PJ--Shirley Corriher's terrific CookWise cookbook has a solution for the purple walnut issue. She says that if you toast the nuts briefly before adding to baked goods, you won't have that issue. She explains (p. 334 if you're interested) that by toasting the nuts beforehand, the chemical change occurs before you add them to the dough, instead of reacting during the baking process. It's an extra step, but I've made a number of walnut breads and I now always pre-toast the nuts for about 10 minutes, and then let them cool completely, and I no longer have that blue-dough look!
Excellent information! Thanks so very much for sharing.
October 22, 2011 at 7:21am