Hazelnut Bread

As with many of my recipes, this one started out as a daydream. Shortly after I opened Bien Cuit, the oven gave us some problems. A French-Russian immigrant named Serge was able to repair it and got us up and running with minimal pain to the business and my psyche. We really hit it off, and when my daughter was born, Serge, who is a thoughtful guy, gave me a bottle of walnut wine.

With the clarity brought on by a few glasses of Serge’s walnut wine came an idea: Fermented walnuts...