Best Walnut Sage Bread Recipes

WALNUT-SAGE BREAD

Steps:

• In a large bread bowl, thoroughly mix dry ingredients.
• Add the water, first stirring with a spoon, then using your hand to mix until all the ingredients are incorporated into a ragged ball. Cover the bowl with a towel and let rest for 50 minutes.
• On a lightly oiled counter, stretch the dough into a 12" x 18" rectangle. Fold in thirds as you would a letter. Turn 90 degrees and fold in thirds the other way. Return to the bowl and cover. Let rest for another 50 minutes.
• Repeat the previous step twice more for a total of 3 foldings and four 50 minute rests. Each time you do this the dough will present more resistance and you will make smaller rectangles.
• Gently shape the dough into a loaf by flattening it slightly, rolling into a loaf shape, and pinching to seal the ends and bottom. Place in a pan that will provide the loaf with some support, e.g. an oval au gratin pan. Either grease the pan or line with parchment paper.
• Let the formed loaf sit 20-30 minutes while the oven preheats to 400F. Slash the top of the loaf with a sharp knife or razor to release the surface tension and increase "oven spring" (continued rise while baking).
• Bake 1 hour, cool on a rack before slicing.
• Hint: The temperature of your kitchen will affect the bread. The times given here are for my 68F kitchen. In the summer, when the kitchen 78F, the rest times are shortened to 45 minutes. On a hot day with the windows open, I might shorten it to 35-40 minutes. Adjust the times to fit the temperature of your kitchen.

WALNUT-SAGE ANADAMA BREAD

Steps:

• the night before you will bake the bread, combine the cornmeal and the boiling water in a bowl. mix completely, cover and allow it to sit out at room temperature until you are ready to mix the dough. peter reinhart calls this a "soaker"
• add the 2 cups of bread flour, the warm water and the yeast to the soaker and mix completely. allow this sponge to rise until bubbly, about an hour.
• add the sage, walnuts, sorghum, olive oil and salt to the sponge and stir it together. add 1 cup of the bread flour and mix to form a shaggy, sticky dough. place 1 cup of the flour on a clean work surface and turn the dough out on top of the flour. begin to knead the dough adding additional flour as needed to make a soft, elastic dough, about 10 minutes.
• place the dough in an oiled bowl and cover it. allow it to rise until doubled in size, about 1-1/2 hours. punch the dough down, divide it in half and shape it into two loaves by flattening the dough into a rectangle and rolling it up so that the cylinder is the same length as the pan. oil the pans, place the loaves into the pans and brush the tops of the dough with a small amount of oil and allow them to rise so that they come just above the top of the pans.
• preheat the oven to 350. bake the loaves until brown and sound hollow when you turn the loaf out and tap the bottom, about 45 minutes. be sure to turn the loaves half way and to ensure doneness, use a thermometer to check the internal temperature; 185-195 is the desired range. turn out of the pans and allow to cool on a rack completely before slicing.