The recipe is easy for this homemade but bakery-style Tutti Frutti Bread. It is delicious to have this bread slice as it is or to enjoy it with butter or jam. And I have added a cup of whole wheat flour to make it healthier. Our Latest Video
About Tutti Frutti Bread
I adore this sweet fruit bread. Unfortunately, when I was in India, this bread was unavailable in my city. But I was often visiting Mumbai as my aunts lived there. And I always used to buy a couple of Tutti Frutti Bread loves from there and brought them back with me. Because this delicious bread is still intact in my memory, I always wanted to bake it at home. So after baking soft and delicious Homemade Raisin Bread, I knew I could also bake tutti frutti bread. So I have adapted this recipe from my recipe for raisin bread. But I have included whole wheat flour in this bread to make it healthier. But even with whole wheat flour, the bread is soft and fluffy. It is an easy and straightforward recipe and does not require a stand mixer or hand-held electric mixer. The dough comes together easily, and we don’t need to knead it for longer. Also, I have added tutti frutti along with other ingredients to make the dough. So there is no need to roll the dough and then incorporate tutti frutti into the prepared dough. And that makes the recipe even easier.
Ingredients
Step by Step Directions
Proofing The Yeast
In a large mixing bowl, take sugar and warm water. Add yeast. Mix everything lightly with a spoon or fork. Cover the bowl with a clean and dry kitchen towel and let it sit for 10 minutes.
After 10 minutes, now that yeast is active, the mixture will be frothy and bubbly. If the mixture is not foamy, that means the yeast is not active. In that case, discard it and start all over. There could be various reasons that the mixture is not foamy. The water could be hot, or the yeast is expired.
Making and Proofing The Dough
After 10 minutes, when the yeast mixture is frothy and bubbly, add melted butter, milk, tutti frutti, and salt into the yeast mixture. Mix well.
Now add vanilla custard powder, one cup of whole wheat flour, and one cup of all-purpose flour, and keep mixing with a wooden spoon or spatula.
Add remaining all-purpose flour gradually as needed. Do not add too much flour at once. The dough will come together but will be very soft and sticky, as shown in the picture below.
Take some flour onto a clean surface and place dough onto it. Knead the dough with your palm and take some more flour if needed.
Continue kneading until the dough is soft but not sticky. The dough should be smooth, soft, supple, and hydrated. Do not add too much flour; if the dough is stiff, the bread will be dry and crumbly. If the dough continues to stick, grease your palm with oil, and then bring the dough together.
Lightly grease a large bowl with oil and transfer the dough into it. Also, apply oil all over the dough lightly to prevent it from becoming dry. Cover the bowl with a clean kitchen towel. And let the dough rise until it doubles in size for about an hour to 1 & ½ hours.
Once the dough is doubled in size, lightly punch it to release the air.
Rolling and Proofing The Bread Log
Lightly flour the clean working surface and transfer the dough to it. Roll the dough into a thick and large rectangle about 8 inches long, then roll it up and make a log.
Grease a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan with oil and place the log into this loaf pan. Cover the loaf pan loosely with plastic wrap or a clean kitchen towel. Let it rise until doubled, for about an hour.
Baking The Bread
Preheat the oven to 350° F. When you are ready to bake the bread, apply milk with a pastry brush on the top of the bread. Give a milk wash very gently and lightly.
Bake the bread for 32 – 38 minutes or until golden brown on the top. Remove from the oven and immediately brush the top of the loaf with melted butter.
Tip: If the bread starts browning too much on the top after 20-25 minutes, take it out of the oven and loosely cover it with aluminum foil. Place it back into the oven and continue baking for the remaining time. I had to cover it with aluminum foil after 22 minutes of baking time.
Remove the bread from the pan after it is cooled down a bit and transfer it onto a cooling rack. Let the bread cool completely before slicing.
This bread will stay at room temperature for up to 4 days and longer in the fridge. Enjoy the tutti frutti bread with butter, jam, or as it is with a cup of tea or coffee.
How To Make Perfect Dough For Soft and Fluffy Bread?
When we include whole wheat flour in making bread, the chances are bread will be dense and sometimes dry. But with the right amount of wet ingredients, we can achieve the soft and light texture of the bread with whole wheat flour. So the most important thing is to make the soft, supple, and well-hydrated dough. Well-hydrated does not mean that dough should be wet and sticky. It means that the dough should not be dry and stiff. When you poke the finger in the dough, it should feel soft and should be bounced back. To make the soft and well-hydrated dough, the trick is to add flour gradually. Once the dough comes together, stop adding more flour. And knead the dough until it is no more sticky but still supple, moist, and soft.
Do I Need To Use Vanilla Custard Powder For This Bread?
Vanilla custard powder adds nice color and a sweet vanilla flavor to the bread. However, you can skip the custard powder. If you have mango custard powder, you can use that as well. Instead of custard powder, use the same quantity of cornstarch. I have also made this bread with milk powder, so instead of custard powder, add the same amount of milk powder. If you decide not to use custard powder, the bread’s inside color will differ from what you see in the pictures.
How To Check If The Bread Is Baked?
The crusts should be evenly golden brown. The bread will pull away from the sides of the pan. When you tap the bread lightly, it will sound hollow.
