Black Forest Fruit Loaf

This recipe is copied from the internet verbatim, including the commentary.

This is my granny's recipe. She usually makes it around Christmas. With its spices and lots of dried fruit it is yummy and moist and keeps quite some time when you wrap it in tin-foil. Feel free to replace any of the dried fruit, but stick to the total weight. For my part, I NEVER use candies citrus or orange peel and replace it with dates or raisins. I stongly advise you to do the same ;).

o 250 g dried pears
o 250 g dried plums
o 125 g dries figs
o 30 g candies orange and citrus peel, cubed
o 125 g walnuts, chopped
o 250 g flour
o 25 g fresh yeast
o 100 g caster sugar
o 1/2 tsp salt
o 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
o 1 tbsp ground aniseed
o 1 tsp ground ground cloves
o 1 pinch allspice

- Soak pears in 1/2 l water for 3 hrs, cut into strips, then boil in the same water for 20 mins until soft. Drain and keep the cooking water.

- Put the flour into a large bowl

- Dissolve the yeast in 2 tbsp of the cooking water, then add to the flour

- mix all ingredients and knead well. Then shape into 3 loaves.

- Leave to prove for 2 hrs.

- Bake in a preheated oven at 175° C (350° F) (gas mark 3) for 1 hour