French Walnut Bread...
I started by first going to the market to purchase my walnuts. This is the season for walnuts and they were just so beautiful, crunchy and fresh. I started at 3pm on mixing the dough. I realised the brown colour in the pix show in the book comes partly from the butter. I'm suppose to boil the butter till it's brown. Anyway, I mixed the milk into my hot boiling butter so that I can get the right temperature on the liquid. While mixing the dough, hmmph....the dough is too dry, I added more milk. After mixing more milk, the dough seems ok, still not as wet as other dough that I've handled before. Let's try. So, after 1 1/2 hours, the dough seems to have doubled. When I try to stretch it, oh, it broke. Doesn't feel right. Well, proceed, roll out the dough, and I needed to add in the walnut. Press them in, and fold. I decided to set it for 1 hour before I start shaping although the book says 1/2 hour. After I took it out, cut 2/3 for round shape, and 1/3 for other shapes. The walnuts keep dropping out. Add them in, and roll. Finally, I got them into shape after a long while. The proofing didn't go well at all for this. The dough just relax a little and started to harden. I must have kneaded too hard and it was a too dry. Verdict: If this had been done properly, it's probably a very nice flavoured bread. I must remember to follow the instructions and be gentle about handling my dough. |
24 Jan 2010