
Recipe video above. This is a great, relatively quick-to-make sweet loaf bread ideal for afternoon tea or breakfast treat. The most time-consuming part is chopping the apple because there's quite a lot of the fruit in this! Yogurt and oil make the crumb beautifully moist so it will stay fresh for days. I like to add walnuts for soft crunch but it's entirely optional. The apple slice topping is also optional. So many options! :)Want apple muffins instead? Here it is!
Preheat oven to 200°C/390°F (180°C fan). Position shelf in the middle of the oven.
Loaf pan (Note 7): Use a 21.5 x 11.5 x 7 cm / 4.5 x 8.5 x 2.75" pan. Spray with canola oil then line the long side + base with a single piece of paper leaving some overhang (don’t worry about lining short sides).
Topping: Mix the Demerara sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Set aside.
Cinnamon Apple: Mix Cinnamon Apple ingredients in a bowl. Set aside while you prepare the batter (the sugar will make the apple sweat = good thing!).
Batter: Whisk the Dry ingredients in a bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk Wet ingredients. Pour Wet mix into the Dry bowl, whisk just until smooth. Stir in apples (including all juices) and walnuts. Batter should be thick but dollop-able (not pourable in thin stream, nor thick like sticky bread dough). Scrape into loaf pan, smooth surface.
Topping: Take 1/4 of the apple slices, fan out (so they're overlapping) then arrange on top. Repeat in two more lots of 1/4 of an apple. (I find to cover the surface, I only use 3/4 of the apple.) Sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar.
Bake 60 minutes. Cover loosely with foil, bake for further 25 minutes or until skewer inserted into the centre comes out smooth.
Rest 15 minutes in the pan then use paper overhang to remove to a rack. Cool at least 1 hour on rack before slicing!
Serving – The bread is moist and flavoured enough to eat plain though nobody complains if it's lightly toasted and slathered with butter!