Philosophizing About Food With Francine: Sourdough Bread with Dried Fruits

by Francine Black

Today’s bake: sourdough multigrain loaf studded with dried dates, apricots, blueberries, cherries, cranberries and pecans.

These wonderful dried fruits are loaded with concentrated flavor, nutritional content and have the benefit of a lengthy shelf life. The majority of the water content is removed either by natural means in the sun, freeze drying, or the use of commercial dehydrators.

The natural process of sun drying is as old as the 4th millennium BC in Mesopotamia. I can very well imagine a hungry soul coming upon a date palm, that still had some wrinkly looking fruit hanging about, being tempted to have a taste. What a delicious surprise that must have been.

I suspect that so many food discoveries have come about from one person’s accidental discovery and aren’t we all simply grateful to that unknown human!

In our time, we have access to fruit from all over the world: raisins, cranberries, dates, prunes, figs, dates, stone fruits, berries, mango, papaya etc. etc.

In the interest of good health, I like to purchase dried fruit that has not been chemically treated, infused with a sucrose syrup, or sulfured, so reading the label is important.

Our daughter, Tammy, particularly enjoys a slice of this bread for breakfast with a nice smear of nut butter, so this is for her!

High in the mountains above Bally, where the dense groves of treetops seem to touch the sky, is Francine Black, Boyertown’s own version of chef Julia Child. Her daily activities reflect the things she most values: family and friends, music, and lovingly prepared food.

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