Chestnut Bread

Unyielding love for chestnuts and cookie fatigue means it's time for bread.

Chestnut-colored chestnut loaf.

Last year, I became enchanted by chestnuts. It hasn’t waned this year. Chestnuts taste like a mild sweet potato and nutty with a dash of nutmeg—very holiday season. They’re soft, almost creamy, and I can’t help but nosh on them as soon as they come out of the oven or Instant Pot. Hot roasted chestnuts are my newest party snack. Give everyone a warm bowlful while sipping something, which invites coziness and a good chat.

Andrea Nguyen posted twice about chestnuts recently, and now it’s my turn.

You see cookie recipes everywhere you look, but I’m here to say that we need some bread in our lives. And we need an easy recipe, because we’re still baking cookies.

Want something sweet? Last year, I published recipes for roasted chestnuts, sweet chestnut cream, and a chestnut cake in the Chicago Tribune. You can also find those recipes posted over at The Great Chestnut Experiment’s site and order a chestnut roasting kit, among other goodies.

When cooking chestnuts, you need to score them first. You can use a sharp knife or scissors, but to score them safely and quickly, I swear by this $10 tool.

My favorite chestnut scoring tool.

Sidebar: I really, really itched to post various rants about holiday cookies, cookie baking, and cookie tins. Alas, I restrained myself. I have strong, polarizing opinions about holiday cookies. Maybe next year… In the meantime, you can read Tim Mazurek’s spot-on post about holiday cookies and my best buddy Sarah Chang’s cookie tin tips.

---

Two Ways to Cook Chestnuts:

Folks cook chestnuts in all sorts of ways. Here are two options for today.

A scored chestnut.

Roasted

Ideal for snacking and gathering.

Rinse and score the chestnuts, then cover with boiling water and let sit for 15 minutes to an hour. Heat the oven to 300F with a rack in the middle. Add an empty cake pan filled with water to the oven as it heats. The steam helps keeps the chestnuts moist. Drain the chestnuts and transfer them to an unlined half-sheet pan. Bake on the middle rack for 1 hour. Refill the pan of water if it dries out.

Get a clean kitchen towel and dampen it with water, then ring it out. Dump the roasted chestnuts into the towel, then cover them with the damp towel and let them cool for 10 minutes. Unwrap and remove the shells, and eat whilst warm.

Peeling steamed chestnuts.

Pressure Steamed

Best for baking, but still great for snacking.

Although I prefer regular oven roasting for snacking on chestnuts, this pressure steaming method works best for this loaf, ensuring moist chestnuts in the final bread.

Add 1 cup of water and a steamer basket to your pressure cooker or Instant Pot-type device. Rinse and score the chestnuts, then add them to the steamer basket. Close the lid and cook on high pressure for 15 minutes, then allow the pressure to release naturally. Place on a damp towel and wrap up until cool enough to handle, no more than 5 minutes. Shell the chestnuts while they’re still not

Nut meat.

---

No-Knead Chestnut Loaf

This hefty, whopper of a loaf is studded with sweet chestnuts and wears a craggy crust the color of a roasted chestnut, still in its shell. Why have a roasted turkey for a centerpiece when you could feature this gorgeous loaf?

The whole grain wheat and rye flours give the dough a rich earthiness, a moist crumb, and a loaf that lasts for several days. The long fermentation and dash of sourdough boost the flavor and lower the effort. The double bake, a common German baking technique, ensures a thick, crisp, deeply-flavorful crust.

A note on chestnuts: This recipe works best with either pressure-steamed chestnuts or those pre-peeled chestnuts from the grocery store. If using oven-roasted chestnuts, chop them and cover them with boiling water for 30 minutes, then drain before adding to the dough.

200 g bread flour

200 g whole wheat flour

100 g dark rye flour

12 g (2 1/4 teaspoon) fine sea salt

1/4 teaspoon (1 g) instant or fresh yeast

400 g water

30 g sourdough starter or discard

150-200 g cooked (see note above) and peeled chestnuts

Make the dough. Whisk together the dry ingredients. Add the water and sourdough starter (if using) and stir using a dough whisk or wooden spoon just until no pockets of flour remain. Set aside.

Roughly chop the chestnuts into chunky pieces about the size of a small marble. You want to sink your teeth into a piece of chestnut in the finished loaf.

Add the chestnuts, and mix to combine. Cover and rest for 20 minutes.

Stretch and fold the dough. Cover and rest for another 20 minutes, then stretch and fold the dough again.

Ferment. Cover the dough and let it ferment for at 8 to 14 hours.

Shape and proof. Dust a round bread proofing basket with rye flour or line a large mixing bowl with a lint-free tea towel and generously dust it with rye flour.

Dust your work surface with rye flour. Scrape the dough on the work surface and gently lift and fold all three sides into the center. Flip the dough over and use your hands to scoot it into a round shape. Place the dough seam-side-down into the floured proofing basket or towel-lined bowl. Cover and proof until risen by about 75%, and when you poke the dough it springs back about halfway. Anywhere from 1 hour to 3 hours, depending on the temperature of your kitchen.

The risen loaf.

Heat the oven and the baking vessel. After 45 minutes are up, add a Dutch oven, combo cooker, or cast-iron bread pan to the middle rack of your oven. Heat the oven to 450F for at least 45 minutes.

Bake. Once your oven (and pot) is heated and the dough has proofed, take the baking vessel from the oven. Place a piece of parchment paper (or one of these nifty nonstick bread mats) on top of your proofed loaf then flip them both over and remove the proofing basket.

Take the hot bread pan from the oven and place the loaf in it. Cover immediately and return the pot to the oven.

Lower the heat to 425F and bake for 25 minutes. Remove the lid and bake for another 20-25 minutes until the loaf is a dark chestnut brown (yes, bake it dark).

Allow to cool fully, at least 4 hours, ideally 12.

Bake again! We’re not done yet. Heat the oven to 425F with a rack in the center of the oven. Once heated, briefly wet the bread entirely by holding it under the tap. Pop it into the oven, directly on the rack and bake for another 15-25 minutes, until it’s 1 shade darker and feels firm. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for at least an hour.

Serve slices spread with salted butter and drizzled with dark honey.

This bread lasts for about 4-5 days.

Happy Baking,
Martin