Pain Aux Noix

Sounds so fancy doesn't it?

It's French for "Walnut Bread" and let me tell you, it is so good we decimated the first loaf before it was even cool enough to handle! I'm actually going to give you the recipe for this one so if you want to try your hand at it you can. There are many variations of this bread online but this one intrigued me because of the way you brown the butter. As always, I toast and cool the walnuts before adding them to the dough.

Pain Aux Noix

1/4 cup butter

3 cups wholemeal wheat flour

1 cup unbleached all purpose flour

1 TBS brown sugar

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 TBS instant yeast

1 cup lukewarm milk

1 1/2 cups walnut pieces (toasted!)

Place the butter in a small saucepan and heat until melted and starting to turn brown, then set aside to cool.

Mix the flours, sugar and salt in a large mixing bowl and make a well in the center. Mix the yeast into the milk and allow to dissolve; add to the center of the flour.

Add the cool, melted butter to the flour mixture (it should still be in a liquid state). Using your hand, mix the liquids together in the bowl and gradually add in small quanitites of flour to make a moist dough.

Knead on a lightly floured surface for 6-8 minutes. Place in a lightly oiled bowl, turn once to coat the top and cover with a lightly oiled piece of clear plastic wrap. Leave to rise in a warm place for 1 hour or until doubled in bulk.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly oiled surface and gently knock back. Press or roll out to flatten and then sprinkle the nuts over the dough. Gently press the nuts into the dough, then roll up jelly roll style. Return to the oiled bowl, recover and allow to rise for 30 minutes.

Turn out onto a lightly oiled surface and divide dough in half. Shape each piece into a ball and place on lightly oiled or well seasoned baking sheets. (Baking stones are perfect for these.) Cover with lightly oiled plastic wrap and allow to rise for 45 minutes or until doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Using a sharp knife, slash the top of each loaf 3 times. Bake for about 32 minute4s or until the loaves sound hollow when tapped on the base. Cool on a wire rack.

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I will admit that I did this in my Bosch but I typed out the instructions this way in case you don't have a mixer. If you have a Bosch Mixer, knead for 3-5 minutes or until it looks smooth and elastic. If using a Kitchenaid be sure you don't go over speed 2 or you will strip the gears. (Trust me on this one!)

The crust on this loaf was chewy and just a teeny bit crisp but the crumb was so velvety! It made fantastic toast and was awesome with my Tarragon Chicken Salad. I will be making this one again (and again, and again!)

If you don't have access to wholemeal flour I imagine a good quality whole wheat could be used with decent results.

Tomorrow I will have two different sourdough breads to bake, sourdough pancakes and hopefully a sprouted wheat bread will follow shortly. Good thing I have a big freezer!