The bread turned out fantastic - it's great to have on its own or with some blue cheese on top.
A few tips for making the bread (it was my first so I was a bit unsure how to go through the process, might be useful for other people as well):
- I didn't have fresh yeast so used 7g of instant yeast and completely skipped step 1. I simply mixed the yeast with the flour, salt and water and knead straight away.
- For step 2, be aware that the water content is very high (basically 100% hydration) - I never worked with such a moist dough before and was a bit spooked at the beginning (you won't get a nice ball of dough after kneading but something closer to a thick and very sticky, pourable batter - think banana bread batter, don't panic - all is well)
- For folding the prunes and walnuts in (Step 4), have a bowl of water nearby. Sprinkle some (1/5?) of the walnuts & prunes on top of the dough, wet your hands using the prepared water, put them under the dough, close to the side of the bowl and scoop the dough up to cover the walnuts & prunes. Continue for a total of 5-6 times, until you have used up all the prunes. I tried to be a bit cautious during this step given how non-solid the dough was. I didn't want to manhandle it too much to preserve the lightness and airiness it got after the rise.
- For covering the form with the tea towel (Step 4) you might want to make a tent-like structure. My dough filled the whole form during the rise and some of it stuck to the towel.
- My bread got stuck to the baking paper and not sure how to avoid it in the future? Maybe sprinkle some flour in it before pouring the dough? I also wasn't sure what I should be greasing - surely not the form since the baking paper was in it as well?
- During the baking, the walnuts that were on top of the bread got a bit burned - either cover the bread after 35-40 mins (you want to balance bread browning and walnuts not burning here) or just skip the decoration.
