WORLD BREAD DAY 2006 - AFTER HOURS PARTY: ALMOND AND CURRY BREAD

Not long ago, I participated to the "World Bread Day 2006" event hosted by Zorra of "Kochtopf" and baked the most "Perfect Hamburger Buns" ever. Now that the round-up has been posted, Zorra asks us again to bake a bread, but, this time, somebody else's creation...

For this "After Hours Party", my attention went to a very special bread which's unique marriage of ingredients intrigued me: an "Almond And Curry Bread" (see original recipe). This recipe comes from the French blog "Popote De Vero" and was slightly adapted by myself as I don't have a bread machine and work entirely with my little hands!

I love curry and use this mix of spices on a regular basis, so this recipe attracted me naturally. I also very much liked the looks of her loaf...

And I was not decieved!

This bread was awesome! The curry taste wasn't crushing, just like light and delicate mist on a hazy day. It also had a pleasant sweetness as well as a slight nutty flavor. It's texture was dense, yet very smooth and had a nice yellowish color. In fact everything about this bread was terrific as it goes well with anything savory or sweet!...

Ingredients:
1 Cup Durum Flour (farina di grano duro)
2 Cups Plain white flour
1 1/2 Tsp Salt
1 1/2 Tsp Curry powder
250ml Water, lukewarm
2 Tbs Runny honey
2Tbs Olive oil
2 Tsp Dried yeast
125g Bleached, sliced almonds

Method:
1. Pour 100ml of the water in a small bowl and stir in the yeast.
2. Let stand for 10 minutes until foamy.
3. In a big bowl, mix together the flours, almonds, salt and curry powder.
4. Make a well with the flour and pour in the yeast mixture, honey, olive oil and enough of the water in order to make a soft dough.
5. On a floured surface, knead the dough for about 10 minutes or until elastic and smooth.
6. Place in a clean, oiled bowl (turn the dough to coat it with oil) and cover with a towel.
7. Let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1- 1 1/2 hours.
8. Knock back and let rest for 10 more minutes.

9. Shape into an oval loaf, place on a baking sheet and cover with a tea towel.
10. Prove until doubled in size, about 30-40 minutes.
11. Preheat oven to 220°C (425°F).
12. Brush the loaf with milk.
13. Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden and sounding hollow when tapped on the underside.

Remarks:
Instead of durum flour, you can use cream of wheat (wheat semolina) and instead of sliced almonds, you can take slivered almonds which you could previously toast.
The original recipe only mentioned one teaspoon of curry powder, I used 1 1/2 teaspoons.
I used light runny honey, but the recipe asked for rosemary honey. In fact, you can use the type of honey you want.

Serving suggestions:
This bread is fabulous with cheese (Brie, Camembert, Munster, Gruyère, Appenzeller, Feta, etc...) and with paté or great when used for making roast beef and chutney sanwiches. It also makes a good breakfast bread with honey or Nutella (yes, curry and chocolate go hand in hand!!!)...

(Curry Powder -pic by www.hnbgourmet.com)