Acorns

Mighty Oaks from little acorns grow! And from those little acorns a range of superb, wild crafted products can be obtained, in this case, flour. 

I've been intending to make acorn flour for several years now (it's currently 2017!), either time hasn't been on my side, acorns have been sparse, or I've just been so engrossed in other wild food experiments that my intentions just haven't come to fruition.

A key factor that eventually led to me making acorn flour was my first ever tasting of acorn bread in December 2015. After attending the first ever Association of Foragers meet (https://foragers-association.org/ ), myself and a friend met with another friend to hang out in Cornwall for a few days. On the very first morning, Chris who had been up since 4am, had baked a fresh loaf of acorn bread, he served up a couple of slices complete with a perfectly poached egg, lashings of shaved perigord truffle, wall penny-wort, truffle oil and seasoning, and it blew me away! It's the most decadent breakfast I've ever had to date, truly, next level delicious! 

In autumn 2016, a prime opportunity to gather acorns presented itself while having a nosy around, York University campus. After co-hosting a wild food walk, myself and a friend stumbled upon a copse of (Turkey) Oak trees. After some 20 minutes of excited gathering we both had approx 4kg each, ample for experimenting with. On returning home I put the acorns to one side and forgot about them; this however was to work in my favour. My friend apparently spent the majority of the following day extracting the nuts (I can only imagine how their fingers and hands must have ached afterwards). 

My good fortune in forgetting was that my acorns began to slowly dry, thus shrinking ever so slightly, making space between nut and shell, these were then easy to crack by applying pressure, and the use of a suitably sharp knife drawn from top to bottom, enabled each nut to be extracted in less than a minute (even the thin skin covering the nut came away). I then proceeded to place the acorns into a wine brewing bucket, filled it partially with cold water and changed the water at least once in every every 24 hour period. 

After approximately 1 week, I decided to chop my acorns into smaller pieces using a food processor, my logic was that more of the nut would be exposed, thus making the task of leaching out the bitter tannins, quicker and more efficient; it still surprised me how long it did take though. Finally, on January 10th, after having a taste, the bitter/tannin effect was sufficiently reduced to warrant drying and grinding.

Ready for dehydrating

After draining and straining through muslin cloth and squeezing the excess moisture out, I took the acorns to a friends restaurant, where the quantity was split into three large metal trays and placed in an oven overnight to dehydrate. I returned the following day to find the acorn mix perfectly dry, and we got down to some grinding, made much easier by the use of the Thermomix, then sieving to achieve a consistent texture.

Once happy with the consistency, the flour was vac packed but not before lots of deep inhaling of it's stunning aroma, curious passing through hands, exploring the texture and taking a small quantity for adding to a starter bread mix (see recipe). Some of this bread mix was formed into a small acorn loaf by John, we like playing with food even at our age.  

Sieving

In the grinder

The happiest flour in Leeds

Miniature Acorn Bap

Acorn Flour

One of the things that struck me most about the flour was its deep, sweet, earthy, nutty, malty aroma and even though this was the first time I'd actually experienced smelling acorns in a prepared state, my brain immediately conjured memories of the taste and smell of the bread I ate in December 2015; it also sparked an idea for brewing an ale of some sort, that will have to wait until next time when I can harvest a sufficient quantity. I have popped some in a jar and topped it with vodka, approx 10 days on it's developing an interesting flavour and colour.


Acorn & Seaweed Bread

This bread recipe is courtesy of my friend John Farrar and is similar in consistency to a rye bread: firmer and denser than wheat flour bread, while retaining enough moisture to please the bread lover. The addition of powdered dulse seaweed (Palmaria palmata), naturally extends the shelf-life of the bread; no need for all those crappy artificial preservatives folks. 

As some of you will be aware, acorns, unlike wheat flour, lack gluten. They do however contain starches so, cold leached acorn flour is better for bread making, especially with the addition of some bread flour: a pure acorn flour loaf is a heavier affair. 

I used an organic, unbleached strong white bread flour alongside my acorn flour. This recipe is based on an old Jewish recipe which I believe originated in Poland, and has a standard 3 day fermentation period prior to baking.

Stage 1: Making a Poolish (wet dough which is left to ferment)

250g Strong White Bread Flour (SWBF)
10g Yeast
100g Acorn Flour
1/2 pint water
5g Sugar



Sift the flours into a mixing bowl, add the sugar, yeast, water and mix well. Cover bowl with cling film or a damp tea towel or double folded damp muslin cloth, place in a warm area and leave to ferment for 3 days.

Stage 2

100g Strong White Bread Flour
15g Seaweed Powder
5g Salt
30ml Olive Oil

Add all the above ingredients to the stage 1 mixture and combine well. Place onto a treated work surface and give it a good old kneading to activate the glutens. 

Re-prove in a lightly oiled bowl, in a warm place for an hour.

Tip the dough onto a clean work surface, shape and using a sharp knife score the top of the loaf in several places (or get artistic like the mini acorn loaf), place it on a floured baking tray and bake in a preheated oven, 210 degrees, for approximately 40 minutes.

Wild seeds such as nettle can be added, as can sunflower seeds. The addition of more aromatic wild seeds (preferably ground) are great additions.

Sweet Pickled Rollmop Herrings on Acorn and Seaweed Bread

10 minutes to prepare, 5 minutes to devour. I topped the bread with the herrings, extra seaweed powders, pickled marine algae, raw baby velvet shank mushrooms, cow parsley and smoked oyster mushroom powder (I'm in love with this particular powder!). I made a wild salad of young wild garlic, common sorrel, ground elder and alexanders w/ a little sweet rosehip & mustard shrub.






Spicy Acorn and Lentil Soup

I made this soup the afternoon I was satisfied with the leaching process. I'd pretty much made a lentil dish that I enjoy and decided to throw in a decent handful of the acorn meal (I forget the specific quantity - I'm a bit like that sometimes).

The bones of the recipe is:

Finely chopped onion and garlic. green lentils. turmeric powder, cumin seed, dried hot red chilli minutely chopped. black mustard seed. homemade chicken stock, leached acorns, creme fraiche.