Sweet Plum & Walnut Bread for Rosh Hashanah 

Today I’m baking “Sweet Plum & Walnut Bread” for Rosh Hashanah. My challah bread recipe includes raisins and plums to symbolize the beginning of a sweet Jewish New Year. It is round to symbolize the round earth and a crown according to Jewish traditions. Challah bread is a wonderful egg-type, slightly sweetened bread and it is served all the year in Jewish homes. Often this bread is formed into an elongated shape. For this holiday, I baked it in a Bundt pan to make the round shape. While browsing through an old recipe book, I found one for bread with a plum and walnut filling, entitled, a “Jack Horner Plum Cake.” Hey, I have lots of plums — which are in season in the autumn — as well as raisins. These will make a sweet filling for my special bread.

Vintage Cookbook & Plum Cake Recipe

My “Plum Cake” recipe comes from an old, vintage recipe book. The very small, unassuming paperback book, “Fleischmann’s Bake-It-Easy Yeast Book,” was handed out in home economics classes way back in my high school years. The recipe book was one of the first cookbooks to include color photos of almost all the bread recipes. You could see what you were supposed to be baking. I loved all the novel and interesting recipes such as, “Jack Horner Plum Cake,” which you found when turning the pages. From conventional yeast, to rapid rise yeast to refrigerator dough recipes, this recipe book has kept me busy for many years. It has a special place on my recipe bookshelf.

About the “Jack Horner Plum Cake”

I was curious about the term, “Jack Horner Plum Cake,” which I found in the Fleischmann’s recipe book, and of course, had to research its origins. Especially, my interest perked up since this recipe was for a yeast bread and not a traditional cake recipe. I found that there are an assortment of recipes for “Jack Horner Plum Cakes” on the internet. The only thing in common is that they contain plums as an ingredient. Some are pies, some tarts, others are cake or bread recipes. The name, “Jack Horner,” refers to the old English nursery rhyme dating to the 1700s, “Little Jack Horner sat in a corner eating his Christmas pie; He put in his thumb, and pulled out a plum, And said, “What a good boy am I!.” Many of those old English nursery rhymes were based on political events of the time. However, I will leave the English monarchy, their subjects and problems for another place. In the mean time, the origin of the name, “Jack Horner Plum Cake,” now has some context. In the Fleischmann’s cookbook, it refers to a bread with a sweet plum, raisin and walnut filling. It is a perfect filling for my challah bread which I am making for Rosh Hashanah.

Ahhhh, those Autumn Plums

A plum is a stone fruit which ripens in autumn along with so many other tree fruits such as apples, apricots, pears and cherries. These fruits shine especially when they are in season. They are flavorful, juicy and sweet. As well as using these fruit in recipes, we love to purchase the fruit and eat as snacks. Over the years, I have learned to enjoy plums. Plums tend to be somewhat tart and mushy. Plus, the pulp clings to the pit. However, plums are great when cooked and used in recipes. The aromatic flavor just seems to be highlighted in a pie or bread recipe, for example.

It was quite a treat to find an abundance of these stone fruit at a roadside farmer’s stand on our vacation to Idaho in August. These fruit were locally grown on farms in close by Washington. These were the real things. Which ones should we purchase? Well, I couldn’t take them home on the plane. What a decision. In the end, we purchased Bing cherries and the plums and made delicious pies for our family reunion.

Sweet Plum and Walnut Bread Recipe

This bread is based on my favorite recipe for baking sweet rolls and challah-type bread. For this recipe, I used all-purpose flour, sugar, an egg, milk and a little oil and salt. I used saf-instant yeast which I keep stored in my refrigerator. This instant yeast is already “activated” and is ready-to use. Just add it to the flour mixture and get on with the mixing the bread dough.

Sweet fillings, such as raisins and honey, are often used in Rosh Hashanah challah recipes. For my filling, I used plums, raisins, walnuts and sugar. This combination provided just the right amount of fruity and nutty flavor to the bread.

Making the Recipe

I scaled back the recipe in the original Fleischmann’s cookbook recipe to make only one loaf (rather than two loaves) and adapted the cooking instructions to use my food processor. Here we go.

First, I made the filling and set it aside. Simply combine the chopped plums (no need to try to peel them), raisins, sugar and walnut pieces in a small saucepan. Cook and stir on the stove until the plums soften and the mixture thickens. There is enough juice in the plums so that you don’t need to add extra water.

Perhaps I’m lazy, but I often use my food processor with dough attachment to make bread. It saves time and simplifies the process of mixing the dough. No need to knead the dough by hand. Let the food processor do the work. Working quicker and keeping the dough warm also means that it will “rise” faster.

To make the bread dough, first combine the dry ingredients in the food processor bowl (all-purpose flour, sugar, salt and saf-instant yeast).

Warm the milk to 115 – 120 degrees in a microwave oven. This takes only 30 seconds to one minute. Stir the milk (as microwave ovens often heat with hot pockets). Use a instant-read kitchen thermometer to check the temperature of the milk.

Add the liquid ingredients (warmed milk, egg and oil) to the flour mixture in the food processor.

Use the “continuous” function to mix the ingredients until they come together into a ball. Then using “on” and “off” pulse functions, “knead” the bread for a minute or two. The dough is just a little sticky. This is intentional, it makes a “softer” loaf. The stickiness decreases as it rises.

Transfer the dough to a well-oiled bowl, cover and set in a warm place to double in size. I use a bowl which is just large enough for the dough to double. For a warm location, I heat my oven to 180 degrees and then turn the oven off. (Bread just doesn’t rise well in a drafty, air conditioned kitchen.) It takes about 45 minutes to 1 hour for the dough to double.

Next, pat the dough out — on a floured pastry board — to a size of 18″ x 8″. The bread is “springy,” so stretch the dough and then let it set for several minutes to rebound. Then, stretch again. Add the filling (which you have conveniently made and set aside). Roll up, pinch the edges shut and transfer to a well-oiled Bundt pan. I used a smaller-sized 8″-diameter Bundt cake pan for this recipe.

Cover, and let rise in the warm oven again. The rising time is usually shorter, about 30 to 45 minutes. Uncover. Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 35 minutes, until well-browned on top. It should sound “hollow” if you tap on the top of the bread.

Let the bread cool until it can be handled, then remove it from the Bundt cake pan. This bread is best when it is served warm. Freshly baked bread is delicious.

The disadvantage of homemade bread is that it stales quickly. (There are no preservatives in my homemade bread!) When serving bread which is a day or two old, it needs to be reheated in a toaster or microwave oven to re-freshen it. I’m also trying out a new system which removes the air (and oxygen) out of the bread packaging to seal it. I’m hopeful that this system will work.

In the meantime, enjoy this tasty “Sweet Plum & Walnut Bread.”

Rosh Hashanah is a special holiday for our family. I have fond memories of learning to make challah in a cooking class at our community congregation interfaith class. The Jewish faith is full ancient culture. It is full of symbolism, rituals, prayers, liturgy and music. Rosh Hashanah, a two-day observance which symbolizes the beginning of the Jewish new year, certain has all these characteristics. This holiday — which usually includes a community service and a family meal — is a the time to reflect on what has happened over the past year. It leads into the High Holy Days, a 10-day period of introspection and repentance that leads to Yom Kippur. No matter what your religion; aspects of the Rosh Hashanah holiday can have meaning for all of us.

And, we can enjoy this recipe for any occasion!

Yum.