Monday, September 01, 2008

A good day to make vegetable bread


I can't say that I'm sorry it's raining today. I'm looking forward to indoor projects and kids under my feet. Hubby too.

I know. I'll make vegetable bread. It's been eight years or so since I last made it. I loved it, but the rest of the family didn't. Since I'm altering my eating habits and the family won't be joining me, now seems like a good time to make it again.

Here's the recipe for Vegetable Bread:
1 c. cooked kidney beans, or canned beans drained
2 c. grated carrots
1 1/2 c. finely chopped onions
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 pkg. dry yeast or 2 Tbsp. active dry yeast
2 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
2 c. whole-wheat flour
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
2 Tbsp. canola oil

1. Mash the beans in a med. size bowl, then add the carrots, onion and garlic. Stir until combined, set aside.

2. Place the yeast in a small bowl, add 3/4 c. of warm water and set aside 2-3 min. Meanwhile, in a large bowl stir together the all-purpose and whole wheat flour, salt and pepper. Make a well in the center. Pour in the yeast mixture, the vegetables, and the canola oil. Stir until well combined. The mixture will form a fairly sticky dough.

3. Flour a work surface with 2 Tbsp. of whole wheat flour. Knead the dough 5-7 min. or until smooth and elastic. Transfer the dough to a medium-sized bowl, cover with a damp kitchen towel and set in a warm place to rise 1 to 1 1/2 hours or til double in size.

4. Punch Down dough. Sprinkle another 2 Tbsp. of whole wheat flour on the work surface and knead dough 2 min. Return the dough to the bowl, cover and let rise another hour or until almost double in size.

5. Spray a baking sheet with non-stick spray.

6. Punch down the dough again and knead it briefly on a lightly floured surface. Form the dough into a 7" round and place it on the baking sheet to rise, uncovered, 30 min.

7. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

8. Bake the bread 10 min. then reduce the oven temperature to 325 degrees and bake 40 to 50 minutes more, or until the loaf is golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped. Turn the bread out on a rack to cool at least 10 minutes before slicing.

I'd better get started.

4 comments:

Flashlight Girl said...

I think it sounds great. A good "soup" bread. I think I might try it on this rainy, cool day. I went running in the light rain this morning, wonderful. I'm almost glad for the rain. It will slow down Project Man and give us all some real down time to just hang-out. Enjoy your day with your family!! :)

Science Teacher Mommy said...

Love your picture, going to skip the bread. :)

Also, I responded, sort of, to some of your comments on KimBlue's blog also.

I'm not sure the "five kids" argument holds much weight with me no matter how you look at it. I mean, Nancy Pelosi has five kids. I'm sure you wouldn't consider that a qualification to be VP, if you had to take the rest of the package that came with it. :)

Suko said...

Beautiful photo!
The bread sounds so good and healthy, very substantial. I will try the recipe when the weather cools off some. Thanks for sharing!

Christie said...

I ended up making this bread in my breadmaker. Yummy! It reminds me of onion bagels -- only lighter on the carbs and sodium. (Take a look at the sodium in bagels. Shocking!)