Rustic Elegance: Making Manresa’s Prune Seed Bread at Home

If you’re new to bread baking or you are a more advanced baker looking for new ways to mix it up, Chef Avery Ruzicka’s Prune Seed Bread recipe from Manresa Bread offers a delightful entry point into artisanal bread-making. This bread, now featured at the bakery, combines rich, sweet California Prunes with hearty rye flour and the nutty crunch of sunflower and pumpkin seeds. The result is a loaf that’s complex, textured, and uniquely flavorful. Let’s break down the recipe so it feels approachable enough to bake at home, even if you’re a beginner.

The Foundation: Poolish

At the heart of this bread’s structure and flavor is the poolish, a type of pre-ferment. A poolish is a mixture of flour, water, and a pinch of yeast that ferments overnight. It might seem small and simple, but it does a lot of heavy lifting by:

• Developing flavor through fermentation
• Enhancing the bread’s texture, making it airy yet chewy
• Giving the bread a gentle rise

To make the poolish, combine flour, water, and instant yeast, mix until just combined (it’ll look shaggy), and leave it at room temperature overnight. By morning, it will look bubbly and alive, ready to energize your dough.

The Ingredients: A Beautiful Combination of Flavor and Texture

This recipe layers ingredients to create a bread with depth and complexity:

Rye Flours: Fine and coarse rye bring earthy, slightly tangy notes and a rustic texture. If you can’t find rye, you can substitute whole wheat flour, though the flavor will shift slightly.

California Prunes: These are the star ingredient, providing natural sweetness and a moist, tender contrast to the bread’s hearty crumb.

Seeds: Sunflower and pumpkin seeds add crunch and nuttiness, balancing the sweetness of the prunes.

Starters: A small amount of both traditional and rye starters add nuanced flavor. If you don’t have these, you can omit them—the poolish is doing the heavy lifting for the bread’s rise.

Step-by-Step: Making the Seed Bread Dough

Here’s how it all comes together:

1. Combine the Poolish and Dry Ingredients
   Mix the poolish with water, salt, and the flours on a low speed for 5 minutes to ensure everything is evenly hydrated. Then mix for another 4 minutes on medium speed to develop the gluten—the network of proteins that gives bread structure.
2. Add California Prunes and Seeds
   Gently incorporate the whole California Prunes and seeds on low speed for 3 minutes. This step distributes the inclusions evenly throughout the dough without tearing its structure.
3. First Rise (Bulk Fermentation)
   Let the dough rest in an oiled bowl for 45 minutes. This gives it time to ferment, build flavor, and start developing its rise.
4. Shape the Dough
   Divide the dough into pieces (600 grams each for this recipe), and preshape into rectangles. After a short bench rest of 10 minutes, shape the dough into batons (a type of long loaf) and place on a couche—a cloth dusted with rye flour to prevent sticking.
5. Proof and Score
   Allow the shaped loaves to proof for 40 minutes to 1 hour. Before baking, use scissors to score the bread, which allows it to expand evenly in the oven.
6. Bake
   Bake at 480°F for about 40 minutes. This high temperature helps achieve a crisp crust and deep color.

Why This Bread Works

This bread is the perfect marriage of science and artistry. The poolish provides reliable leavening, while the combination of California Prunes and seeds offers a balanced complexity of sweetness, nuttiness, and texture. The rye flour lends depth and heartiness, making it a loaf as satisfying on its own as it is paired with cheeses or spreads.

Tips for Success

• Plan ahead: Start your poolish the night before and give yourself ample time for each step.
• Don’t skip the resting times: Allowing the dough to rest lets gluten relax, making shaping easier and improving the bread’s texture.
• Experiment: Once you’ve mastered the recipe, try swapping in dried apricots or adding spices like cinnamon for a twist.

A Bread Worth the Effort

Manresa Bread is known for their innovative use of ingredients, and this recipe is a testament to that creativity. The Prune Seed Bread brings out the best in California Prunes, marrying them with the robust character of rye and seeds. Whether you’re a seasoned baker or just starting out, this loaf is a flavorful way to deepen your baking repertoire!

Feeling Inspired? Try These Other Bread Recipes with Prunes

A Surprising Sourdough Bread Recipe

Discover the perfect balance of hearty and sweet with this Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread featuring California Prunes. The nutty flavor of whole wheat pairs beautifully with the natural sweetness of prunes, creating a loaf that’s wholesome, satisfying, and irresistibly delicious. Ideal for toasting, snacking, or serving alongside your favorite meals.
Get the recipe here.

Homemade Bread with California Prunes, Pecans, and Cardamom

Delight your senses with this flavorful homemade bread featuring California Prunes, toasted pecans, and a hint of fragrant cardamom. Each slice is a perfect blend of sweetness, crunch, and spice, making it a standout choice for breakfast, snacks, or an elegant addition to any meal. This loaf is as wholesome as it is irresistible.
Get the recipe here.

Manresa’s Prune Seed Bread

Avery Ruzicka

This Prune Seed Bread, inspired by Avery at Manresa Bread, combines the natural sweetness of California Prunes with the nutty crunch of sunflower and pumpkin seeds. With a rye-forward flavor profile and a tender crumb, this bread strikes a perfect balance between rustic and refined. Using a poolish pre-ferment ensures both depth of flavor and a soft, airy texture. If you’re new to bread baking, don’t worry—this recipe guides you through every step! Makes approximately 2 loaves.

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Prep Time 5 minutes mins

Cook Time 40 minutes mins

Mixing, fermenting, resting, shaping 16 hours hrs

Total Time 16 hours hrs 45 minutes mins

Course Side Dish

Cuisine American

Servings 16 servings (2 loaves)

Calories 188 kcal

Equipment

• Stand Mixer
• kitchen scale
• couche

Ingredients

 

US CustomaryMetric

 

1x2x3x

For the Poolish

• ½ cup bread flour
• Pinch of instant yeast
• ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons water

For the Dough

• 1¾ cups bread flour
• 1 cup fine rye flour or substitute whole wheat flour
• ½ cup + 1 tablespoon coarse rye flour or substitute whole wheat flour
• 1½ cups poolish
• 2 TBSP starter optional
• 1 TBSP rye starter optional
• 1 tsp salt
• ¾ cup water
• 1½ cups California Prunes whole
• ⅔ cup sunflower seeds
• ⅔ cup pumpkin seeds

Instructions

 

Prepare the Poolish

• In a medium bowl, combine bread flour, yeast, and water. Mix until a shaggy dough forms.
• Cover loosely and let sit at room temperature for 12-16 hours, until bubbly and airy.

Make the Bread Dough

• In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the poolish, bread flour, rye flours, water, and salt. Mix on low speed (speed 1) for 5 minutes, then on medium speed (speed 2) for 4 minutes, until the dough becomes cohesive and elastic.
• Add the California Prunes, sunflower seeds, and pumpkin seeds. Mix on low speed (speed 1) for 3 minutes to evenly distribute the inclusions.
• Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl or container. Cover and let rest for 45 minutes.

Shape the Dough

• Divide the dough into two, 600-gram pieces (or adjust for your preferred loaf size).
• Preshape each piece into a rectangle and let rest for 10 minutes.
• Final shape into a baton (long loaf) and place on a couche or baking sheet dusted with rye flour.

Proof and Score

• Cover the shaped loaves and proof for 40 minutes to 1 hour, until they are slightly puffed.
• Preheat your oven to 480°F (250°C).
• Just before baking, use scissors to score the loaves, creating small angled cuts.

Bake

• Place the loaves in the oven and bake at 480°F (250°C) for 40 minutes, or until the crust is deep golden brown and the loaf sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom.
• Cool completely on a wire rack before slicing.

Notes

The small amount of starter is optional and adds additional depth of flavor. The poolish provides the primary leavening with the help of instant yeast.
If you don’t have rye flour, whole wheat flour can be substituted with slightly different results.
This bread pairs beautifully with soft cheeses, nut butters, or simply a pat of salted butter.

Prep Time

• Poolish preparation: 5 minutes (active)
• Poolish fermentation: 12–16 hours (inactive)
• Dough mixing, resting, and shaping: ~1 hour 45 minutes (active and inactive combined)

Cook Time

• Baking: 40 minutes

Total Time

13 hours 45 minutes to 17 hours 45 minutes, depending on the proofing time for the poolish and dough. Most of this time is inactive.

Nutrition

Calories: 188kcalCarbohydrates: 33gProtein: 6gFat: 5gSaturated Fat: 1gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gMonounsaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0.002gSodium: 147mgPotassium: 237mgFiber: 4gSugar: 7gVitamin A: 131IUVitamin C: 0.2mgCalcium: 18mgIron: 1mg

Keyword manresa bread, prune seed bread, rye bread, seed bread, sourdough bread

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Meet Avery Ruzicka

Avery Ruzicka is a two-time James Beard Foundation Award nominee and the Founder and Head Baker of the San Francisco Bay Area’s Manresa Bread. Guided by a commitment to producing high-quality baked goods using local and organic ingredients and time-honored techniques, Avery is currently one of the most recognized names in the baking industry.

Manresa Bread was conceptualized in 2013, originating as the overnight baking project of Founder and Head Baker Avery Ruzicka in the kitchen of the legendary Manresa restaurant. Cultivating a loyal following at local farmers’ markets, Manresa Bread has evolved to include five retail locations across the San Francisco Bay Area and an online storefront with nationwide shipping.