Milk Free Wholemeal Fruit Bread

My daughter often refused the spoon which made weaning a challenge. Finger foods such as bread is a good choice as part of baby-led weaning, however, bread contains sneaky amounts of added salt. If you need a milk free wholemeal fruit bread recipe that the children will enjoy, then this is a useful staple recipe for your collection.

Bread sounds complicated to make, but it isn’t. You already told me over on Instagram that you love freshly baked bread but worry that it takes too much time and that it will get eaten up in minutes!

The biggest problem with bread is the salt but it’s such a useful source of carbohydrates for children that it shouldn’t be excluded from their diet.

This milk free wholemeal fruit bread is useful for weaning babies but if you prefer to omit the dried fruit, then you can.

The beauty of home-baked bread is that you can control the amount of added salt, as well as the fibre.

If you need a screening tool on how to screen the amount of fat, sugar and fibre in packaged foods, then read this blog post.

For home-prepared foods, there are no food labels. What I do recommend is using wholemeal flour. If you are worried that children will refuse to eat it, then use a combination of strong white bread flour with the wholemeal flour.

Can children have too much fibre? Yes, this is possible, but I recommend going in with wholemeal varieties early so that children adjust to its taste and effects of fibre.

You can always offer different types of bread or pasta to lighten the fibre load if you are worried.

Now over to the milk free wholemeal fruit bread recipe. I used a combination of wholemeal and strong white bread flours but have also prepared this with 100% wholemeal flour.

I am particularly enjoying the Dove Farm range of flour and yeast. I have trialled oat as well as hemp milk in bread recipes successfully.

INGREDIENTS

300g Wholemeal Flour

200g Strong White Bread Flour

1 tablespoon Sugar

1/4 teaspoon Salt

25g Dairy-Free Margarine

1 teaspoon Fast Action Dried Yeast

350ml Warm Plant Drink

50g Dried Fruit Mix (with ginger)

METHOD

Mix together the flours, sugar and salt. Rub in the dairy-free margarine and then add the yeast.

Gradually mix in the warm plant milk of your choice to make a soft dough and start incorporating the dried fruit into the dough. Knead well on a floured surface for about 10 minutes until smooth. You could also use a mixer such as a KitchenAid.

Shape the dough then cover with a clean, damp cloth and leave to rise for about an hour in a warm place.

Once the dough has risen or doubled in size, knead for a few minutes on a floured surface.

Cover once more with a clean, damp towel and allow to rise for a further 30 minutes in a warm place.

Bake in a preheated oven at 230 degrees Celcius or 210 degrees fan for approximately 30 minutes.

If you have a bread maker then do follow the manufacturer’s directions.