Pear, sage and hazelnut bread

Name: Pear, sage and hazelnut bread recipe
Yield: 8
Ingredients: 120g hazelnuts, chopped; 50g unsalted butter; 5 sage stalks, leaves stripped; 60g rolled oats; 250g plain flour; 200g plain flour; ¼ tsp bicarb soda; 2 tsp baking powder; ½ tsp ground cardamom; ¼ tsp freshly grated nutmeg; 125g brown sugar; ¾ tsp salt flakes; 2 eggs, lightly beaten; 3 ripe beurre bosc pears, peeled, cored, 2 grated and 1 sliced to decorate; 250ml buttermilk; 20.00 ml rice malt syrup; 1½ tsp natural vanilla extract

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A nordic fruit and nut loaf that will satisfy the desire to eat more healthily, more interestingly and more deliciously.

This is an edited extract from Nordic Light by Simon Bajada, published by Hardie Grant Books (RRP $49.99).

120g hazelnuts, chopped
50g unsalted butter
5 sage stalks, leaves stripped
¾ cup (60g) rolled oats
1⅔ cups (250g) plain flour
1⅓ cups (200g) wholemeal flour
¼ tsp bicarb soda
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp ground cardamom
¼ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
½ firmly packed cup (125g) dark brown sugar, plus extra, to sprinkle
¾ tsp salt flakes
2 eggs, lightly beaten
3 ripe beurre bosc pears, peeled, cored, 2 grated and 1 sliced to decorate
1 cup (250ml) buttermilk
1 tbs rice malt syrup
1½ tsp natural vanilla extract

Method

1.

Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan-forced. Spread the chopped hazelnuts on a baking tray and bake for 4 minutes, or until lightly golden. Watch carefully, as they will burn easily. Set aside to cool.
2.

Reduce the oven to 170°C/150°C fan-forced. Grease a 25cm x 10cm loaf pan with butter.
3.

Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat together with the sage leaves. (You don’t want to burn the butter, just heat it until it starts to brown and the sage leaves turn a little crispy.) Remove from the heat but keep in a warm place so that the butter remains liquid.
4.

In a large bowl, combine the cooled toasted hazelnuts with the remaining dry ingredients. Break the eggs into a separate bowl, add the grated pear, buttermilk, rice malt syrup, sage butter and vanilla extract and whisk together well.
5.

Gradually add the dry mixture to the wet, stirring together well, to form a heavy, wet dough halfway between a thick cake batter and a bread dough. Add a little more our if the dough is looking a bit wet or a little extra buttermilk if too dry.
6.

Spoon the dough into the prepared loaf tin and smooth the top of the dough with the back of a spoon. Arrange the pear slices on top and sprinkle over a few teaspoons of dark brown sugar. Bake in the oven for 1 hour or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
7.

Serve warm or at room temperature, with butter. This toasts beautifully the next day like banana bread, and will keep for a week in a sealed bag in the fridge.