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Re: Blue Cheese Walnut Bread

Diane B <dianeb@debunix.net>
Sat, 22 Sep 2012 12:24:20 -0700
v112.n036.1
>From: RebecB8@aol.com
>
>Anyone have a recipe for blue cheese walnut bread?  Without the 
>whole wheat flour or very little whole wheat flour?


This is the kind of thing I'd do by starting with a base recipe that 
you like and are comfortable making--a rather simple 
flour/water/yeast/salt kind of thing--and then add some toasted 
walnuts and some blue cheese by kneading them in gently just before 
your shaping/proofing step.  I like walnuts with sourdough, so I 
usually use at least some sourdough starter in my walnut breads, but 
if you're not a sourdough fan who has some starter available, no need 
to bother.

Because the nuts don't really change the crumb of the bread, you 
should as as much or as little as you prefer--the only real limiting 
factors are that too many nuts make the loaf rougher to shape and 
slice later.  I prefer to lightly toast them, and to roughly break 
large walnut halves or pieces into bits about 1/2 inch long, and 
usually add a handful--maybe 1/2 cup--to a single standard loaf.

For the cheese, how much to add and how and when to add it does get a 
little trickier:  if you want pieces of cheese that stay 'whole' in 
the baked result, you need to add it right at the end, carefully to 
avoid blending it too much so it just becomes streaky bits and 
disappears into the loaf.  That works nicely with cheddars, but I 
wouldn't think it was a good idea with blue cheese.

My favorite walnut/cheese bread combos lately, though, are flatbreads 
with walnuts, cheese, and onions on top, sort of 
pizza/foccaccia-ish.  I start with a long-fermented very plain dough, 
and top just before baking with the goodies as above.


--diane in los angeles

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