Plum Pull-apart Bread

Deliciously soft, moist and inviting pull-apart bread with plums, crème fraîche, walnuts and an optional orange glaze. It’s great for breakfast, brunch, or dessert with a dollop of whipped cream. The enriched dough is really easy to bring together with your stand mixer. Peaches or apricots are equally good for the recipe.

Dough	Filling	Glaze
450 g White spelt flour 50 g Sugar 7 g Instant dry yeast A pinch of salt ½ tsp Pure vanilla powder 175 ml Milk, lukewarm 1 Egg 60 g Butter, softened	60 g Walnuts, finely chopped 100 g Crème fraîche 40 g Icing sugar 1 Egg yolk 1 tsp Orange peel 300 g Plums, pitted and finely diced	50 g Icing sugar, sifted 1 tbsp Orange juice 1 pinch of cardamom powder

In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, combine flour, sugar, yeast, salt and vanilla powder. With the mixer on low speed, mix in the milk, egg and butter until just combined.
Knead on medium speed for 5 minutes, or until the dough has become smooth and elastic. If the dough is too dry, add more milk, 1 tablespoon at a time. Or, add more flour if too wet until the dough reaches the desired consistency.
Turn out the dough on a clean work surface and shape into a ball. Lightly grease the mixing bowl and return the dough to the bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm spot until doubled in size, 1-2 hours.
Meanwhile, finely chop the walnuts. Set aside. In a bowl, combine crème fraîche, icing sugar, egg yolk and orange zest. Set aside. Pit the plums and finely chop them into small pieces. Set aside.
Lightly grease a 24x12x10 cm loaf pan and line with parchment paper.
Roll the dough into a 40x40 cm square on a lightly floured surface. Spread the prepared crème fraîche mixture evenly on the dough, then sprinkle the chopped walnuts and plums over. Cut into 4x10cm strips, then cut each strip into 5 pieces. Stack 5 pieces together and place them upright in the prepared loaf pan. Repeat with another pieces.
Cover loosely and let rise until until almost doubled in size, 45-60 minutes. Preheat oven to 180C/350F. Bake the loaf for 45-50 minutes, or until golden brown. Transfer the loaf pan to a wire rack and let cool 5 minutes before removing the loaf from the pan.
For the glaze, sift the icing sugar into a bowl and add orange juice and cardamom powder. Drizzle liberally over the loaf. Alternatively, just dust the loaf with icing sugar.