World Bread Day 2009: Stout, Oat and Honey Knots

Today we celebrate World Bread Day, a global celebration of, well, BREAD. Bloggers  all over the world are baking bread and posting about it today. This is my second year participating. Last year I baked Anadama Bread (to see the round up of all the breads baked last year go HERE). I was a baby baker (I still am, but probably more of a toddler now).

This year the bread I baked–Stout, Oat & Honey Knots— is a truly global creation. The recipe comes from Dan Lepard, a British artisan professional bread baker. In order to bake this bread I had to convert oven temperatures from Celsius to Fahrenheit, figure out what a sachet of yeast is (It’s 7 grams), and remember that strong white flour means bread flour.

The knots are made with toasted oats & a bread flour/whole wheat flour mix. Instead of water, stout is used for hydration. I used Stockyard Oatmeal Stout from Trader Joes. Honey provides a bit of sweetness and butter a bit of richness. I really liked these rolls. The stout flavor was strong (which I liked) and paired really well with cheddar/sage scrambled eggs. The crumb was smooth and almost creamy.

The idea to bake this bread came from my blogging friend Nancy of The Dogs Eat the Crumbs and Corner Loaf . I baked the bread with Nancy (who lives across the country in Atlanta, GA) via Twitter. It was so fun. I often read about these bake-alongs on Twitter, but can’t participate because of work or other obligations. I look forward to doing it again soon!

You can find the recipe for the Stout, Oat and Honey Knots HERE.