Fig & Pepper Bread

 
Fig & Pepper Bread, From First Frost by Sarah Addison Allen

Our book club read First Frost by Sarah Addison Allen, this month.

It's a sort of cozy magic story, a nice, light,  fall read.  It's also book 2 in a series, which we didn't know when we chose it.. but it's perfectly fine as a stand alone book.

The book includes a recipe for a bread that is mentioned often - Fig and Pepper Bread.  What an interesting combination..  I was intrigued, so I made a loaf to take to book club.

 Not only is it pretty quick and easy to make, but it's REALLY good.  I love the uniqueness - and the sweetness of the fig really does pair so well with the kick from the pepper.  It's not something I would have ever considered making had it not been for this book, but now that I've made it, I'd definitely make it again!  Especially if I could find fresh figs...  In very rural central Pennsylvania,  I was lucky to find dried figs.  

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Fig & Pepper Bread Recipe

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Ingredients:
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2.5 tsp yeast
1 1/2 cups warm water

2 cups whole wheat flour
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 
2 tsp coarse black pepper 
2 tsp sea salt

1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped figs [I used dried, because fresh were not available in our area right now. ]  Figs are added After the first rise.  

Mix the oil, yeast and water in a mixing cup, set aside and let the yeast foam up a bit.

Mix the flour, salt, and COARSE pepper.  You really want a coarse pepper for this recipe.

Add the water mixture to the flour mixture.  Now you can either knead well by hand, or use the dough hook in a stand mixer,  letting it run for about 5 minutes at a low speed.  

Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, top with a damp towel, and allow to rise until double [about an hour, more or less depending on the temperature of the room]

Lightly flour your workspace, dump the dough out, and begin kneading the dates into the dough.  Work them thoroughly throughout, do they do not all end up in the crust.

Shape dough into an oval and place on a baking sheet.  Slice three "slashes" into the top of the loaf.

Allow to rise for another 15 minutes, you should see it expand a bit.  If your kitchen is cool, you can place this in the oven - Oven OFF, oven light on - and the warmth from the oven light will help it to rise.

Preheat your oven to 350 (make sure you remove the bread, if you put it in there to rise)
Bake for 40-45 minutes, until the top is browned.
Allow to cool for at least 30 minutes before cutting.

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I then went down the rabbit hole of fig research, and found that I can, possibly,  grow them in Pennsylvania! https://extension.psu.edu/figs-in-the-home-garden

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