Whole Wheat bread with Hazelnuts and Currants.
This year the black currant bush we have in our yard for some reason produced a lot of fruit. Neither my wife nor I are big fans of black currants just on their own. We usually freeze them, and then I wind up using most of them in sauces for grilled meat and birds. I thought I’d try using some of them up this time by making Hamelman’s Whole Wheat bread with Hazelnuts and Currants.
Our weather here this week on the east coast of Vancouver Island has been setting temperature records. Yesterday afternoon it was 28C /82F and a bit warmer still inside our house. This is almost chilly compared to some of the temps other members of this forum have been experiencing recently, but pretty hot for our part of the world. The Pate Fermentee was made the night before, covered and set outside. In the morning I put it in the refrigerator and kept it there till I was ready to mix the dough. In order to get the recommended desired dough temperature of 23C/75F I had to chill the water down to 15C/59F before I started mixing. This combined with adding the cold Pate Fermentee to the mix kept the final dough from becoming too warm. The dough came off the hook almost right on the mark and stayed within a degree or two of the desired temp during the entire bulk ferment. The loaves were scaled at 600-620 grams/1lb-5oz. A variation I made from Hamelman’s formula was to increase the whole wheat flour percentage to 65% as the whole wheat flour I had was a blended flour of whole wheat and white flour. It still came out looking more like a white bread but I’m happy with the overall results, particularly the flavor. Currants and hazelnuts make a brilliant combination that I think will make an excellent chicken sandwich for my lunch this afternoon
That is lovely bread - I've never seen or tasted fresh currants, we only get the dried ones around here (and those are hard to find!!). Perfect base for a chicken sandwich! You could send a little of that heat down here to SoCal - it's been so gray and miserable lately, but it has been good weather for bread baking.
I forgot to mention that the currants were dehydrated after we picked them. They didn't taste anything like the ones you get commercially, they still had a good fresh flavor to them. And to say thank you for your comments.
All the best
Mini
Thanks Mini !
I love that deep purple colour, and no smearing into the dough; wonderful loaf Franko!
Thanks for your advice on photos; I decided to post without images for now.
BW
Andy
Thanks very much Andy,
Re: Flickr - I hope the photo advice will work out for you. Flickr just has too high an annoyance level for me when I'm trying to do something with it. Picasa just works.
About your upcoming post, is it the one you mentioned a while back about laminated pastry? I was wondering because I've been looking forward to reading it but don't see anything regarding it in your posts. I made a pad of puff earlier this week but haven't baked any off yet. Still waiting for the house to cool down a bit before I start doing anything with it.
All the best
Franko
No Franko it's just below yours in the recent posts; lots of different breads.
The laminated paste entry is in my blog, way down. Here's the link: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/16082/laminated-yeasted-dough-construction
Thanks
Andy
Lovely loaves - but I envy you most for your black currant bush. We are not allowed to grow currants or gooseberries here in Maine because they can harbor a bug that eats white pines.
If I had one I would make Denmark's and Germany's most favorite summer dessert: Roede Groede/Rote Gruetze (red berry dessert)!
Greeting to Vancouver Island (it's wonderful) from sweltering Maine,
Karin
They look beautiful, your loaves. And the currants make my mouth water. Made always jam or jelly from black currants when I still lived in Switzerland. Miss them and hazelnuts here in NC. Currants are not allowed here either and the hazelnuts are sooooo expensive down south.
Thanks Barbara and Karin,
Your comments are much appreciated.
Interesting about the white pine bug. Here in British Columbia, according to our Provincial Govt. we've had over 16.3 million hectares of provincial Crown land affected by the Western Mountain Pine Beetle. Fortunately we've escaped any damage here on Vancouver Island.., so far. Hope you folks don't suffer the same kind of devastation we've had in B.C.
As far as hazelnut prices go, they're not cheap here either even if you buy out of the bulk bin. I think I paid about 2.25 per 100 grams, but nothing comes close to tasting like a hazelnut and I'm a firm believer in using quality ingredients .
All the best, stay cool,
Franko
Your loaf has a beautiful open crumb. It looks just wonderful. Lucky you to have a fresh currant bush. I never knew currants grow on bushes.
Thanks for your comments.
I feel a lot luckier about having fresh black currants since I made this recipe.
the currants don't taste like commercial ones they aren't the same thing at all, commercial currants are a small grape, corinth ones, they are sometimes in the stores as Champane grapes and are very small and sweet! Black currants are a relative of the gooseberry I think, or a similar plant, there are also red and white ones, along with a number of wild relatives in BC, including ones my brother used to call fox currants and some others, they have a strong smell rather offensive if you don't like stinky socks, but they do make lovely jelly, jams and wine.
Hi Eva,
This is something I wasn't aware of and it explains a lot. Good info, thanks.