This bread has a very nice texture and couple be easily adapted for many dried fruit/nuts combinations such as raisin/walnut, apricot/pecan, date/walnut, pine nut/golden raisin, cherry/pecan etc etc. One note, however is that I managed to get 3 two pound loaves of bread out of this recipe. With the 3 cups of water, honey, molasses, shortening and eggs, the 6 cups of flour was just not quite enough for all the liquid. I ended up adding an extra cup of rolled oats and about a cup and a half of extra flour. I also added about 4 tablespoons of vital wheat gluten in response to several reviewers indicating that they had trouble with the loaves rising. I had not trouble at all, but I never really time my rise, so I'm sure it too longer than the 40 minutes indicated. I also baked at 325 for 32 minutes for perfectly browned loaves. I'm sure that the intial heat at 450 is to provide the loaves some oven spring when they first go in. If you let the dough rise long enough to fully double, you can bake at 325/350 with no need for playing with the oven temps. Even needing those adjustments, I loved the bread and will be making it again. A great recipe to keep in your collection (with those slight mods, of course)

This was really good, but you have to make sure that you really let it rise - everytime I make this, it takes a lot longer to rise than the recipe says. I've also made it, replacing the sunflower seeds and cranberries with pecans and raisins, or with cherries and walnuts. They've all been wonderful. Another really fun and easy thing to do is turn the dough into a large, greased coffee can and allow it to rise almost flush with the brim; begin preheating the oven, and by the time you pop it in the oven, it will have risen a little over the top. Bake at 350-degrees until it sounds hollow when tapped (about 45 minutes). Turn out of the coffee can immediately and let cool before you cut into it.

This recipe is good. The flavor and texture of the bread is really light and soft. I halved the recipe and prepared it in my breadmaker and it rose way too high. I had to cut a piece off of the top or else it would have overflowed it. Next time I will make one third of the recipe instead.

I thought this was a pretty tasty, moist bread, but is was sort of bland. If I make this again, I will definitely double, or possibly triple, the cranberries. I would probably also use a slightly larger pan, because my dough was literally hanging over the sides. Also, very important: Cover the loaf with foil after the first ten minutes! Mine was really browned after ten minutes, and would probably have burnt to a crisp if I hadn't covered it.