Walnut Fig Loaf Cake Recipes

WALNUT & FIG LOAF CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Generously grease an 8x4 inch loaf pan. Line bottom and narrow sides with a strip of parchment paper and dust the long sides with flour.
• Stir flour, buttermilk powder (if using), sugar, baking soda, salt, and spices together in a mixing bowl.
• In a large measuring cup or another bowll, whisk together oil, eggs, water (or buttermilk), vanilla and fig preserves. Add liquid mixture to flour mixture and stir until smooth, then stir in the walnuts. Pour into the loaf pan and bake at 325 for about 1 hour or until loaf tests done. Let cool in pan for about 20 minutes, then carefully loosen with a knife. Don't remove from pan yet. Let cool completely, then turn from pan.

MAPLE WALNUT AND FIG BREAD

Steps:

• Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Put the diced figs in a medium bowl and add the warm water. Let soak until softened.
• Whisk the unbleached flour, cake flour, oats, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl. Set aside.
• Put the maple syrup, milk, eggs, egg yolks, and canola oil in a medium bowl and stir with the whisk to combine. Add the mixture to the dry ingredients, stirring with a spoon just until all the flour is moistened. This should be a wet batter, because the oats absorb a lot of the liquid during baking.
• Fold the walnuts and figs into the batter (the figs do not need to be drained). Divide the batter evenly between two oiled 9- by 5-inch loaf pans. Bake for about 1 hour, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. (If your oven bakes unevenly, rotate the pans from left to right and front to back about halfway through the baking time.)
• Remove the pans from the oven and use a pastry brush to glaze the tops of the loaves with maple syrup. Set them on a rack to cool for about 10 minutes. Turn the loaves out of the pans and set them on the rack to cool completely before serving. Wrap any leftovers tightly in plastic wrap and store at room temperature. They may also be frozen, wrapped first in aluminum foil and then in plastic wrap or a heavy-duty freezer bag.

WALNUT-FIG BREAD

Steps:

• Stir warm water, sugar, and yeast in a small bowl until yeast is dissolved. Let mixture stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. Brush a large bowl with oil and set aside.
• Place flours, 1 cup dried figs, fennel seeds, and salt in another bowl. Add yeast mixture; bring mixture together with your hands. Turn out dough onto a lightly floured work surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes.
• Transfer dough to oiled bowl, and cover loosely with a piece of lightly oiled plastic wrap. Let dough rise in a warm place until almost doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Turn out dough onto a lightly floured work surface, and knead in walnuts and remaining 1 cup dried figs (be aggressive with the dough to work in nuts and figs). Shape dough into a ball; pull seams in toward bottom to stretch and smooth top.
• Brush a baking sheet with oil; place dough in the middle. Loosely cover with a piece of lightly oiled plastic wrap. Let dough rise in a warm place until almost doubled in bulk, about 40 minutes.
• Bake until bread is light golden brown, about 30 minutes. Loosely tent with foil, and continue to bake until an instant-read thermometer inserted in the bottom of loaf registers 180 degrees and comes out clean, about 30 minutes more. Immediately transfer loaf to a wire rack; let cool completely before slicing.

FIG AND BANANA LOAF

Steps:

• Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease two 8.5 x4.5 inch pans.
• Mix together the eggs, soy milk, brown sugar, oil, and mashed bananas in a bowl until evenly blended; set aside. In a large bowl, stir together the whole wheat flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon; pour in the egg mixture, and stir just until combined. Divide batter into prepared pans.
• Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 55 minutes. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes before removing to cool completely on a wire rack.