Roasted Hazelnut and Prune Bread
hello from Timisoara!
I baked recently "Roasted Hazelnut and Prune Bread" from Hamelman book, page 185. I removed the butter and the instant yeast, and I increased the hydration from 66% to 68%, and I left the dough in the fridge overnight for the final fermentation.
The bad: I didn't know what to expect of it, I ezitated when I slashed it, cause it's still not clear for me when I have to give a perpendicular slash (with a straight lame) or an "almost-parallel-with-the-surface" kind of slash (does the shape of bread dictate it, or the kind of bread -rye, whole-wheat, white). The bread didn't have a spectacular oven spring. I think I incorporated a little raw flour in the dough when I shaped it (or else why do some prunes have a dry layer around them?). I think I could have roasted the hazelnuts for a longer time. I wish the prunes were more even distributed.
The good: I like the crumb, the contrast of textures and colours. I loved the combination of sweet, sour and nutty. Lovely for breakfast, with a cup of coffee aside. Lovely with goat cheese, or other kinds of cheese. Excellent with butter. I regret I didn't try to toast it...
For those who haven't tried it yet, I absolutely recomend it.
I decided to make this bread, because food-bloggers from Romania make a dish every month, with a chosen theme; and for august the theme was the plum. (They accepted me with prunes.) The challenge is called "Sweet Romania" and I was glad that I could participated with this lovely bread.
The recipe and details can be found here on my romanian blog Apa.Faina.Sare.
Comments
Hi codruta,
really good to see you post on this bread. Great final result.
I've made a variation on this a couple of times, and agree with your assessment of what to eat with it. We loved it for breakfast with butter and good jam, and it is also great with cheese too.
Personally, I like the amount of butter included in the original formula. It's not heavily enriched..just enough. I'd prefer that than having to increase hydration as you opted for.
Regards cutting the loaf, I have used a "chevron" cut quite effectively with this bread. If I'm not wrong, the loaf I made was over 1.5kg too, so the cutting was all-important. The heavy fruit and nuts will always have a tendency to compromise potential oven spring.
All good wishes
Andy
Another lovely bread, Codruta. Perhaps cutting up the prunes into smaller pieces would allow for them to be distributed more evenly. Nice baking.
Syd
Why does your bread always look so beautiful and so artistic and so yummy, I want to know..... :p Not only you're apparently very talented baker, but also you're brilliant at photography, too. Thank you for showing us another wonderful creation of yours.
I like incorporating prunes and hazelnuts in my bread...and my chocolate cake, too.....and sometimes the combination of both. Try mixing some cocoa powder in the dough like this, and see how you like it.;)
best wishes,
lumos
That's a really tempting looking loaf you have here. Pity I don't have the Hammelman book nor do I understand the ingredient listed in your Romanian blog but this is an idea that I could try with my yeast water. It's also a great idea to add a bit of cocoa. I made a fruit cake before using prunes and cocoa powder and it worked well. It may help to reduce the stickiness/sweetness of the prunes and easier to incorporate into the dough (I would coat the prunes with cocoa and leave to stand for a while instead of adding the cocoa to the flour) - Judy
@Andy: Next time I'll problably use butter, it must be there for a reason."chevron" seems like a good idea, I must try and learn to do that. Thank you Andy, great advises!
@Syd: I wanted to have big chucks of prunes in my bread, not small pieces (like raisins), and perhaps I expected too much: big pieces and even distribution :). For the future, I'll think twice before cutting the prunes. Thank you Syd, you're kind and helpful, like always.
@lumos: what can I say: your breads look gorgeous, and the cocoa-color crumb with bits of fruits makes a very pleasant sight: I must try that one. Thank you for your words and your link.
@judy: Thank you. Your tip about the cocoa powder is welcome. If you want, I could translate the recipe for you, and send you an email or a message. Just let me know. I'm curious about the taste that yeast water would give to this kind of bread. I have a Apple Yeast Water that I recently made, I baked 4 or 5 lofs with it, all great, but it still scares me and it's not quite in my comfort zone.
Thank you so much for your response. My comment on the cocoa powder was not meant as a tip, it was just me putting down my thoughts in writing :) I'm not even an experieinced baker and I'm still in the experimental stage. I'm unable to make a starter so I've tried using yeast water levain builds instead to give me something that resembles a SD loaf :) I'd appreciate it very much if you could just let me know the amt and ingredients used, and procedures in short sentences, I can work out the rest. Pls don't spend too much time translating it as it may be something that's beyond my capabilities and I wouldn't want you to waste too much time on this. Thanks again. - Judy
I send you the recipe as a message here on tfl. Please let me know if is OK.
best wishes, codruta
Yes, please try that one, either with your combination of prunes and hazelnuts or mine with cranberries and walnuts....show us how much more beautifully and artistically you can make it! I'll set it as my new bench mark for how the loaf should look like. ;)
for kindly taking the time to write out the recipe for me. I'll def give it a go but may half the recipe to test it first in case I fail, especially when working a lower hydration levain (I've only worked with 100% as taught by RonRay ) so this is a first time for me. I'll certainly post a picture when it's done.
Judy, I hope your bread will turn out OK, and that you'll like it, and please, let us know. happy baking!
Hello Codruta, as I am not sure if it is correct etiquette to be posting pics my breads on another person's blog, I have decided to post a picture on my earlier post on yeast water instead. Thank you again for your time for writing out the recipe and in particular for converting it into a levain using yeast water as I know this isn't part of the original recipe. Happy baking, - Judy
You beat me to it, Corduta.. very nicely done! I agree with Lumos, your photogrpahy exposes the beauty of your loaves.
khalid, thank you, I really appreciate your words.
codruta