Fruit loaf

I had planned to post a summery supper today. Something herby and light for balmy nights, enjoyed with a glass of white once the kids are in bed.
What was I thinking?
I've spent most of this weekend on the spectrum of slightly damp to sodden. Yesterday we visited the Lambeth Country Show to see funny-looking sheep, drink scrumpy and eat jerk chicken, instead we (unsuccessfully) dodged downpours and spent £10 on two helium balloons (well, my husband did, not being as well versed as me in the art of saying "no"). The joys of a British summer.
Today we are wrapped up at home, and if we had a log fire, it would be on.
So it's a change of recipe plan. This fruit loaf is perfect for anything the summer can throw at you - hot, cold, damp etc. It's unbelievably easy, so do it with the kids in the summer holidays, and serve with butter, slices of banana or on its own. I like to have it with a banana and peanut butter milkshake.
Fruit loaf
Serves: 12 slices
Start to finish: 5 mins prep, 1 hour soaking, another 1 minute prep, 1.5 hours in the oven
1 cup of dried fruit - whatever you've got, I've used a mix of figs, sultanas and apricots, all cut up small
1 cup of bran flakes
1 cup of milk
1 cup of SR flour
Put dried fruit, milk and bran flakes in a bowl, stir and leave for an hour, but don't worry if you leave it for longer, I've left it for six hours and it was fine. It may just need a bit more milk when you mix in the SR flour. Then put the oven on to 160 degrees C and stir in the SR flour - add a smidgen more milk if you need it. Put in a greased (or silicone) 1l loaf tin and bake for 90 mins. Yup, that's it. Really easy, and quite healthy I think. Postscript: in the interests of really inept, lazy cooking, I've just made this again relaxing the already very unchallenging instructions. I used a cup of dried apricots, without bothering to cut them up. It has changed the nature of the loaf a bit, with huge chunks of sweet apricots, but it's still really tasty.