Bread Baking Babes february 2009

Being fond of multi grain bread and just loving nuts, this challenge of the Bread Baking Babes must be the perfect one for me. They just might have guessed what I was longing for.

So, the're's no need telling you that I'd carefully planned baking the Pane ai Cinque con Noci this weekend. If it's only for the name of it!

Almost all the ingredients were available except for the brown rice flour. I've replaced it by cornflour because of the lovely yellow colour.

Being the only one in this household loving walnuts, I decided to make one bread with walnuts and the other with pistaches. After all; they're Italian so it would still be an Italian bread with a beautiful name.

Pane ai Cinque Cereali con Noci (Five grain Bread with Walnuts)
(this recipe is adapted from the Italian Baker by Carol Field)
500 gr. unbleached all-purpose flour
125 gr. oat flour
125 gr. rye flour
125 gr. whole wheat flour
125 gr. corn flour
700 ml. water; lukewarm
20 gr. salt
14 gr. instant yeast
2 tbsp. running honey
125 gr. walnuts
125 gr. pistaches

The amounts were divided in two and I choose to bake two breads: one with walnuts and one with pistaches. Baking two different breads asked for trying out two different techniques.

For the walnut bread I choose my normal technique with autolyse and folding. For the pistache bread I choose the technique of Dan Lepard: just 10 seconds kneading every time and between that, let time do all the work.

But before the real work started, the instructions prescribed roasting the nuts. This I'd never done before. Having shops in the neighbourhood I didn't expect roasting would make any difference when you can buy fresh nuts all the time.

But, I'm a brave girl so I preheated my small oven and roasted the walnuts and pistachios. If you have never done this; you should do it just for the smell. And the taste? What can I tell you about the taste? I was surprised that just roasting for a few minutes brings out such a terrific taste. This promised to become a very, very delightful bread.

Kneading the walnutbread, I already had the feeling that the gluten didn't develop enough. The dough kept a bit stiff and it had difficulties with rising. As an attempt to give it an extra helping hand I folded it and put it in a terracotta breadform which was standing (one hour) in a bowl with lukewarm water.


Even than, it didn't rise enough and still hoping for a little miracle I baked it 40 minutes in the oven at 400 dgr. F. (200 gr. C.)

Well, what can I say more? It smelled good but the bread looks like a baseball bat.

Using my experience with the walnut bread, I decide to give the bread with pistachos more time to rise. So it stood hours, and hours, and hours in the kitchen also waiting for a miracle.


It was so stiff, that I could make a nice torpedo shaped bread but it still wouldn't rise. Well, I won't bother you with the rest of the story; this bread was as stubborn as his little nephew with walnuts. It didn't rise; not on my kitchen counter and not in the oven!!

Was I dissapointend because I'd had high expectations?
To be honest; yes, maybe a little bit.

Did I learn something?
Yes, I loved roasting those nuts and I was surprised by the effect of the technique of Dan Lepard. Time is really the most important instrument for a breadbaker.

Will I do this again?
Yes! Next time I'l use my secret weapon: Elvis. He'll make those gluten rock and roll.


Thanks, Tanna of My Kitchen in Half Cups. Although it went otherwise than planned, I've had a great time.