough. It looks delish!
    Thanks for the mention.

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  2. Jam in the bread dough. Not something I’d thought of!

    I want to try and master a plain sourdough first (still several weeks from my first loaf), but then I definitely want to start playing with some flavours.

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  5. Thanks for the mention Brydie, always great to hear that someone is inspired 😀 I don’t think I’ve ever had fig jam. I will have to look for some. Another way to incorporate your jam would be to stretch the dough out after the first prove or roll it out and then spread the dough with the jam and sprinkle with chopped toasted almonds or whatever you use and then roll it up and twist it Babka style and leave to prove, well in theory, then you would get layers of dough and fruit when you cut through? You might want to add something to soften the dough a little to help with rolling or use a proportion of plain flour (soft/ap) so that the dough is not too snappy.

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    • That would be a good way to incorporate it all… Thanks for the making the flour not so snappy trick too, I didn’t know that.
      This loaf was entirely dictated by lack of time factor, so I didn’t handle it a lot and that’s why the almonds were wedged in at the end. Next time I’ll definitely pop them inside though.
      This particular fig jam is rather special, just too bad there is non left!

      ….mmm, and now I’m thinking babka…

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  7. It looks damn fine to me. the almonds sticking out make it particularly attractive. Love the idea of fig jam. Figs were a real treat when I was young only coming out at Christmas and when so much of the food we eat now wasn’t available – not to ordinary folk anyway. So I always associate figs with luxury. A wonderfully luxurious loaf it has got to be.

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    • That’s a lovely association with figs. I associate them with pinching them from my mum. It was her only sweet treat… hmmm, actually I’m still pinching them in one form or another then 😉

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  8. Beautiful bread, Brydie! I love the elegant arrangement of almonds on the top and the circular slashing – I’ve never managed to get that to work. I’ve been putting a Lebanese fig jam into my bread – it has sesame seed through it – and it’s delicious. Cheap too – get Mr Chocolate to pick you some up from Harkola next time. 🙂

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  9. A very impressive looking loaf Brydie! Well done on that flavour combination…and being so creative with your sourdough breads. I keep making the same old boring stuff (plain bread, olive and rosemary, bagels and hot cross buns!). Must expand my horizons somewhat….
    And don’t mention that Magige Beer icecream…yum!!!

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  10. oooh, this looks so good. I used to always make my own bread, and then my hubby got me a breadmaker for Christmas. And I have to say it helps allow time for other things. But, then I see a recipe like this, and feel I need to get my hands into some dough again:)

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  12. Ooh! You’ve been playing with the banneton again – how lovely! Do you know, I’ve never ever tasted a fig? Seriously. This must be changed after reading your post.

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    • Christine you’ve been fig denied! How can this be so? Go directly to nearest fig likely store and purchase some dried figs immediately… (A good little sugar hit pick me up too.) Fresh figs… I think the season might be done??

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  13. the figs over our back fence have only just ripened! better late than never. the tree is so heavy with fruit, but beating the birds seems to be a problem. i’ve been making fig & walnut. rosemary looks like an interesting ingredient to experiment with.

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  14. Your bread looks so deliciously. We have so much, but haven’t found figs yet. The idea of using jam in bread is great; I will experiment with some flavors. Thank you for sharing.

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  15. It looks delicious. I thought Joanna’s looked gorgeous too, so I really must get round to making bread with figs in it. I’ll have to think of a sub for the nuts though!

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  16. I may have missed this as I have just discovered your site – awesome – do you have a preferred starter recipe? Have you posted it on your blog somewhere – I cannot seem to find it.
    thanks,
    Mark

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    • Thanks Mark. I made the starter about a year ago and didn’t do a proper post on the method I used to make the starter unfortunately. I posted a bit about it here, but not the entire method. For that I used the Bourke Street Bakery cookbook, which worked really well and the starter is still going strong.
      I’m not sure where you are located, but if you can’t get hold of this book, this post here describes how to raise a starter in a similar fashion to how I did mine.
      I’m also thinking about making another one and posting it properly, so stay tuned 🙂

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