HAZELNUT FLOUR RECIPES
These recipes were developed specifically for use with Corylus Farms Hazelnut Flour. Substituting another, fattier brand of hazelnut flour is unlikely to produce good results.
Hazelnut Pancakes
Makes about 3 servings
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup Corylus Farms Hazelnut Flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon sugar
1 egg
1 tablespoon Corylus Farms Hazelnut Oil or melted butter
1 cup buttermilk
Oil for griddle
Sift the dry ingredients together into a bowl. In another bowl, whisk together the egg, buttermilk, and hazelnut oil (or melted butter). Add the dry ingredients to the wet, being careful not to overmix. Cook pancakes of the size you prefer on a hot griddle. Serve them immediately with maple syrup, fruit syrup, or honey.
Hazelnut Waffles
Makes 4 to 6 servings
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 eggs separated
1/2 cup Corylus Farms Hazelnut Flour
2 cups buttermilk
3 tablespoons hazelnut oil
Sift together the dry ingredients, except the hazelnut flour, in a bowl, and set the bowl aside. In a second bowl, beat together the egg yolks, buttermilk, and hazelnut oil. In a third bowl, beat the egg whites until they form stiff peaks. Stir the egg-yolk-buttermilk mixture into the dry ingredients. Stir in the hazelnut flour, and then fold in the egg whites. Cook the waffles in a preheated and oiled waffle maker.
Hazelnut Scones
Makes 12 scones, to serve 6
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup Corylus Farms Hazelnut Flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup cold butter, cut into small cubes
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup raisins
zest of one orange
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Stir together the flour, sugar, soda, and salt. Add the butter, and rub it with your fingers into the dry ingredients. Add the egg, the buttermilk, raisins and orange zest. Stir briefly, just until the dough comes together, and then turn it out onto a floured board. Knead it gently about a dozen times. Cut the dough in half, and form each half into a ball. Flatten each ball to a circle about 5 inches in diameter. Cut each circle into six wedges. Put the wedges on a greased cookie sheet, and bake the scones about 15 minutes, or until they are golden brown.
Test with a toothpick to be sure they’re baked through to the center.
Serve the scones hot, on their own or with butter and jam.
Corylus Farms Hazelnut Butter Cookies
Makes about 3 dozen
1/2 pound (2 sticks) salted butter, at room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups Corylus Farms Hazelnut Flour
1 cup chopped or whole roasted hazelnuts (optional)
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking pans with parchment paper. Cream the butter. Add the sugars and the vanilla, and mix until smooth. Beat in the eggs and yolks one at a time, but don’t overmix. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and baking powder, and then stir the dry ingredients into the egg mixture. Blend well. The dough will be thick but slightly sticky.
Roll the dough into 1- to 11/2-inch balls. If you like, roll the balls in chopped hazelnuts, or press a whole nut in the center of each. Space the balls several inches apart on the baking pan; these cookies will spread. Bake the cookies until they are browned, about 15 minutes. Let them cool on a pan for a few minutes before transferring them to a rack.
Soft Hazelnut-Ginger Cookies
Makes about 2 dozen
6 ounces (1 1/2 sticks) salted butter, at room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup molasses
1 1/2 cups whole-wheat pastry flour
3/4 cup Corylus Farms Hazelnut Flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon ground cloves
Sugar
Set the oven at 375 degrees F. In a mixing bowl, cream the butter, and blend in the sugar. Beat in the egg and molasses. In another bowl, stir together the flours, soda, and spices. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet, and mix well. Cover the bowl, and chill the dough for at least 1 hour.
Shape the dough into 1-inch balls, and roll each ball in sugar. Place the balls on a baking sheet. Bake the cookies for about 10 minutes, and let them cool on the pan for about 4 minutes before removing them to a rack.
Blueberry-Hazelnut Jam Bars
If you like, add chopped toasted hazelnuts to the dough.
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup Corylus Farms Hazelnut Flour
2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/4 cups softened salted butter
1 cup light-brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups blueberry jam
Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9-by-13-inch pan with parchment paper, letting the paper hang over the edge on two sides. In a medium bowl, stir together the flours, oatmeal, and baking soda. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Beat in the vanilla. Stir in the dry ingredients. Spread a little more than half the dough in an even layer in the bottom of the prepared pan. Bake the dough for 15 minutes.
Remove the pan from the oven (leaving the oven on), and spread the jam evenly over the cookie base. Crumble the remaining dough over the jam. Return the pan to the oven, and bake the cookies about 25 minutes more, until the topping is golden brown.
Put the pan on a wire rack to cool completely. Then lift the cookie by the parchment paper, and lay the cookie on its paper on a cutting board. Cut the cookie into bars, and peel them away from the paper.
Store the cookies in an airtight container.
Hazelnut Meringues
Makes about 30 cookies
1 cup Corylus Farms Hazelnut Flour
3/4 cup extra-fine sugar
4 egg whites, at room temperature
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. In a small bowl, whisk the hazelnut flour with ½ cup of the sugar. Set the bowl aside.
In another bowl, beat the egg whites until frothy. Add the cream of tartar and salt, and then beat until soft peaks form. Sprinkle in the remaining ¼ cup sugar. Beat until the egg whites are thick and slightly stiffer. Beat in the vanilla. Fold the hazelnut-flour mixture gently into the egg whites, being careful not to deflate them.
Place walnut-sized dollops of meringue on the prepared baking sheet. Cook the meringues for 1 to 2 hours, until they are thoroughly dry.
Hazelnut Crêpes with Goat Cheese and Raspberries
Makes about sixteen 7 1/2-inch crêpes
Crêpes
1 cup water
1 cup milk
4 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup Corylus Farms Hazelnut Flour
Oil, for cooking the crêpes
Cheese Filling
1 cup soft goat cheese
1/4 cup milk
Raspberry Sauce
1 cup raspberries
1 tablespoon sugar
More raspberries (optional)
Blend all the ingredients for the crêpes in a blender at high speed for 1 minute.
In a bowl, using a fork, blend the goat cheese and the 1/4 cup milk.
In a small saucepan, heat the raspberries with the sugar over medium-low heat until the raspberries release their juice and the sugar dissolves.
Brush a crêpe pan or small skillet with a little oil, and set the pan over medium heat. Pour about 3 tablespoons batter into the hot pan, swirling the pan to coat it thoroughly with the batter. When the crêpe begins to brown on the underside, carefully lift and turn it, and then cook it a little longer. Transfer it to a plate, and cover it with a towel to keep it warm. Use the rest of the batter to cook more crêpes in the same way, adding a little more oil if necessary.
When all of the crêpes are cooked, spread a spoonful of goat cheese and a spoonful of raspberry sauce along the center line of each one, leaving 1 1/2-inch margins at each end. Fold one long side over the filling; fold in the ends of the crêpe, and then fold over the other long side. Turn the filled crêpe over onto a platter or individual plate. Decorate the filled crêpes with raw raspberries or more raspberry sauce.
Hazelnut-Flour Torte
Makes about 10 servings
This light, simple cake is wonderful as a light dessert with wine or even as a breakfast treat.
3 large eggs
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/3 cups sugar
10 ounces (2 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
3 cups Corylus Farms Hazelnut Flour
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
Powdered sugar, for dusting
Butter a 9-inch round cake pan, line it with buttered parchment paper, and dust the paper with flour. Set a rack in the middle of the oven, and set the temperature at 350 degrees F.
With an electric mixer, briefly whip the eggs and salt together. Add the sugar in a stream while whipping, and then whip on high speed until the mixture is very light and has tripled in volume, about 3 minutes. Fold in the butter and then the hazelnut flour. Sift the all-purpose flour over the batter, and fold it in with a large rubber spatula. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan, and smooth the top. Bake the cake until it is firm and golden-grown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes outs clean, about 50 to 60 minutes.
Set the cake in its pan on a rack to cool for 10 minutes, and then turn the cake out onto another rack. Remove the paper, lay the first rack on top, and turn the cake right side up. Let it cool completely.
Dust the cooled cake with powdered sugar.
Hazelnut Chocolate Cake with Currant and Chocolate Glaze
Makes about 12 servings
Batter
6 ounces (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
7 ounces semisweet chocolate, melted and cooled
2 cups Corylus Farms Hazelnut Flour
7 large eggs, separated
Pinch of salt
Currant Glaze
1 cup currant (or quince) jelly
Chocolate Glaze
1/3 cup water
1/3 cup light corn syrup
1 cup sugar
8 ounces semisweet chocolate, in 1/4-inch pieces
Butter a 10-inch round cake pan, line it with parchment paper, butter the paper, and dust the paper with flour. Place a rack in the center of the oven, and set the temperature to 350 degrees F.
With an electric mixer, beat the butter with 1/3 cup sugar at medium speed until the mixture is light, about 5 minutes. Beat in the chocolate and then, one at a time, the egg yolks. Beat in the nut flour.
In a clean, dry bowl, whip the egg whites and salt until the whites begin to hold their shape. At high speed, gradually whip in the remaining 1/3 cup sugar. Continue whipping until the mixture holds a peak.
Stir about one-fourth of the whites into the batter, and then gently fold in the rest. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan, and smooth the top. Bake the cake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out dry, about 35 to 40 minutes.
Transfer the pan to a rack, and let the cake cool for 5 minutes. Invert the cake onto the rack, and let the cake cool completely
Melt the jelly in a saucepan over low heat, and boil it briefly to thicken it slightly. Brush the syrup all over the cooled cake. Set the cake on its rack over a clean pan.
For the chocolate glaze, stir together the water, corn syrup, and sugar in a saucepan. Place the pan over medium heat, and bring the syrup to a full rolling boil, stirring occasionally to ensure that all the sugar crystals dissolve. Remove the pan from the heat, and add the chocolate. Gently shake the pan to submerge all of the chocolate, and let the pan stand for 2 minutes. Then whisk the glaze smooth and immediately pour it over the cake, spiraling the stream of glaze from the center to the top edge. With a small spatula, quickly patch any bare spots on the side, using the drippings in the pan under the cake. Let the glazed cake stand for
at least 30 minutes, and then use a small knife to separate the cake from the rack before transferring the cake to a plate.
Chicken with Hazelnut Mole
In 2016, Linda and I took a trip to Oaxaca, Mexico, where we fell in love with the culture, the landscape, and, especially, the food. One of the most prominent features of Oaxacan cuisine is the enormous variety of moles: thick, intensely flavored sauces that can combine several types of chiles, spices, nuts, sweeteners, tomatoes, tomatillos, and even chocolate. In Oaxaca there are shops dedicated to grinding together the ingredients for custom moles in little electric molinos (mills). Customers bring in their baskets or bags of ingredients to be milled for their own family recipes.
I wanted to try making a mole using our hazelnut flour as the thickener, and the one here is based, loosely, on a recipe from Diana Kennedy’s wonderful book, My Mexico. It is called Mole Costeño, or mole as prepared on the coast. She writes “This mole is most typically prepared with iguana, though chicken is most commonly used these days.”
This recipe is a little long, but try it and I am sure you won’t be disappointed.
8 chicken drumsticks (or similar quantity of your favorite chicken parts)
14 garlic cloves
1/4 medium yellow onion, coarsely chopped
Salt to taste
About 4 to 5 cups water
8 moderately hot cayenne chiles, dried
1 cup dried tomatoes
1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns
2 teaspoons whole cumin
1 teaspoon coriander
1 2-inch cinnamon stick
1/2 teaspoon whole cloves
8 garlic cloves, peeled
2 teaspoons oregano
1 cup Corylus Farms Hazelnut Flour
1 tablespoon lard
Put the chicken into a pot and add enough water to cover it. Add 6 garlic cloves, the, onion, and the salt, and simmer the chicken until it is just tender.
Turn off the heat, and let the chicken sit for another 15 minutes.
Remove the chicken to a plate, and pour off the broth through a strainer to catch the cooked onion and garlic. Reserve both the broth and the vegetables.
Slit the chiles, and remove their seeds. Combine the chiles with the tomatoes in a bowl, and cover with boiling water to rehydrate them. Weight them with a smaller plate or bowl to keep them covered.
Toast the spices in a small, but heavy, dry pan until they are fragrant, but do not let them burn. Grind them in a spice grinder. Then toast the remaining 8 cloves garlic in the same pan, until they are slightly browned.
When the chiles and tomatoes are rehydrated, after about 30 minutes, drain and reserve the water. Then put the tomatoes and chiles into a blender with 2 cups of broth from the chicken, the oregano, the browned garlic, the ground spices, and the onion and garlic reserved from cooking the chicken. Blend until smooth, gradually adding the hazelnut flour and more broth as needed to keep the sauce fluid. If you use all of the chicken broth, add the water from rehydrating the tomatoes and chiles.
Melt the lard in a heavy pan, pour in the mole sauce, and let it simmer, stirring constantly to keep it from scorching. After the sauce thickens, add the chicken, and cover it with sauce. When the chicken is hot, serve it with rice.
Serves 4 as a main dish.
Banana-Hazelnut Quick Bread
Bananas and hazelnuts get along very well together in this delicious quick bread. It makes a wonderful breakfast treat or midday snack, with butter or without. If you can muster the willpower, let the bread rest for a day, wrapped in foil, before eating. This will give the bread some time for the flavors to really come together.
1 cup Corylus Farms Hazelnut Flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup melted butter
1/4 cup Corylus Farms Hazelnut Oil
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
2 large eggs at room temperature
3 large ripe bananas (about 2 cups)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon banana liqueur
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup chopped hazelnuts
Preheat the oven to 350°F and grease a 9×5 inch loaf pan with butter.
Sift together the flours, soda, and salt.
In a mixer, blend the butter, hazelnut oil and sugar together, then beat in the eggs, one at a time.
Add the mashed bananas, vanilla and banana liqueur, stirring at medium speed.
At low speed, add the flour mixture slowly until just combined.
Fold in the raisins and nuts.
Bake for 60-65 minutes. Loosely cover the top with aluminum foil after 30 minutes to prevent it from getting too brown. The bread is done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Take the bread out of the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes before turning out of the pan.
Skillet Cornbread with Hazelnut Flour
This delicious hazelnut-and-corn bread is a perfect accompaniment for baked beans and ham hocks. It is adapted from Hoppin’ John’s Lowcountry Cooking, by John Martin Taylor. The hazelnut flour gives the bread a fine, moist crumb, and the flavor is a wonderful combination of corn and hazelnut. This recipe makes enough for eight servings, but it might only be six or four once you taste it.
1 ¼ cup sugar
1 large egg
2 cups buttermilk
1 cup Corylus Farms Hazelnut Flour
1 cup fine or medium cornmeal
2 teaspoons strained bacon grease or lard
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
Put the fat into a 9-10 inch cast iron skillet and place in a cold oven. Begin preheating to 450°F.
Beat the egg, then add the buttermilk and mix well.
Sift together the dry ingredients, then add to the egg and buttermilk. The batter will be thin.
When the oven reaches temperature. Swirl the skillet so the melted fat coats the bottom and sides.
Pour in the batter and return to the oven to bake for 15-20 minutes. The top crust should be just turning brown.
Turn the skillet over to place the bread on a plate. Serve plain or with butter and maple or sorghum syrup.
Robert’s Double-Hazelnut Cake
I am a great fan of plain, not-too-sweet cakes that are perfect for savoriong with coffee. This cake uses both hazelnut flour and hazelnut oil to pack a double hit of hazelnut, with just a hint of lemon. It is very moist, with a fine, uniform crumb. You will want to eat it with breakfast lunch and dinner, and with coffee. The recipe I used as a model is Andrea Geary’s Olive Oil Cake.
3/4 cup Corylus Farms Hazelnut Flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
1-1/4 cup sugar (+ 2 tablespoons for the top of the cake)
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
3/4 cup Corylus Farms Hazelnut Oil
3/4 cup milk
Adjust oven rack to the middle of the oven and preheat to 350°F. Grease a 9-inch springform pan with butter. Place a circle of parchment on the bottom of the pan to aid removal of the cake when baked.
Sift together the flours, baking powder, and salt.
In a mixer, whisk the eggs on medium speed until they are foamy, about 1 minute.
Add 1¼ cups sugar and lemon zest, increase speed to high, and whip until mixture is fluffy and pale yellow, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to medium and, with mixer running, slowly pour in oil. Mix until oil is fully incorporated, about 1 minute. Add half of flour mixture and mix on low speed until incorporated, about 1 minute, scraping down the bowl as needed. Add milk and mix until combined, about 30 seconds. Add remaining flour mixture and mix until just incorporated, about 1 minute. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan; sprinkle remaining 2 tablespoons sugar over entire surface. Bake until cake is deep golden brown and toothpick inserted in center comes out with few crumbs attached, 45 to 50 minutes.
Transfer pan to wire rack and let cool for 15 minutes. Remove side of pan and let cake cool completely, about 1 1/2 hours. Cut into wedges and serve.
Hazelnut Flour Shortbread Cookies
I was recently invited to an “Entrepreneurs’ Showcase” in our little town of Lebanon, with an opportunity to display our Corylus Farms products. I wanted the attendees to be able to taste the exquisite quality of our hazelnut oil and flour. The oil sample was easy to prepare; I just poured some oil into a dish and provided chunks of good bread for people to dip in it. For the flour, I wanted something that would be at once very familiar and very expressive of the taste and texture of the hazelnut flour. I immediately thought of Keebler’s Pecan Sandies, one of my favorite cookies when I was a child. My recipe is based on a knockoff one for Pecan Sandies, but stripped down so that the hazelnut flour really comes through.
1 cup salted butter, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon whole milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup Corylus Farms Hazelnut flour
1/4 cup additional powdered sugar (optional)
Heat the oven to 325 degrees F., and line a 14-by-20-inch baking sheet with parchment paper.
In an electric mixer, beat the butter on medium speed until well creamed, about 30 seconds.
Beat in the 1/2 cup powdered sugar, the milk, and the salt, and continue mixing until the mixture is light and fluffy.
Sift the flours together, and add them to the mixer bowl. Mix on the lowest setting just until the flours are fully incorporated.
Roll the dough into 1-inch balls, and set them 2 inches apart on the baking sheet. Press each ball slightly with a glass dusted with the additional 1/4 cup powdered sugar. (Alternatively, roll the dough into two cylinders 1 to 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Wrap them in waxed paper, and refrigerate them 1 hour. Then slice them into rounds 1/4-inch thick, and set the rounds 2 inches apart on the baking sheet.)
Bake the cookies for 18 to 20 minutes or until the edges barely start to brown.
Variations: Add a tablespoon of grated orange rind, or a half cup of chopped roasted hazelnuts, or both.
Gluten-free and Vegan Hazelnut Cookies
I did a demonstration of Corylus Farms Hazelnut Oil and Flour at LifeSource Natural Foods market in Salem, Oregon last Friday. Knowing that many of their customers follow careful diets, I wanted to have a cookie that would show off the delicious hazelnut flour and be accessible to as many customers as possible. After much experimentation, and several failed batches, I succeeded with this recipe for a shortbread type of cookie that uses only Corylus Farms Hazelnut Flour (gluten-free), coconut oil (vegan), powdered sugar, and a little water. The cookie is not too sweet and has a delicious hazelnut flavor with a background of coconut. If you don’t like the flavor of coconut, you can use refined coconut oil that is neutral in flavor.
Working with coconut oil is tricky because it melts at 25°C (77°F). If too cold, such as from the refrigerator, it is too hard to work with. But it is a liquid at skin temperature, so you have to keep it cool and work fast. The little bit of water added to the dough is essential because the coconut oil, unlike butter, has no water content, and the water is needed to enable the sugar to bind with the hazelnut flour and hold everything together when it is in the oven. Without the water, the dough just melts into a puddle that never firms up, as I observed in several early attempts.
1 cup (218 grams) unrefined coconut oil
1/3 cup (42 grams) powdered sugar
1 tablespoon (15 grams) water
1/4 teaspoon (2 grams) salt2 cups (225 grams) Corylus Farms Hazelnut flour
Chill the flour, sugar and water in the refrigerator along with your mixing bowl before starting. Leave the coconut oil at room temperature (but less than 77°F). Heat the oven to 325°F.
In an electric stand mixer, beat the coconut oil on medium speed until slightly fluffy, about 30 seconds.
Beat in the 1/3 cup powdered sugar, the water, and the salt, and continue mixing until the mixture is light and fluffy again.
Sift the flour and add it to the mixer bowl in batches. Mix on the lowest setting until the flour is just fully incorporated.
Working quickly, and with hands chilled in ice water, roll the dough into two cylinders 1 to 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Wrap them in waxed paper, and refrigerate them for 20 minutes, but not more because they will become rock hard and you will have to let them warm up for about an hour before proceeding. Slice the logs into rounds 1/4-inch thick, and set the rounds 2 inches apart on your baking sheets. There will be 60-70 cookies depending on the diameter of your “logs”.
Bake the cookies for 12 to 15 minutes or until the edges barely start to brown.
Hazelnut-Raisin Bread
This yeast bread toasts up crisp, with the enticing fragrance of hazelnuts. I recommend it for breakfast.
3 cups warm water (120 to 130 degrees F)
1 tablespoon dry yeast
About 6 cups bread flour
2 1/2 cups Corylus Farms Hazelnut Flour
1 tablespoon fine salt
1 cup roasted hazelnuts, coarsely chopped
1 cup raisins
2 tablespoons Corylus Farms Hazelnut Oil (optional)
Pour about 1/2 cup of the water into a large bowl. Sprinkle the yeast over. Wait a few minutes for the yeast to dissolve.
Stir the yeast into the water. Add the rest of the water. Stir in 3 cups of the bread flour. Cover the bowl with a cloth, and let the mixture rest until a bubbly sponge forms.
Stir in the hazelnut flour, the salt, and 2 1/2 cups of the bread flour. Stir in the hazelnuts and raisins. Knead the dough until it is smooth and firm, blending in as much additional bread flour as needed (about 1/2 cup). Put the dough into a greased bowl, and cover the bowl with a cloth. Set the bowl in a warm place. Let the dough rise until it has doubled.
Punch the dough down, and knead it briefly. Divide the dough in half. Form each half into a cylinder to fit a standard bread pan.
Grease two bread pans, and put a dough half into each. Cover the pans with a cloth, set them in a warm place, and let the dough rise until it has almost doubled in bulk. When the dough is nearly ready, beginning heating the oven to 350 degrees F.
Slit each dough half lengthwise about 1/2 inch deep. Brush the tops of the dough halves with hazelnut oil, and pour the excess oil into the slits. If you have no hazelnut oil on hand, you can use melted butter instead. Or you can brush the loaves with egg white and sprinkle them with sesame or poppy seeds, or simply leave them bare.
Put the pans into the hot oven. Bake the loaves 50 minutes, or until the crusts are golden-brown.
Makes 2 loaves