A few short stints at Amy Scherber's bakery one summer provided insight on the back-breaking work baking bread for a commercial bakery. At home, baking is much more luxurious, the only constraints a cramped NYC kitchen, an already-full bread box, and of course the wonderful question; "what should I bake next?"

That's a long way of introducing my latest adaption of Amy's signature loafs, in this case one with fennel, pine nuts and raisin bread. We actually serve it work, a big crowd pleaser and enjoyed with cheese or just drizzled with olive oil. It's also a bread I've made soley using levain.

Lately I've made a lot of wild fennel (finocchietto) loaves. This time I went for a favorite combination; apricots and dried sage.