I wanted to make a loaf of bread that would be good for sandwiches, toast and garlic bread so I went with a recipe loaded with oats and walnuts. I love using walnuts in my loaves. They give a really good flavor and soften up nicely after baking. The oats also give a really nice silkiness to the crumb which is really nice.

Schedule: I based this loaf off of my bakers yeast schedule.

Ingredients:

Dough

• 425g bread flour
• 25g dark rye flour
• 400g filtered water @ 90’F
• 11g sea salt
• 2g bakers yeast
• 75g quick oats
• 75g chopped walnuts

Method:

I started with a 30 minute autolyse with the flour, turmeric and the water.

After mixing the salt, yeast and almonds into the dough, I performed 4 stretch and folds within the first 90 minutes, separated by 20 minutes. The kitchen was hovering around 68’F so I went with a full 5 hour bulk fermentation.

I proofed for 45 minutes in a banneton before placing it in a dutch oven.

I baked the loaf in a preheated dutch oven at 450’F for 20 minutes covered, then removed the lid of the dutch oven and baked for an additional 30 minutes.

Result:

I should have scored this loaf before putting it in the oven. The venting caused it to end up slightly oblong, but obviously that doesn’t affect the flavor. The taste is great with hints of walnut and a good amount of oatiness.

Venting issues aside, the loaf still rose well and has a fluffy crumb with not too big of holes.

My Baking Notes

• Ambient Temperature: 68’F
• Started autolyse @ 8:50am
• Water temp: 91’F
• Dough was 86’F at autolyse
• Mixed @ 9:30am
• Dough was 78’F after mixing
• 4 stretch and folds over first 90 minutes
• Started proof @ 2:35pm
• Into oven @ 3:20pm