Poitevin twist

A recipe from cooking-ez.com

For 4 baguettes, you will need:

• 1 200 g walnuts
• 2 200 g cheese
• 3 2 tablespoons walnut oil
• 4 500 g plain white flour (French Type 65)
• 5 300 g water
• 6 20 g yeast
• 7 9 g salt
• 8 4 tablespoons walnut oil
• Total weight: 1,319 grams

Times:

Preparation	Resting	Cooking	Start to finish
34 min.	2 hours 5 min.	40 min.	3 hours 19 min.

Step by step recipe

• 1: Coarsly chop 200 g walnuts and spread out on a baking sheet, then toast in the oven at 300°F (150°C) for 15 minutes.
• 2: Leave to cool completely.
• 3: Cut 200 g cheese into small dice.
• 4: TIp the toasted walnuts and diced goat's cheese into a bowl. Pour 2 tablespoons walnut oil over and mix thoroughly. This can be prepared the day before (or a few days earlier) and kept in the fridge, coverered with plastic film.
• 5: In bread-making, the water temperature is always important. It's not a fixed value, but related to 3 other temperatures: 1) the temperature of your flour, 2) the room temperature in your kitchen, and 3) the basic temperature of this recipe, which is 60-64°C.
  You can calculate the temperature of the water for this recipe in one click, using this small calculator.
• 6: Put into a mixer bowl: 500 g plain white flour (French Type 65), 300 g water, 20 g yeast and 9 g salt.
  Knead for 5 minutes on the slowest speed, then a further 5 minutes on the second speed.
  
  
  Note: For the best way to knead, see: A few tips for effective kneading at home.
• 7: At the end of kneading, incorporate 4 tablespoons walnut oil a little at a time.
• 8: Tip in the walnut and cheese mixture all at once and knead for a further 1 or 2 minutes until well mixed in.
• 9: Tip the dough out onto a floured worktop...
• 10: ...and gather into a ball.
  Transfer to a large, clean bowl, cover with a plastic sheet and leave at room temperature to rest for 1 hour.
• 11: After resting, weight out into lumps of 250 g and shape into balls.
  Cover these with a plastic sheet again and leave to relax for 20 minutes.
• 12: Shape the balls into short baguettes.
• 13: Lay in baguette tins or moulds...
• 14: ...or in proving baskets (bannetons).
  Cover with a plastic sheet and leave to rest for 45 minutes.
• 15: Just before putting the bread in the oven, twist each baguette enough turns to make a definite feature.
• 16: Bake for 25 minutes at 480°F (250°C).
  Note: As when baking any bread, you should ensure that the oven is filled with steam for the first 15 minutes of baking. This page shows you how; it really is the secret of golden-brown, crusty loaves.

Remarks

It is best to use a fairly dry goat's cheese, as this will survive the baking better.
If you don't have any walnut oil, use olive oil instead.

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