Maple Walnut Bread

Maple Walnut Bread with sour cream and Canadian maple syrup is perfect on its own, or toasted with butter. I've heard it even makes fantastic French Toast!

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 Happy World Bread Day! I almost missed it (joys of life piling up around me) but luckily I remembered that I had made this loaf a while back for the express reason of sharing it for the event! 

One of the best things about the cooler temperatures here is that cranking up the oven or the stove isn't as much of a bother to the rest of the household. As a result, we've been eating a lot more hearty meals: stews, soup, even hot cereal some mornings when there's a threat of frost outside. I'm trying to ignore the fact that in a few short weeks we will have snow on the ground! Lately, the go-to breakfast for my mom has been porridge with flax seeds and a spoonful of amaranth, topped with diced apples or blueberry compote, and that meal combined with the weekend favourite of pancakes with maple syrup and chopped nuts inspired this loaf's creation. 

This bread is so simple to put together that it's easy to dampen your expectations of it's flavour. To be honest, I've had hit and miss results baking maple syrup into bread when it came to the taste coming through, so I wasn't too sure what would happen. As soon as I opened the oven door to pull this out though, I didn't have to wonder: the aroma of toasted nuts and unmistakable maple filled the kitchen. Cutting into it an hour later (sometimes, we just can't wait for these things to cool completely), my mom remarked that it was the perfect addition to teatime - subsequent days saw slices topped with butter, cream cheese, slices of Cheddar and raspberry jam. The heels of the bread became French toast, which - covered in maple syrup  - smelled heavenly.

Since we are headed into the holiday period which practically guarantees extra bits and bobs of nuts and dried fruit around the house, I can't wait to see what variations I can make to this moving forward.

 

Maple Walnut Bread

Serves 1

1 cup sour cream
½ cup maple syrup
1 tbsp vanilla
1/2 cup warm water
2 cups flour
2 cups whole wheat bread flour
1/3 cup multigrain hot cereal, granola, or rolled oats
1/2 tbsp instant yeast (I used SAF Gold)
2 tbsp oil
½ tsp salt
2/3 cup chopped walnuts

1. Combine all the ingredients (except walnuts) in the bowl of a stand mixer and knead until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes on low speed (alternatively knead by hand).
2. Cover and let rise for 1.5 hours.
3. Knock down and knead in walnuts. Shape into a loaf and place in a greased 9x5" loaf pan.
4. Cover and let rise for 45 minutes, until loaf just crests over the pan.
5. Heat the oven to 350F and bake loaf for 50 minutes.
6. Turn out immediately and cool on a rack.