Good bread is the most fundamentally satisfying of all foods; good bread with fresh butter, the greatest of feasts!
– James Beard
We gathered and stored our acorns. We shelled and ground our acorns. We leached their bitter tannins to make acorn flour. Now it is time to bake my favorite – Orange Acorn Bread!
Use of Acorns in Western Recipes
In an earlier post, we learned to make a traditional-style acorn mush. But you can use acorns in a wide variety of “western” recipes. Here is a PDF file you can download with several recipes that use acorns as an ingredient.
I encourage you to experiment on your own. Try substituting acorn flour in recipes that call for flour from wheat. Once you gain experience using acorn flour, you will have a better idea of which recipes can benefit from its unique taste and qualities. There are also recipes from Europe and Korea that may tickle your fancy.
Orange Acorn Bread
James Lowery and Mary Brooks from Earthskills shared this recipe with me. They modified a common recipe to use acorn flower in addition to wheat. It is simple to make and the bread is very filling. The bread is dense and “warming” when you eat it – perfect for autumn, when the days shorten and the temperatures cool.
Ingredients
Here are the ingredients you will need:
| Amount/Measurement | Ingredient |
| 2 | Oranges |
| 1 | Egg |
| 3 tbsp | Melted butter |
| 1 cup | Wheat flour |
| 1 cup | Acorn flour |
| 1 cup | Sugar |
| 1 tsp | Baking powder |
| ½ tsp | Salt |
| ½ tsp | Baking Soda |
Equipment
Here are several pieces of equipment you may not have on hand:
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
- Grease the loaf pan.
- Grate the rind from the oranges using the zester.
- Juice the oranges,
- In a mixing bowl, combine: orange juice, grated rind, melted butter, and egg.
- Combine wheat flour, acorn flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add to liquid contents in mixing bowl. I sometimes add berries.
- Mix the ingredients in the mixing bowl until even consistency.
Mixed liquid and dry ingredients
- Pour into loaf pan and bake in an oven for 1 hour.
Mixed ingredients in loaf pan
- Viola!!!
Fresh from the oven
Enjoy with Butter
I like this bread in the morning. The orange-bread taste can’t be beat! I cut a slice, add some butter and pop it in the microwave. The warm bread provides filling energy to get me going in the morning.
The bread appears darker because I use whole wheat flour and golden cane sugar. But you can vary the ingredients for the appearance and texture you want.
Acorn bread ready to eat
The bread is darker because of the ingredients I chose
This loaf was made by a NatureOutside reader!
Photograph courtesy of Shelly Kellogg
The bread is delicious warmed with melted butter
If you try this recipe, let me know how it turns out by leaving a comment below.
More Acorns on NatureOutside
How to Make Acorns into Food (Part 1)
How to Make Acorns into Food (Part 2)
How to Make Acorns into Food (Part 3)
Turn Acorns into Spinning Tops in just 10 Minutes (Children’s Toys)
Acorn articles appear in the edibles section and the skills section.
We have lots of oak trees on our property and around us since we moved about 2 hrs north of Toronto, Ontario. I had no idea we could eat acorns – so we will try it – Thanks Steve!
Gary, Let me know how it turns out. Bon appetit! 🙂