Time for something delicious and savoury. I felt like kneading so I decided to make my favourite honey walnut loaf. I don’t know if you can remember James Morten from the Great British Bake Off Season 3. Well he essentially taught me how to make bread over the last few years via a book (Brilliant Bread), not in person – although that would have been lovely because I really like his choice of knitwear. This recipe has barely any ingredients in which is so convenient if you’re like me and don’t plan your shopping well in advance. I never know what I’m gonna feel like baking until I get hit by a craving and then my obsessive, compulsive nature usually follows through….
So I started off by making a lovely doughy mixture and then rested it for five minutes and proved it for 1.5 hours. I always oil some cling film to place on top of the bowl whilst it proves – otherwise the dough sticks to it and it gets a bit messy.
- 200 g strong white flour
- 300 g strong brown flour
- 10 g salt
- packet of dried yeast
- a good squeeze of honey
- 125 ml tepid milk
- 150 ml tepid water
- knob of butter melted
I then added a big packet of walnuts (200 g) to the mixture and left to prove for another hour. They are quite tricky to combine into the dough because every time you push down, some pop out. So it’s more than a ten minute job and good exercise!
After the bread had proved I shaped it into a big ball and proved again for an hour. It’s really important to get your oven nice and hot for bread baking so you get a good crust. My oven is nuclear so after five minutes I wrapped it in foil to prevent it from becoming too dark. Baked it for just over half an hour and it came out all golden and sounded hollow upon tapping it’s base. Slice it, butter it, EAT IT! SOOOOO GOOD.
Now that’s what I call NOMI-LICIOUS, yes I did just make that word up. One day that might be found in the dictionary. The toasted walnuts on it’s crust are very special and I could harp on about them all day. Why buy bread when you can make it fresh?
