Walnut and Fennel Loaf Recipe

Makes:

1 boule

Naomi says: “This toasty, malty, walnut studded loaf has the faintest hint of fennel seed dancing in the background. It’s barely there, but you miss it if you leave it out. Add more if you love fennel. Caraway makes a good alternative. The ground walnuts and short flours give the crumb a closer texture; tender rather than dense. It’s a little like a rich soda bread, without the soda.”

Ingredients

For the sponge

80g white teff flour
100g lukewarm water (40°C/104°F)
2g dried yeast/fast acting yeast

For the dough

130g millet flour (sorghum for a heavier loaf)
50g walnuts + 80g walnuts
½ tsp fennel seed or caraway seed
10g fine salt
75g light buckwheat flour
60g white teff flour
50g quinoa flour
20g cassava flour
25g ground psyllium husk
1 large egg
1 tablespoon olive oil or walnut oil
1 tablespoon honey
330g lukewarm water (40°C/104°F)

Method

1. 45 minutes before you make the dough, mix the sponge ingredients together and set aside to prove.

2. In a blender, grind 50g of walnuts with the millet flour, until powdery.

3. In a pestle and mortar, grind fennel seeds and salt.

4. Mix flours, walnut powder, fennel salt and psyllium husk in a mixing bowl.

5. Beat together, egg, olive oil and honey until homogenous, stir in lukewarm water and beat into flours until completely smooth.

6. Roughly chop remaining 80g of walnuts and beat into dough. Scrape into a lightly oiled bowl and rest for 15 minutes.

7. Prepare a banneton with flour and shape the loaf into a boule.

8. Prove for about 45-60 minutes until slightly more domed on top and the dough rebounds slowly to pressure. This loaf overproves easily, so it will expand less than you think.

9. 40 minutes before proving time is up, put the Dutch oven to heat at 250°C/480°F.

10. Score and lower into the Dutch oven. Turn the oven down to 230°C/445°F and bake for 15 minutes. Then reduce temperature to 200°C/390°F for another 50 minutes.

11. Turn the oven off. Take the bread out of the Dutch oven and put it back into the oven for 30 minutes as it cools.

12. Move to a cooling rack and allow to cool to room temperature before slicing.

13. This loaf will keep a couple of days. Slice and freeze anything you won’t eat in that time.

Recipe extracted from Bread: Gluten Free by Naomi Devlin. Available now from Amazon.

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