I recently tried this bread recipe from Young Mo Kim I found while perusing a magazine called Pastry and Baking North America. Bread and red wine just go so well together that I had to see what a bread made with red wine would taste like. It was good if I do say so myself.

The recipe is called red wine walnut bread, but I had some dried currants which I thought would be so much better with the red wine. There's no specific red wine mentioned, and I just used a Cabernet Sauvignon. I made two more deviations from the recipe. Since I didn't have any rye meal, I used the same amount of wheat bran instead. Also, I forgot the softened butter, so I'm not sure how the bread would have turned out with it.

Even with all of the changes I ended up making, the red wine bread was very good. It was a little dry, which I'm sure would have been taken care of had I not forgotten the butter (or added a little more hydration), but the red wine taste really came through. The taste of the red wine was strongest when I first took a bite, and mellowed after that to a sweet, wheat-y taste. The dried currants were also really nice in this bread, and they added to the sweetness. For more of a crunch and less fruity-ness, go with the walnuts. Recipe after the jump.

Makes two small loaves or one large loaf

14.25 oz bread flour
3.5 oz rye meal or wheat bran
1.8 oz sugar
.33 oz salt
.5oz instant yeast (rapid rise, bread machine, quick rise)
1 egg
9.7 oz red wine
3oz unsalted butter, softened
7oz chopped walnuts or dried currants


Sift/ mix the dry ingredients together. Whisk the egg and then whisk in the red wine. Add that to the dry ingredients and mix. You can do this either by hand on the counter top or in a stand mixer. After all of the ingredients have been incorporated, work in the softened butter. Once the dough has been kneaded/mixed enough to have developed the gluten a little (it should still be a little sticky), fold in the walnuts or what ever you're using.

Turn the dough, shape it into a ball, and place it into a lightly greased bowl and cover with plastic for the fermentation. After about an hour (at least), Turn the dough out onto the counter, divide it in half, lightly shape each half into round balls and cover them with plastic. Let them relax for about 15 to20 minutes, then shape them into batards (pat the dough down, use a rolling pin to roll it out to a 1/2 inch sheet, roll it up like a sleeping bag except length-wise, seal the seams). Dab some water on the top of the loaves and dip them in flour.

Preheat your oven to 430°F and prepare your method for getting steam into the oven.

Cover the shaped loaves and let them proof for about 45 minutes. Cut a slash into the top of each loaf. Put the loaves into the oven, make some steam, and bake for about 15 minutes. Then check your loaves, and if they need more time go ahead and turn them before giving them a few(probably 10) more minutes.