Honey Walnut Bread

There’s a recipe here for delicious (and easy) bread, but first I have to take care of some lingering business!

I believe it’s been at least 10 days since I was informed I’d been awarded both the Best Moment and Sunshine Blog Awards, by Jenna over at Delicious Daydreams. I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to post this, but I wanted to do it when I’m less rushed and have a few projects for the week under my belt, rather than having this little cloud hanging over my head.

Firstly- Thanks to Jenna for the recognition, I really truly appreciate the loyalty, and the feeling is mutual! You fight the food war with your site, and I support that. With that said, I accept these two awards and I’d like to nominate the following 5 Blogs in return:

Standing in the Shallows

Little Growing Pains

Hat Over the Wall

Path: Ethic

Petit World Citizen

Now on to the bread.

I wanted to make something that I can eat as savoury or sweet. Something that will hold up in the freezer and can be pulled out for breakfast, lunch, or late night snack. Something to be eaten with eggs (because I’m obsessed), cheese, confit pork, or just simply some peanut butter and jam. The solution: honey and walnut bread. A sweet edge with toasty nuts is a perfect match for salty proteins as a sandwich, sliced thin and toasted for a cheese platter (the holidays are coming after all!), or just drizzle some honey or smear some peanut butter for a snack. Sweet enough but not too much so.

One loaf for now, one loaf for the freezer.

The Honeyed Walnut Dough:

450 g                bread flour

100 g                whole wheat flour

1+1/2 tsp          salt

1+1/2 tsp          sugar

1/4 cup             warm water, to dissolve yeast)

5 g                    dry yeast

1+1/2 cup         room temperature water

4 TB                 honey, for dough

+ 2 TB              honey, for washing the crust

3/4 cup             chopped walnuts

-Preheat oven to 425 F.

-Dissolve the yeast into the 1/4 cup warm water, set aside.

-Mix flours, salt, and sugar in a large bowl. Add the room temperature water and honey, then the dissolved yeast and walnuts, and knead with your hands for 2 mins.

-Set the dough aside in it’s bowl for 5 mins. Then knead for another 2-3 mins.

-Rest, covered, in a warm place for 30-40 mins or longer, until the dough has doubled in size.

-Remove from the bowl onto an oiled work surface, cut into two pieces lengthwise and form into two long loaves, pinching on the underside to hold their shape.

-Dissolve the remaining 2 TB of honey in 4 TB warm water, and brush over the loaves.

-Set the loaves aside for another 30-40 minutes or until they’ve doubled in size again.

-Brush with the honey glaze once more, create a shallow incision across the top lengthwise with a sharp knife, and bake until golden brown and until the loaves sound hollow when you tap the bottom.