Fig Anise Bread, recipe from The Modern Pantry by Anna Hansen

I had trouble with this bread.

I think my figs were too moist to start with because the dough was very damp and very slow to rise. The quantity of fig is actually more than flour so it was never going to be a light dough but all the same I think I went too far towards leaden.

I also failed to add the full amount of ground star anise as I had almost run out and did not have the two and a half teaspoons called for. That is quite a lot of star anise for just 320g of flour but I cannot claim it was too much because I didn't actually follow that part of the recipe to find out.

So with a very wet dough to handle I pulled out my trusty dough whisk which I am really rather fond of, and if you would like one too pop over to Bakery Bits to see if they are in stock. You may well find a few other baking gadets you cannot manage without.

So after much waiting around the loaves finally went into the oven. Now I am a fan of slow rising as the flavour does tend to improve with time but I wanted this ready for an afternoon smackeral. Instead I had to wait until after dinner for the loaves to finally bake and cool which was a tad disappointing but here it is:

I loved the flavour and think this bread would go well with cheese. The darkness of the crumb is all down to the figs and spicing as it is made with all white flour.

To be enjoyed with a glass of wine, cheers!