Friday, October 16, 2009

World Bread Day 2009 - Carrot Walnut Loaf


My how time flies when you're having fun. I cannot believe that it has been 12 months since the last World Bread Day. However, today is indeed World Bread Day 2009, and is once again hosted by Zorra of Kochtopf. To participate, all you have to do is to bake or buy bread of any kind and blog about it - simple!

Until I started blogging, I would never have dreamed of baking bread, but I am so glad that it is an art I have discovered - the variety and flavour of bread that you make yourself surpasses any supermarket bread, and you would be amazed at how easy it is. The biggest trick is making yeasted bread on cold days, when the yeast needs a little help to get going.

This year, I have made an unyeasted Carrot & Walnut Bread. The recipe comes from page 46 of the November 2009 edition of Australian Good Food magazine. Now, the bread in the photo is rustic to the extreme, and I found it a little off-putting. However, I am so glad that I ignored the photo and forged ahead - this bread is moist and delicious, with a wonderful crunchy texture from the walnuts. It actually reminded me more of a cake than a bread because it was so sweet and moist.

I did have one hitch with this bread in that the 30 minute baking time in the recipe was clearly not long enough in my case. I thought that my bread was ready at that stage, but the next day when I was cutting it into slices for work, I discovered to my horror that the middle section of the bread was still uncooked in the centre. Dang - all that lovely bread went into the bin. However, the end parts which were cooked through and which I did get to eat were fantastic. I would definitely make this bread again.

If you would like to make this bread for yourself, you will need:

2 1/3 cups plain flour
1 cup wholemeal plain flour
2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
1 teaspoon salt
1 grated carrot
1/4 cup toasted chopped walnuts
1 cup low fat yoghurt (I just used low fat vanilla)
1/2 cup skim milk

Preheat your oven to 230 degrees Celsius, and line a baking tray with a silicone baking mat or baking paper.

Sift the flours, baking soda and salt together into a bowl, then add the carrots and walnuts. Mix well.

Stir the yoghurt and milk into the flour mixture to form a soft, sticky dough. (I found that I had to add some water to make the dough moist enough to work with. I also find that using my hands to mix the dough is easier than using a spoon or a knife.)

Turn the dough out onto a floured bench and knead into a large round or oval shape. Place the dough onto the prepared baking tray and make shallow diagonal slashes across the top of the dough with a sharp knife or box cutter.

Place the bread into the oven and bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown and hollow sounding. (You may need longer than this - I should have!)

Remove the bread from the oven and allow to cool on a wire rack before serving slices smeared with butter.

Do check Zorra's site for the World Bread Day 2009 roundup here.





world bread day 2009 - yes we bake.(last day of sumbission october 17)

11 comments:

Mansi said...

that loaf sure looks inviting, and definitely big enough to feed a few hungry ppl like me:)


btw, hope you can find some time to make some goodies for my Sweet celebration event

Jennifer said...

Sounds SO delicious and looks SO good....nice job!

Finla said...

Wow i would have never ever thought of adding carrots, love the idea and bread looks yumm.

Ivy said...

It's amazing how many new things we learn when we get outside our comfort zone and make thing we would normally not do. There is an event where you had to use black beer and as I got more black beer that I needed today I made the most amazing bread using black beer. I shall post it tomorrow.

The Blonde Duck said...

That's such a cool idea!

Anonymous said...

It sounds delicious. I love the color. Happy World Bread Day!

Anonymous said...

I always like to bake unyeast bread. Constantly looking out for new flavour. Love this recipe!!

Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella said...

Oh no! I missed World Bread Day again (no oven). Would love a slice of this bread though :D

Cakelaw said...

Hi Mansi, tahnks for your comment and the invite.

Thanks Jennifer.

Hi Happy Cook, me neither til I tried this - the carrot makes it moist and sweet.

Hi Ivy, I loved your black beer bread.

Thanks Duckie.

Thanks Wendy - you too!

Hi Ellie, the beauty of it is that there is no waiting for yeast to rise - or disappoint and do nothing :)

Hi Lorraine - it's easy and good.

zorra said...

Great Soda Bread! Thank you for your participatin in World Bread Day 2009. Yes you baked! :-)

Anonymous said...

It is rather interesting for me to read the post. Thanks for it. I like such themes and everything that is connected to this matter. I definitely want to read a bit more soon.

Sincerely yours
Timm Clade