Chestnut Bread

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A wooden chopping board with a whole chestnut bread lies on a green wooden table. Behind it is a green kitchen towel. A few chestnuts and walnuts are scattered around it.

We collected chestnuts this autumn, and I felt inspired to bake my first chestnut bread. The sweet, nutty taste of chestnuts is delicious. This chestnut bread is made from cooked, finely chopped chestnuts, spelt flour, flaxseed, and walnuts. A real treat fresh from the oven with a crispy crust!

Ingredients for making Chestnut Bread

There are various bowls on a green wooden table. A large one in the background with spelt flour, in front of it there are bowls with walnuts, linseed, dry yeast, olive oil and maple syrup. Also there is an wooden etagere with fresh chestnuts, in front of it a wooden spoon with salt. Behind the bowl of flour is a glass jug of water. A few chestnuts and walnuts are scattered around.

Chestnuts
Spelt flour
Walnuts
Salt
Ground flaxseed
Water
Dry or fresh yeast
Maple syrup
Olive oil

How to make Chestnut Bread

Prepare the Collected Chestnuts:

If you have bought pre-packaged chestnuts, you can skip this step.

An orange cooking pot stands on a trivet on a green wooden table. A hot stream of water fills the pot in which chestnuts in shells float.

Two hands are holding a sliced cooked chestnut in shell.

I have discovered a new way to get the chestnuts out of their shells: Boil them in a saucepan until they are soft (mine took 30 minutes). Drain the water and leave the chestnuts to cool briefly, then take each one individually, cut it in half, and scrape out the halves with a teaspoon. You can always use this quick method if you do not need whole chestnuts for further processing. It worked perfectly for this chestnut bread recipe.

The Bread Dough:

To begin, soak the flaxseed. Take 100ml of warm water, and pour it over the flaxseed, stir well, and leave to soak for 10 minutes. The flaxseed binds liquid excellently.

Pour dry yeast from a white bowl into the stainless steel bowl with water and olive oil.

A large knife chops the pieces of chestnuts on a wooden kitchen board.

Use the other 300ml of lukewarm water to prepare the yeast. The yeast likes it warm and sweet, so we dissolve one tbsp of maple syrup in the water before adding the dry yeast (or fresh yeast) and leave for 10 minutes until the yeast is dissolved. In the meantime, roughly chop the walnuts and finely chop the precooked chestnuts. Put the spelt flour in a bowl, add the salt, olive oil, yeast-water mixture, and swollen flaxseed, and mix well.

Add the chestnuts and knead the dough with your hands until it binds. Add the walnuts and go on kneading for about five minutes. Form a ball of dough and put it back into the bowl. Now, take a clean kitchen towel, cover the bowl, and leave the dough to rest for two hours.

Two hands add the chopped chestnuts from a wooden board to the dough in the stainless steel bowl with the mixed bread flour mixture. The bowl stands on a raffia coaster on a green wooden table.

A hand kneads the dough in the stainless steel bowl. The bowl stands on a raffia coaster on a green wooden table.

Next, warm the oven a little (only 30°C/80°F) and place an ovenproof dish with hot water in it – we will leave the dough to rise a second time in this environment, and then the yeast will feel right at home! But first, we have to knead it again.

One hand sprinkles flour on the wooden cutting board.

Two hands knead the chestnut bread dough vigorously on a wooden cutting board.

After the rest, put the dough onto a floured work surface and knead it by hand, then shape the dough into a ball and place it in a floured proofing basket. I didn’t have a proofing basket and lined a bread basket with baking paper – that worked well, too. Cover and place the dough in the slightly warmed oven and leave to rest again for at least 30 minutes.

Decorating the Chestnut Bread

Two hands hold the proofing basket. The chestnut bread dough has risen high. The proofing basket is standing on a green wooden table.

Next, take the risen dough out of the oven. Heat the oven to 250°C/480°F top and bottom heat. You can leave the dish with water inside at the bottom oven.

Flour trickles from above onto the dough for a chestnut loaf. The ball of dough lies on a wooden cutting board.

Two hands hold the ball of dough and shape it carefully. The chestnut bread dough is placed on a wooden cutting board.

Line a baking tray with baking paper, take the dough out of the proofing basket, and put it on the baking tray. Floured the top. Optionally, you can use a razor blade to carve a pattern or motif on the dough. Use your hand to tap a little water onto the floured, decorated top.

Baking the Chestnut Bread

Now it’s time to put the chestnut bread in the hot oven. Bake it at 250°C/480°F for 10 minutes – then we turn the heat down to 200°C/390°F and bake the bread for another 30 minutes. After that, we turn off the heat, open the oven door, keep it slightly open by inserting a wooden spoon, and leave it for the last 5 minutes. Why all this steam, different temperatures, and this oven-flap circus? All for a crispy crust!

A wooden chopping board with a chestnut loaf lies on a green wooden table. One hand holds the bread, another hand with a knife begins to cut off the first slice of bread.

A wooden cutting board with a chestnut bread lies on a green wooden table. Two hands present a slice of chestnut bread. A green kitchen towel, chestnuts and walnuts lie around in the background.

Enjoy the bread fresh from the oven. It tastes fantastic that way! Special tip: Enjoy the chestnut bread with some creme de marron for the full delicious chestnut experience.

Tips for baking bread

What is important to know when baking bread?

Bread needs time! The dough needs time to develop, so make it as comfortable as possible for the yeast (or sourdough) so it can multiply and grow.
For a great crust, you need to have steam in the oven. Place an ovenproof dish with water at the bottom of the oven.
Preheat the oven. It is best to start the baking very hot (250°/480°F) for 10 minutes and then reduce the temperature. The bread needs to be baked at top-bottom heat.
Let the crust become even crispier by baking it out. To do this, switch off the oven after the baking, open the oven door slightly, and fix the gap by clamping something in between (f.e. a wooden spoon). Let the bread rest in the oven for 5-10 minutes.
Never forget the salt 🙂

How do I know that the bread is ready?

You can hear if the bread is done baking with a knock test:
knock with your knuckles against the center of the bottom. If it sounds hollow, the bread is ready.

Is this bread gluten-free?

Chestnuts are gluten-free, but this bread is not because of the spelt flour it contains. If you want to bake gluten-free chestnut bread according to my recipe, you would only have to replace the spelt flour. You could use corn flour, rice flour, teff flour, soy flour, millet flour, buckwheat flour, quinoa flour, or bean flour, although these gluten-free flours often have a rather unique taste. To counteract this, you can also buy gluten-free flour blends.

A wooden chopping board with a sliced chestnut bread lies on a green wooden table. In front of it is a bread basket with a white linen cover and a few slices of chestnut bread. A few chestnuts and walnuts are scattered around.

I hope you enjoyed this chestnut bread recipe. Let me know what you think in the comments below!

Ingredients for making Chestnut Bread