JULIAN COLE makes easy walnut bread that goes well with cheese or cold meat.

SOME recipes for walnut bread can be complicated and the results heavy.

This one strips away most of the difficulties, and the result is lighter. The trick lies in the walnut paste, an idea lifted from Dan Lepard’s The Handmade Loaf; the rest is my English spin on a French favourite.

Ingredients for the walnut paste

50g walnuts
50g water
2tbsp honey
20g melted butter, lightly browned in the pan
Pinch of sea salt.

Bread ingredients

400g white flour
100g wholemeal flour
10g fresh yeast
100g walnut halves
Generous tablespoon natural yoghurt
10g salt
300g warm water.

Method

To make the paste, place walnuts, water, honey, browned butter and salt in mixer or coffee grinder (do not whiz in large bowl with electric blender: a sticky shower will ensue, believe me) until paste is formed; mine was a little sloppy, cut down on water for something smoother.

Bread: mix flours, salt, walnut halves and yeast; combine walnut paste, warm water and yoghurt, and pour into flour.

Knead for ten minutes, leave in oiled and covered bowl for hour or so; knead again, leave again. Shape into round and put on floured baking tray, or roll into oiled and floured bread tin.

Leave to rise for 20 to 30 minutes. Preheat oven to top whack for last ten minutes of rise.

Place tin or baking sheet in oven, cook for ten minutes, reduce to 200C, cook for 25 minutes, remove from tin or baking tray and return to oven for seven or eight minutes. Leave to cool on wire tray.

Suggestion: for a sweeter version, add a handful of chopped dates to the mix.