Yes, that's right - didn't you see the announcement? I couldn't resist participating (even if I am a little late)... such an unfairly maligned little fruit. This one time event was proposed by David Lebovitz and believe it or not, he's already written the round-up. I hesitated to post my homely little entry after seeing David's heroic efforts making chocolate macarons with prune filling (7 batches!), but I must show my support for the prune - however humbly...
I've always liked prunes, but I've never been crazy about prune juice. When I was a kid, my Mom often served a mixture of orange and prune juice at breakfast. I'm not sure if the reason was economy, nutrition, or just plain preference. Since I favored unadulterated orange juice, I always assumed that the orange juice was the scarce commodity and prune juice was her way of stretching it out. These days, with orange essence prunes in every grocery store, I'm thinking maybe she was ahead of her time.
I don't know the origin of this recipe, which uses both prunes and prune juice, but it is one my Mom grew up with. I've turned the tables on her, and have swapped orange juice for some of the prune juice. I also threw in a little orange zest for good measure. With whole wheat flour and prunes, there can be no doubt about the motives behind this recipe!
Prune Bread
The texture of this loaf is surprisingly light for a whole grain bread and the orange really is a nice complement. If I remember right, I believe we sometimes had this with baked beans rather than brown bread.
1 cup pitted prunes (I used bite size and left them whole, but it might be better to cut them up)
1/2 cup prune juice
1/2 cup orange juice
1 tbs butter
1 egg, beaten slightly
1 cup sugar
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
zest from one orange
Warm the juices and butter together until the butter melts. Put the prunes and juice mixture in a mixing bowl. Add egg and sugar. Add dry ingredients and orange zest. Bake in greased loaf tin for one hour at 350 F.
8 comments:
AND it uses wholewheat. Bonus!!
I meant to enter the prune day too, but didn't have time to make my entry. Might do it anyway...
Hi Niki - I know, I was a little surprised when I dug up the recipe and saw that it only had whole wheat flour. Wonder how grams of fiber in a slice? :)
Hi Cathy,
Interesting. I was wondering why the world was blogging prunes! This looks delicious. I don't suspect you can eat too much in one sitting though right? *wink*
Sounds like my kind of recipe. I'm a fiber nut. I wonder if it tasted low-fat since there's only 1 tbsp butter?
Hi Reid - Thanks! No, I guess not - one slice'll do! (omg - did I just make a really bad pun?)
Hi Jessica - it doesn't taste lowfat to me - perhaps because of all the sugar in it. I just ran the recipe through my cookbook program and I was surprised both at how little fat there is and that the amount of fiber isn't higher. It's definitely not low cal, though. I figured on 16 servings and came up with 152 calories, 1.24g fat, and 1.33g fiber. As expected it's loaded with sugar (34g) but it's also high in potassium (138mg) and protein (2.36g).
hi cathy, terrific entry - i am not huge on prunes but this loaf looks lovely...
Prune bread looks gorgeous, Cathy. I also like prunes but I never baked a bread with them. I should give it a try, perhaps this winter:)
Hi Jocelyn - thanks so much!
Hi Indira - thanks! If you like prunes, I'm sure you'd enjoy this bread. It couldn't be easier to make - you don't even need a mixer.
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