Grape Bread or Grape Biscotti

Grape Bread

Last week, when I was on the train going back home, I started to draw grapes in my notebook and thinking what sort of craft-work I could produce with a grapes image on it? Then I thought for a second that I would kill for few grapes right now [it is one of my favorite fruit if anyone still in doubt]. Trying to make myself busy with something else I mindlessly started to turn pages in the free Stylist magazine and there it was - a very interested recipe for a Grape Bread! I had to make one.
But I would not be myself if I tried to follow it as it was. Plus, to be honest if you follow it as it is - you will get nowhere. here is the recipe:

and here is why it will not work- yeast needs sugar to grow and "proof" [in other words - for fermentation]. So in STEP 1 add 1tbsp of sugar and 1tbsp of flour to the warm water and yeast, and them combine and leave for 15 minutes.

What else did I do differently?

To make it more interesting I substituted some pain wheat flour with rye flour [about 250g]. Worked really well - the taste is not boring and the whole bake is more healthy!

I used brown soft sugar - for both [look above] reasons.

And I added the whole amount of sugar to the dough and left grapes unsweetened, as this time of year they should be sweet enough. I was also lucky enough that I got completely seedless grapes, so did not need to do the cutting-and-taking-peeps-out thing. I did cut some of them in half just to get some extra juice.

The whole thing was [almost everything is gone now!] very delicious! I will do it again... probably with few new changes :-D

 few steps just before baking:

1. rolling the dough:

2. first layer with grapes:

 3. second layer goes on:

Grape Biscotti  

The whole bread was really, really big. I was afraid that we would get bored with it so I had two choices:
1. share it with someone;
2. change it into another interesting thing, because J does not share food!
So I sliced some softer parts of it [after baking the whole lot] and placed them back on the baking tray. baked it or rather dried it out for about 1/2 hour and got exceptionally yummy hard "things" resembling Italian Biscotti!