Walnut Bread

French, Italian or English - Pain aux Noix, Pane alle Noci or Walnut Bread - this bread is a perfumed delight accompanying chesses or served as an appetizer (simple or toasted with foie gras!). The bread is slightly sweetened with sugar, honey or syrup and for best results the starter is a sourdough. Of course, there is a French purplish-blue version made with … red wine. Parfait!

Ingredients:
360g whole meal flour
100 g white flour
20 g yeast
280 g milk
8 ml salt
50 g butter
15 ml brown sugar
200 g walnuts



1. In a bowl mix the flour, sugar and salt together.

2. Melt the butter in a saucepan.

3. Dissolve the yeast in warm milk. Pour over flour and mix with the melted butter in the flour.



4. Stir everything together and knead for 8-10 minutes to get elastic non sticky dough. Let rise for 30 minutes.





5. On a lightly floured surface roll the dough and sprinkle over with walnuts.



6. Roll the dough like a roll pad and let it rise for 30 minutes.



7. From the dough roll: either a log and join the end to make a ring, or (for the easy version) two balls.



8. Leave on the baking sheet to rise for 30 minutes.



9. Preheat the oven to 220 degrees.

10. Bake for 35-40 minutes. Cool on a wire rack before serving.



Printer friendly downlodable recipe in English, here:

Walnut Bread En

Onion and bacon bread

For the French and German regions of Alsace, Rhenish Hesse, Palatinate, Franconia, and Swabia this bread comes under different forms and recipe versions, varying from pies to onion topping breads or quiches. Prepared in the colder months of the year, it is served with the ``New wine``of the year. Some variations are cooked in combination with seeds – such as caraway – or nuts – such as wall nuts.

Ingredients:
700 g white flour
20 g yeast
200g butter
7 ml salt
350 ml milk
120 g bacon
120 g onion
4 eggs
Pepper
300 g walnuts (or 120g caraway)



1. Sift flour into a bowl with the salt and pepper.

2. Dissolve yeast in a cup with 100 ml of tepid milk. Add together with the remaining milk to a well in the center of the flour. Mix in a little of the flour and leave covered in a warm place to ferment for 30 minutes.



3. Fry the bacon together with the onion. Let cool.



4. Beat the eggs and add to the dough composition together with 150g of butter.

5. Knead for 5 to 8 minutes to get soft dough. Let the dough rise for 45-60 minutes.

6. Add to the dough composition the onion and bacon with nuts (or seeds). Knead to homogenize the composition and let rise for 45-60 minutes.

7. Preheat the oven to 200 C.

8. In a butter greased baking mold, place dough and bake at 200C for 45-50 minutes.



9. Let cool on a wire rack before serving.

Printer friendly downlodable recipe in English, here:

Onion and Bacon Bread En

Grissini with sesame seeds

Originating from Turin, grissini are breadsticks simple or coated with sesame or poppy seeds or sprinkled in gritty salt. The name comes from ghersin, a simple low fat white Italian bread, that has borough the dough formula for grissini – meaning ``little ghersin bread``. They make for great appetizers, simple or half coated in Prosciutto , a cheese and herbs paste or caramelized onions. Because of the light, simple dough uncoated grissini are sometimes used in wine tastings as a palate cleanser.

Ingredients:
230 g white flour
8 g salt
15 g yeast
150 ml water
30 ml olive oil
300g sesame

1. Mix the yeast with lukewarm water.
2. In a large pot sift the flour.



3. Add the yeast and water, olive oil and salt.



4. Knead for 8-10 minutes.



5. Spread the dough into a rectangle 14 x 20 cm. Let rise for 1 hour.

6. Preheat oven to 200 degrees.

7. Cut dough into two strips of 7 / 10 cm, then into strips of 7 / 1 cm. Roll each strip to get 30 inches long strips.



8. Roll the strips in sesame seeds and place on the baking sheets.



9. Let the grissini grow for another 10 minutes.

10. Bake at 200 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

11. Chill before serving.



Printer friendly downlodable recipe in English, here:

Grissini En