Pear bread with walnuts. Interestingly, it’s a recipe that comes from long ago, with ingredients gathered from the fields. You’d come home and whip up a meal with what was “available.”
There wasn’t much choice, most of the recipes passed down from ancient times were created with the availability of each family; for this reason in Italy, the variety of small differences in traditional recipes is abundant. And then with bartering, you could also get a few extra ingredients.
In my wandering through fields, I realized that a lot of fruit remains uncultivated, not out of laziness, but often because they are wild trees, or abandoned houses, owners who cannot consume all the harvest; and I know it well because I struggled to make all the jams, so as not to see so much bounty wasted.
Because believe me, being able to pick untreated fruit is a great fortune.
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Economical
- Rest time: 3 Hours
- Preparation time: 1 Hour
- Portions: 10
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients
Flour, yeast, pears, walnuts, and…
- 4 cups flour
- 1 cup yogurt
- 3.4 oz sunflower oil
- 0.7 oz compressed yeast
- 1 pinch ground cinnamon
- as needed water
- 0.35 oz salt
- 3 Abate pears (or Madernassa)
- 1 tea cup walnuts
- as needed sapa (Cooked grape must)
Useful Tools
A mixing bowl, baking tray, lining paper; for round trays I use air fryer paper, so I don’t have to cut and waste. Brush, scale, knives and cutlery, various and possible; I don’t know about you, but I always have many dishes to wash.
- Bowls
- Scales
- Brushes
- Air fryer paper
Steps
Between kneading, peeling, and cracking walnuts, it seems like there’s a lot to do, yet it’s still a simple dessert to prepare.
Prepare all the ingredients and pour them into the bowl; dissolve the yeast in very little lukewarm water and add it to the rest. Knead well until you get a smooth dough.
Cover with a bowl or a cloth and let it rise for about an hour. Meanwhile, prepare walnuts and pears. Coarsely chop the walnuts and slice the pears.
After the necessary time has passed, roll out the dough and form a rectangle; spread the grape must, arrange the pear slices, and sprinkle with walnuts.
Roll the dough onto itself and then make a spiral. Let it rise until doubled and bake in a preheated oven at 374°F for about 40 minutes.
At the end, brush with grape must to glaze the surface.
The pear bread with walnuts is ready, wait for it to be cold to enjoy it at its best.
Some Additional Tips
It’s a light bread, without eggs and without fats. A rustic dessert from other times. It’s possible to replace the must with a jam, but with the must, it has an extra aromatic charge. With the excess part, I made a simple knot to enjoy at breakfast.
