Walnut Bread, made in honor of my family :)

Growing up there were a few foods that we had in abundance, mainly because we grew them or my grandparents did.  Some of those foods were grapes, plums, peaches, walnuts, apricots, and of course eggs from my grandpa's chickens and honey from his bees. (And that's just a few of them) :)

When I was small we had 3 walnut trees in our front yard, one is left, but that one produces more than enough walnuts.  So, every fall my parents are kind enough to share.  I love walnuts, I guess it's just comfort food that reminds me of home...and all the hours spent cracking walnuts. :)  The one problem with walnuts is the bitter aftertaste caused by tannins or tannic acid.  This is also why they turn black when cooked in dough or batter that has baking soda.  But this whole diet change has opened my eyes to blanching nuts, and I have discovered that by blanching walnuts it removes the bitterness, and if you are willing to skin them after the blanching (I know it's a lot of work, but it's not that bad) it'll help remove even more, and some of the blackness that occurs with cooking.

Because walnuts are so cheap in our family, I thought I would try to make a bread that would incorporate them.  I didn't want a sweet bread, because there are plenty of those, I wanted a sandwich bread, an every day bread.  So, I looked at Elana's Pantry since she cooks with almond flour, I figured I could adapt her recipe and at least have a start...and it worked!

This recipe is also awesome because it incorporates my grandpa's eggs and honey into it, too.  So, this is for my parents and grandparents...a bread in honor of all the memories created by home grown food. :) Just a warning, though, this bread is very filling, so slice it thin and plan on a small sandwich, because that's all that you will be able to eat.

Walnut Sandwich Bread
1 3/4 cups blanched walnut meal
¾ cup tapioca starch
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
4 eggs
1 teaspoon honey
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, combine walnut meal, tapioca starch, salt and baking soda
2. In a larger bowl, blend eggs 3-5 minutes until frothy
3. Stir honey and vinegar into eggs
4. Mix dry ingredients into wet
5. Pour batter into a well greased 7.5" x 3.5" loaf pan (if you use larger, they will be short pieces of bread like what I have pictured) 
6. Bake at 350º for 30-35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of loaf comes out clean
7. Cool and serve

Yes, the bread is still pretty dark...but at least it's not black.  I had left the skin on these walnuts, and I noticed that it was the skin turning black, hence skinning them in the future.  Below is the method of blanching, skinning, and creating a meal:

To blanch walnuts, bring water to a boil in a large saucepan.  Add walnuts and remove from heat.  Let stand for 2 minutes then pour off water.  The skins can easily be peeled off after they have been blanched.  Once they have been blanched, skin, and dried off, they can be ground up into a meal.  I used my blender, but I would use a food processor if I had one.  Just take a few at a time and pulse them to grind them up, don't do too much or you'll make a butter out of them.