Photo by Karen Hermann
Makes one loaf
2 ½ cups bread flour
½ cup whole wheat flour
½ teaspoon instant yeast
1 ¼ teaspoons salt
1 ¾ cups water
1 cup walnut halves, roughly chopped
Preheat oven to 350 F. On a small baking sheet, roast nuts for 15–20 minutes, stirring halfway through until lightly browned. Set aside to cool.
In a large bowl, add flours, yeast and salt and whisk to combine ingredients. Make a well in the flour and add water and stir, using the handle of a wooden spoon, until blended. Fold in the walnuts until well distributed. The dough will be shaggy and sticky but will pull away from the sides of the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic film and let dough rest 12 to 18 hours at room temperature, about 70 degrees. If your kitchen is cooler than normal, put bowl in the microwave to rest. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles.
Lightly flour a clean work surface and pour dough onto it. Sprinkle the dough and your fingers with a little more flour; pat the dough down slightly. Using a bench scraper, fold the dough over onto itself several times until it starts to form a ball. Generously coat a large piece of parchment paper with flour or cornmeal. Place dough, seam side down, on the parchment and sprinkle with a little more flour. Cover with a cotton tea towel. Let rise another 2 hours. Dough will double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger. Score the top of dough in desired pattern using a lame or a sharp knife.
At least 30 minutes before dough is finishing proofing, preheat oven to 450 F. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy pot—Dutch oven or deep cast-iron pot—into oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven and place dough on parchment into the pot. Replace the lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 minutes until loaf is golden brown. Remove from pot and cool, right side up, on a cooling rack.
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