Bread with fruits and nuts

I almost forgot how addictive bread with dried fruits can be. Crispy crust (bien sur), slightly sweet tender and moist interior, a perfect bread for cheese (or on its own!).

My first attempt with raisin and walnut was so successfully that I started another dough immediately after. Cinnamon raisin is a hard to beat combination. I urge you to try. And yes, toast walnuts before adding to the dough does make a difference in terms of the aroma afterwards. It took me many years to realize that so I hope you would also give it a go.

Next flavor combinations on the list are Prune and Hazelnuts or Apricot and Sunflower seeds!


Cinnamon raisin walnut bread (75% hydration dough)

- 250 g white bread flour
- 50 g strong wholemeal flour
- 1/2 tsp yeast
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 cup chopped toasted walnuts
- 1/2 cup raisins
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 225 g water
- oil for kneading

Mix everything into a rough dough. Rest the dough in a bowl, covered for 1 hour. Knead the rested dough with oiled fingers into a smooth ball. Then starts the bulk fermentation. During the first two hours of bulk fermentation, perform 3-5 rounds of stretch-and-fold. At the end of bulk fermentation, the dough has to double its original size.

Remove the risen dough onto a floured surface. Gently shape it into a ball by tucking all sides underneath. Bench rest for 30-60 minutes. Shape the dough into a batard, a boule, or into several smaller rolls if you prefer. Let the shaped dough proof for 60-90 minutes.

Preheat your oven at 220C for 20 minutes along with a baking tray. Score and mist the dough top, transfer the dough unto the preheated tray and put it into the oven. Bake for 35-40 minutes (reduce the temperature to 200C during the second half if the bread browns too fast) until the sound of tapping the bread bottom is hollow.

2017 Weekly - Week 25

18/06/2017

I tried red lentil hummus today. This is actually my second attempt by cooking red lentils differently. I put one cup of rinsed and drained red lentils in a pot. Pour in freshly boiled water until red lentils are completely covered, with water level about 1cm above red lentils. Then I bring the pot to a boil and reduce the heat down immediately with lid on. After 8-10 minutes, red lentils are pretty much cooked without much water at the bottom. This saves me from the extra step of straining lentils afterwards.

To make hummus, I added 3 tablespoons of tahini sauce, garlic powder, cumin powder and yogurt to 1 1/2 cup of cooked red lentils. Season with salt and pepper. I was out of lemon, otherwise juice from 1/2 of a lemon is also good for hummus. Rest the hummus in the fridge for a few hours, so can I!

19/06/2017 - 24/06/2017

2017 so far has proven to be very unsettling. You see the worst of human beings almost weekly now all over the world. Another terror attack in London, high-rise building with illegal cladding material which led to deaths of so many lives, politicians using human beings as game chips once again. This is just what's happened on this small island. Don't let me even start the other side of the Atlantic.

Do human beings inherently want to minimize one another? Surely by now everyone can see (or evolution has proven, if scientific evidence needed) that we only get to progress when we work together? I will continue do what I can to make life better for people around me, however small it may seem. If we all do a little like that, at least we know for sure that some people'e lives are better because of our small efforts.

2017 Weekly - Week 24

17/06/2017

Sweltering heat is coming back for real. Room temperature varies from 26C to 30C, depending on where you are. Well, need more cooling methods!

2017 Weekly - Week 23

A very warm week followed by a rather cool and rainy one (10 degrees cooler), well, that's British summer.

Today (08/06/2017) I voted.

I make - Carrot cake

In an attempt to use up my kamut flour, I discovered that wholemeal kamut is actually rather good in a carrot cake. So here is the recipe I used for a good tasting carrot cake.

Note on 18/06/2017: I made the carrot cake again but added 30 g of ground almond and increased grated carrots to 250-280g. Both versions are pretty good but I may stick with the original one for its simplicity.

Carrot cake

- 150 g brown sugar
- 3 eggs
- zest from 1 orange
- 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
- 120mL melted butter (or mixed with oil)
- 200 g kamut flour (plain white will do)
- 2 tsps baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp cinnamon powder
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg powder
- 1/2 tsp mixed spice
- 200 g grated carrot (1 big carrot)
- walnut pieces
- demerara sugar

Preheat the oven at 180C.

In one bowl, mix together brown sugar, eggs, orange zest and vanilla. Use an electric mixer to beat the egg mixture for 3 minutes until it's light and frothy. With the mixer on, slowly drizzle in melted butter. Beat the mixture until it's well emulsified.

Sift into the egg mixture bowl the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon powder, nutmeg powder and mixed spice. Stir a few times to mix the flour in. Then stir in the grated carrots. Don't over stir but make sure carrots are evenly distributed in the batter.

Pour in a prepared tin. Pour the cake batter in. Decorate the top with walnut pieces and finally sprinkle some demerara sugar. Bake in the oven at 180C for 30 minutes.

2017 Weekly - Week 22

29/05/2017

Tried Kamut flour the very first time for bread baking. Not sure what to think of it considering all the singing and dancing I heard from the internet fellow bakers. For me, kamut gives a dough which is like rye does, sticky, not elastic/stretchy (very short gluten strands). But, the baked products are better than the dough feels, closed crumb texture but light/airy tasting.

I don't think I will use it for everyday bread again. I am quite visual when it comes to cooking and baking. I like my big bubbles in the baked bread! I will use it instead for pasta or brioche. It's also very expensive so I will not buy it again after finishing this bag. Good to know you, Kamut.