Almond and orange bread

Perhaps you would have thought, that I would start my January focus citrus fruits making some jam ? Well I think, that I am surprising you by actually baking a bread with orange from my new bread book. Both the dough and the final baked bread has a very nice and pleasant citrus flavour.

Overall another excellent bread from using the method of baking bread in cooking pots.

Almond and orange bread: - 1 bread

• 2-3 oranges - 2 tablespoon zest and 1½ dl freshly squeezed orange juice
• 2 dl water
• 2-3 g yeast
• 2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 50 g almonds - 8 almonds are chopped on their own - rest of almonds are chopped as well
• 200 g whole grain spelt flour
• 200 g wheat flour

1. Stir yeast, orange zest, orange juice and water together in a big mixing bowl. Add salt, sugar, and chopped almonds into the liquid and stir well.
2. Afterwards add the spelt and wheat flour and stir very well with a cooking spoon. 
3. Rise the dough to rise at room temperature overnight - minimum 12 hours.
4. Take the dough out off the mixing bowl, move 1/3 of the dough in over the rest of the dough, keep repeating this process until you have a small size of the dough.
5. Clean the mixing bowl for any dough leftovers.
6. Glaze the dough bowl with oil.
7. Place the dough again in a clean dough, let is rise again for 2 hours.
8. Heat up the cast iron cooking pot (2 l) incl. lid on a rack in the lower part of the oven at 250°C (fan oven) for ½ hour.
9. Remove the hot cast iron cooking from the oven, remove the lid. Cover the bottom of the cooking pot with oat flakes, as this will prevent the dough from sticking to firm to the surface.
10. Place the dough in the hot cast iron cooking pot, pressed the chopped 6-8 almonds on top of the dough.
11. Put the lid back on. Place the cooking pot in the lower part of the oven, let it bake at 250°C for 30 minutes.
12. Remove the lid from the cast iron cooking pot, and let the bread bake at 225°C for another 15 minutes. 
13. Let the bread cold down on the cast iron cooking pot for 30 minutes. before it is taken out.