Gluten Free Fruit Bread

The base of this Gluten Free Fruit Bread is adapted from The Best Gluten Free Bread. I’ve been pondering on making this rendition ever since coming up with the original recipe. With Easter just passed I had planned on making my Hot Cross Buns and had even pulled out all the ingredients from the pantry ready to go. However between Hubbard starting a new job, a long run and the blink of an eye Easter day had passed without a Hot Cross Bun in sight.

Since the ingredients were still pulled out chaotically with all good intentions, I took it as a sign to get my act together and finally make this fruit bread. I also know I didn’t want any nuts or seeds, just a purist fruit bread.

My intension was to also go big. I love the rise that you can achieve with any of my gluten free breads inclusive of the original Gut Friendly Bread. But this time I wanted a loaf that stood high like the ones you see at your local baker. A loaf that as you slice it the sliced piece topples over threatening to break under its own shear weight. This meant going in unabashedly hard with an abundance of not only flours, but tonnes of psyllium, raising agents and more.

When you make a commitment like this with recipe creating there is always a chance that you are going to waste your ingredients. You don’t know the outcome. No one has come before you and written you guidelines. Its a jump off a cliff as far as risk verses reward. I know we are only talking about some pantry ingredients, but trust me when I say the heart ache and mental knock of a failed recipe and wasted food is still pretty harsh. I’ve had my fair share of melt downs in the arena.

Suffice to say, this risk was worth it. I pretty much cleaned out all my pantry jars of baking ingredients, but the triumph was this glorious Gluten Free Fruit Bread. Its plump raisins popping out the top of the loaf when I opened the oven were like a cherry on top of a cake. I may have even excitedly clapped my hands and jumped up and down on the spot like a ecstatic fool.

The hardest part about this Gluten Free Fruit Bread once its cooked is (ideally) leaving it to set and ‘cure’ for lack of a better word. I mean its not the end of the world if you hacked a piece straight off the end of the loaf, however it is best when left to rest overnight before slicing. Good luck with that – its the hardest part of the entire recipe process.

Common fruit bread baking recipe adaption questions

Whenever I post a baking recipe the most common questions surround swaps for flours and raising agents that people may not have in their pantry. So, in advance, here are some suggestions for adaptions or swaps for this gluten free fruit bread:

• Sorghum flour – I buy mine readily from my local health food store in bulk. I also used to get it really easy at The Source Bulk Foods. If you are struggling to find sorghum flour you could swap it for buckwheat flour or millet or even brown rice flour. Keep in mind this will change the taste and texture of the bread depending on the flour you use, as sorghum flour is a more neutral flavour.
• Tapioca flour – if you would like to swap this flour I would recommend at least a lighter flour option like potato starch, rice flour, perhaps even millet flour. Tapioca provides a lightness to the bread and also helps with the stickiness of the mixture. Again, if you make this swap you will see a change in the density of the bread and flavour.
• Cream of tartar – if you do not have this ingredient I would recommend adding another 1/4 tsp of bicarbonate soda to help with the rise of the bread.
• Psyllium husk – this ingredient is essential. Please do not try and make this bread without psyllium husk as it will not work!
• Dried fruit – you can absolutely add other dried fruits instead of the ones used here. Dates would be amazing, so would sultanas, figs or dried pears. Honestly you cannot go wrong.

If you have any more questions abut modifying this recipe, be sure to leave a comment below. I am always happy to help out and find a ingredient sub or tweak to make it work for you. Did you know our clinic specialises in gut health nutrition? Learn more here.

Enjoy! x