Fig, nut & seed bread with ricotta & fruit Recipe

Fig, nut & seed bread with ricotta & fruit

Start the day well with this fruit and nut breakfast loaf, spread with cream cheese and topped with orange or apple. It keeps for a month, too. - by Alison Pickel

Proudly supported by

Start the day well with this fruit and nut breakfast loaf, spread with cream cheese and topped with orange or apple. It keeps for a month, too.

Ingredients

400 ml hot strong black tea

100 g dried figs, hard stalks removed, thinly sliced

140 g sultanas

50 g porridge oats

200 g self-raising wholemeal flour

1 tsp baking powder

25 g pumpkin seeds

1 large egg

100 g mixed nuts, (almonds, walnuts, brazils and hazelnuts), plus 50g for the topping

1 tbsp each golden linseeds and sesame seeds, plus 2 tsp sesame seeds to sprinkle

250 g ricotta cheese, to serve

1 - 2 navel oranges or green apple thickly sliced

Heat oven to 170C/150C fan. Pour the tea into a large bowl and stir in the figs, sultanas and oats. Set aside to soak.
Meanwhile, line the base and sides of a 1kg loaf tin with baking paper. Mix together the flour, baking powder, nuts and seeds. Beat the egg into the cooled fruit mixture, then stir the dry ingredients into the wet. Pour into the tin, then level the top and scatter with the extra nuts and sesame seeds.
Bake for 1 hr, then cover the top with foil and bake for 15 mins more until a skewer inserted into the centre of the loaf comes out clean. Remove from the tin to cool, but leave the baking paper on until cold. Cut into slices, spread with ricotta and serve with fruit.