Walnut sourdough and maple oatmeal bread

It was too hot last weekend to use the oven, so although I prepped a loaf of walnut sourdough on Friday, we didn't bake it until Monday morning.

Walnut sourdough

By Sunday morning, I was dying for some bread, so I decided to make some in the bread machine. I picked Hensperger's maple oatmeal recipe (p. 436), which has buttermilk (which we happened to have), maple syrup, butter, and rolled oats.

Maple oatmeal bread

This was some great smelling bread! It cooked on the dark setting, so it had quite a crust on it.

Inside maple oatmeal bread

I like this bread. It was tasty by itself just after baking, and fantastic toasted with cheese and tomatoes the next day. It doesn't have as much whole grain as I'd like, but the oats (although undetectable) make it less guilt inducing.

The walnut sourdough was my husband's great idea. I used quite a lot of walnuts, but unfortunately I can't find my notes about the exact amount (5 oz?). They came from a bag of chopped (though fairly big) walnuts from a brand I can't remember (and haven't seen before, as far as I remember); they seemed to be pretty high quality. I didn't bother toasting or chopping the nuts. Instead I used them as-is, straight from the package.

Shaped and ready to refrigerate

I made the sourdough following the usual Josey Baker recipe on Friday, adding the walnuts at the third it's-not-kneading session. The weather was warm, so I felt free to actually knead the dough a bit to get the nuts distributed.

Just out of the refrigerator

Monday morning the weather had cooled enough that using the oven was thinkable, so we finally baked the bread that day. It had puffed up quite a bit, and I was worried it had overextended itself, but it turned out fine.

Deflating after leaving the refrigerator

I had a bit of a hard time getting the dough out of the basket, but finally managed to do so without whacking it.

Finally out of the basket

I did the usual bake (remembering to remove the baking pan this time), with good results.

After baking

I never seem to get an ear on the loaf. I wonder if it's the recipe, the sourdough starter, the cut, or the fact that I halve the salt. Or all of the above.

In a sandwich

This is a very tasty bread, especially an hour or two after cooking, when the crust is still crunchy. The walnuts turn the bread funny purplish colors, but they add so much flavor I don't mind. We've eaten this plain, in a salami sandwich, with butter and marmalade, and with cheese and tomatoes. I'm not sure about the salami sandwich, but it was delicious every other way.