Dried Fig And Hazelnut Bread

Total Time: 55 mins Preparation Time: 15 mins Cook Time: 40 mins

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon mounded fine sea salt
• 6 large eggs
• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 10 dried figs, coarsely chopped (about 8 ounces)
• 2 cups gruyere cheese, finely grated
• 1/2 cup hazelnuts, toasted and skinned
• 1/4 teaspoon mounded fresh ground black pepper

Recipe

• 1 preheat the oven to 425 degrees f.
• 2 butter an 8 ½ x 4 ½ x 2 ½ loaf pan, or 4 small loaf pans.
• 3 line with buttered parchment paper, dust lightly with flour.
• 4 sift the dry ingredients into a bowl.
• 5 in a large bowl or the bowl of an electric mixer, whisk the eggs until they are combined, then slowly whisk in the dry ingredients.
• 6 stir in the melted butter until it is thoroughly blended, then fold in the figs, cheese, hazelnuts and pepper, making sure they are well distributed throughout the batter.
• 7 pour the batter into the prepared pan or pans and rap it sharply on a work surface to release any air bubbles.
• 8 bake in the center of the oven until the top of the bread is golden, and a tester stuck in the center comes out clean.(40 to 45 minutes for a single loaf, 30 to 35 minutes for smaller loaves.).
• 9 remove the bread from the oven and turn it out onto a wire cooling rack. after about 5 minutes, peel off the parchment paper.
• 10 let cool and serve.