Walnut and cranberry bread
Bread with inclusions demands one precaution: fold in the nuts and cranberries only once the gluten has developed. Added at the start they cut through the gluten network and the loaf rises noticeably less. The result is a dark crust, an open crumb and a sweet-bitter contrast in every slice.
Your own work in that: 0 min.
- Autolyse 30 min
- Kneading 15 min
- Bulk fermentation 120 min
- Proving the loaf 45 min
- Baking 45 min
- Cooling 60 min
Step by step
0 / 6 doneDo an autolyse
Mix both flours with the water — just to combine, no kneading — and leave for 30 minutes. The flour hydrates, gluten starts forming on its own and the later kneading is shorter.
Ingredients: 450 g bread flour · 50 g rye flour · 350 ml water · 5 g instant dried yeast · 10 g salt · 1 tbsp honey
TipAdd the salt and yeast only after the autolyse. Salt slows down hydration.
Knead the dough
Add the yeast, salt and honey and knead for 10–12 minutes. The dough should pass the windowpane test: a stretched piece is translucent without tearing. Only then is it ready for inclusions.
Ingredients: 450 g bread flour · 50 g rye flour · 350 ml water · 5 g instant dried yeast · 10 g salt · 1 tbsp honey
Fold in nuts and cranberries
Flatten the dough, scatter over the walnuts, cranberries and rosemary and fold the dough in half several times until they are distributed. Do not knead further — nuts cut the gluten.
Ingredients: 120 g walnuts · 100 g dried cranberries · 1 tsp rosemary
TipYou can soak the cranberries in hot water for 10 minutes, then drain and pat them dry, so they do not draw moisture from the dough.
Folding instead of kneading — the gluten stays intact.Bulk ferment for two hours
Return to the bowl, cover and leave for 2 hours at room temperature, folding the dough every 30 minutes during the first hour. It should double and be full of bubbles.
Ingredients: 450 g bread flour · 50 g rye flour · 350 ml water · 5 g instant dried yeast · 10 g salt · 1 tbsp honey
Shape the loaf
Tip onto a floured counter, fold the edges into the middle and drag the ball across the surface until the skin tightens. Place seam side up in a basket lined with a floured cloth and leave for 45 minutes. Straight away put a lidded cast iron pot in the oven and heat it at 240°C for those 45 minutes.
Ingredients: 450 g bread flour · 50 g rye flour · 350 ml water · 5 g instant dried yeast · 10 g salt · 1 tbsp honey
A tight skin holds the shape and gives a clean burst.Bake in a pot
Take out the hot pot (careful, it burns). Tip the loaf in seam side down, score a cross and bake 20 minutes covered at 240°C, then 20–25 minutes uncovered at 220°C. The crust should be dark and the base sound hollow.
Ingredients: 450 g bread flour · 50 g rye flour · 350 ml water · 5 g instant dried yeast · 10 g salt · 1 tbsp honey
TipCool on a rack for at least an hour, ideally until completely cold — hot crumb is gummy and drags under the knife.
The pot traps steam and gives a bakery crust.
Before you start
Without a cast iron pot
Bake on a stone or tray with a dish of boiling water on the oven floor. The crust will be slightly thinner.
With cheese
This bread is made for blue and aged cheeses. The cranberries stand in for chutney.
Overnight ferment
Reduce the yeast to 2 g and, once the inclusions are in, ferment the dough for 12 hours in the fridge. The next day shape the loaf and prove it for about 1–1.5 hours somewhere warm. The flavour is noticeably deeper.
