Medieval Walnut Bread
Read about how I developed this here
This recipe was found in a 14th century Venetian cookbook called the Anonimo Veneziano. It's a savory bread recipe which uses herbs I happen to have growing on our patio and in my cupboard.
Since the first loaf I've made it more than a half dozen times. It's delicious.
Total Preparation Time
Total preparation time is 30min + 24 hours proofing
- Preparing ingredients - 25min
- Stretching and folding - 5min
- Waiting for the dough to proof - 24 hours
Ingredients
- Flour - 500g
- Water (warm) - 400g
- Salt - 10g
- Starter (unfed) - 40g
- Walnuts (coarsely chopped) - 100g
- Onion (minced) - ~40g
- Ginger (minced) - ~20g
- Sugar - 10g
- Baking soda - 1 teaspoon (5ml)
- Cinnamon - 3/4 teaspoon (4ml)
- Nutmeg - 1/4 teaspoon (1ml)
- Cloves - 1/4 teaspoon (1ml)
- Black Pepper - 1/4 teaspoon (1ml)
- Mint
- Rosemary
- Thyme
Method
- Chop walnuts, onions, ginger, seasoning, and gather the spices
- Mix everything until it just comes together
- Pour into bowl
- Cover and wait 15min
- Stretch and fold
- Cover and wait 15min
- Stretch and fold
- Cover and wait 15min
- Stretch and fold
- Cover and wait 12 hours
- Gather the dough up into a boule and transfer to heavily floured banneton or flour lines bowl
- Put into plastic bag and into refrigerator 12 hours
- Preheat oven to 450 with pizza stone or cast iron tray
- Turn out cold dough onto floured platter
- Score the top with a razor blade
- Brush the crust with water
- Drop onto hot baking stone
- Bake 26-30min or until the top is brown and the bottom edges are beginning to curl up.
Notes
- Try cooking on convection roast instead of bake to get the upper crust darker. I've been broiling for 90sec at the end to give it a dark crust but it may not be necessary if roasted.
- I could maybe try in a smaller, buttered and floured, cast iron pan to help it retain some shape
