[Sca-cooks] Walnut Bread Recipe redux

[nickiandme at att.net]

Okay - tried it a second time last night- keeping in mind all of the suggestions given over the past few days.

I made the dough a little stiffer (less water), added a pinch of yeast to simulate wild yeasties getting into my mix.  I rolled the dough out to about a quarter inch in thickness and then smeared (okay, layered) the walnut paste on top and pressed down to embed it into the dough somewhat.  Then I allowed it to sit near my warm stove for and hour and a half - at which time I baked it for 20 minutes at 350 degrees.

The result was a bit chewy. I think working the dough to get the gluten will change the texture significantly. The topping was fantastic.  I can see where if I used butter it would carmelize more than the lard or criso will and end up not crumbling all over my clothes.  But, the flavor was excellent.  Reminded me of being a kid and making those graham squares fancied up - you know, brown sugar and butter spread on the cracker, and a few chopped nuts sprinkled on top - popped into the oven and broiled for five minutes.  A simple taste treat for kids and adults with a sweet tooth.

Anyway, tonight is the final run for Cassandra's Laurel Vigil on Saturday (I will be spending a good portion of Friday traveling (7 hrs). ) I think I would like to switch to unsweetened/unsalted butter for the paste instead of criso - to get more of a carmalized glazing from the paste when cooked - if this would not violate her vegetarian practices.  And definetly cut down on the thickness of the paste that I spread on the dough. Otherwise I will keep the proportions of the spices I used as is.

I am making this using muscovo sugar instead of white sugar.  This is an almost black very moist sugar - strongly flavored of molasses.  I think this adds to the flavor combination tremendously.  I am becoming most enamored with this sugar and am considering looking for where it might be sold in larger quantities than the 1 pound bags.  

And yes - the final result when cooked - strongly reminded me of baklava.  

So, I have a another question - would it be taking the adaption of the recipe too far if I rolled the dough out thinner, and then added the paste and folded it over and pressed down a bit?  So that I ended up with a layered lasagne/baklava effect?

Kateryn