Happy Sunday Bread Heads! This week we are going do a recipe that is a little more advanced than some of the others. That said, there are no baking techniques that will trip you up, what is challenging here is the organization. This bread is made by making three completely separate dough’s, then rolling them together. Since all of them have to rise before they can be worked together you will be making dough after dough after dough and then doing the rest.
It is not hard but if you don’t have your bowls ready and don’t stay focused it can be pretty frustrating. So, as always, read the recipe a couple of times. Think about what you need in terms of cook ware and ingredients and plan it out before you start. If you do that you too will be able to make the fabulous Marbled Vegetable Bread!
In my first draft of this post I gave the ingredients the way I was given them, the basic bread then the ingredients that make each loaf different. When I showed it to Liz she thought it was really confusing, so I am going to give you the ingredients for each loaf completely separately, that should cut down on any confusion.
This bread is a combination of white bread, spinach bread and tomato bread. When they are layered and rolled they make a lovely tri-colored loaf with just a hint of spinach and tomato taste. The bread is prefect to serve with BBQ or as a sandwich bread. Because of the vegetable flavors it does not lend itself to being topped with jams or jellies, but it really good with just a little bit of butter.
Let’s get baking!
Marbled Vegetable Bread
Spinach Dough Ingredients:
8 oz fresh spinach, cleaned and stemmed
¼ cup milk
3 ½ cups flour
1 package (2 ¼ teaspoons) dry yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons hot water
1 egg at room temperature
White Dough Ingredients:
3 ½ cups flour
1 package (2 ¼ teaspoons) dry yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1cup plus 2 tablespoons hot water (120-130)
2 tablespoons milk
2 tablespoons butter
1 egg at room temperature
Tomato Dough Ingredients:
3 ½ cups flour
1 package (2 ¼ teaspoons) dry yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup of canned tomato sauce
2 tablespoons milk
2 tablespoons hot water
1 egg at room temperature
Baking Pans: 1 or 2 sheet pans greased or lined with parchment paper
Method:
Before cooking anything get out the three bowls you will need to let the dough rise. Grease them with cooking oil or cooking spray and set aside. Set the flour, sugar, salt and yeast on the counter where they will be convenient. The key is going to be working efficiently with each dough. You will have to wash you mixing bowl and utensils between each and be ready to make them back to back. This is going to be as close to working in a bakery environment as you will get at home.
Cook the spinach in a large pot, covered with just the water clinging to the leaves on high heat until the spinach is wilted. This will take just two or three minutes. Drain, then squeeze out as much water as you can. Puree the leaves in a blender or food processor until they are finely chopped. Scrape down the sides then start the blender again. Pour in the milk and let run for about 45 seconds to a minute. Pour the puree into a bowl. You should have about one cup of spinach puree.
In the work bowl of your stand mixer or a large mixing bowl, measure out 2 cups of the flour and all the dry ingredients. Whisk them together. Form a depression in the flour. Measure out one cup of the spinach puree and then add all the wet ingredients at once.
If you are using a stand mixer, use the paddle attachment and mix at medium speed for 2 minutes. If you are doing this by hand, using a wooden spoon give the dough 100 strong strokes.
Add the flour ¼ cup at a time until the dough becomes a shaggy mass. Watch how the dough is developing, you might not need the last ¼ cup.
If you are doing this by hand, turn the dough out onto a floured work surface and knead with a strong push-fold-turn method. It will take about 10 minutes for the dough to become soft and elastic. If it is really sticky you can add sprinkles of flour. If you are using a stand mixer, switch to the dough hook and knead at low speed for 10 minutes. Don’t use a higher speed as it will make your dough really tough, there is not enough flour in this dough to need the higher speed to develop the gluten.
When the dough is ready place it in one of the greased bowls and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Put in the refrigerator until it has doubled in volume.
For the white dough, follow the instructions above, replacing all the spinach instructions with the hot water.
For the tomato dough, replace the spinach puree with the tomato sauce and follow the instructions above. Do not put this last dough in the refrigerator. Cover it with plastic wrap and let sit in a warm place until it has doubled in volume. By this time the dough’s in the refrigerator will be ready as well. It will take the tomato dough about 20 minutes to double in size.
Forming:
Flour your work surface. Turn out one of the dough’s and quickly knead it for 30 seconds. Form into a ball and then divide evenly. From each half into a ball and set aside. Repeat with the other two dough’s.
Cover with a tea towel and allow to rest for five minutes.
Start with one of the white dough balls; using your fingers and a rolling pin roll it out into a rectangle 15"x 10". The white dough might fight back a little bit. If it does, just set it aside for a couple of minutes while you roll out on of the spinach dough balls. By then it should have relaxed enough for you to finish rolling it out. For the spinach and tomato dough’s, roll a rectangle that is 12"x 8".
Lay the rolled out white dough on the work surface. Brush lightly with water, this will help the dough’s stick to each other. Lay the spinach dough on top of the white dough. Brush the surface lightly with water. Lay the tomato dough on top of the spinach dough. Starting from the long side, tightly roll the dough’s together. Pinch the seam tightly together. Place the loaf on the prepared pan, seam side down, and tuck the ends under and pinch tightly to seal.
Repeat with the other three dough balls. When both loaves are on the pan, cover with parchment paper and let rise until they have double in bulk. I have to admit to letting my concentration lapse during this part which is why the loaves are so huge. It should only take 30-40 minutes and in hot weather it will be closer to 30 than 40.
20 minutes before baking, preheat the oven to 375 degrees and set one of the oven racks to the middle of the oven. You do not want any racks above this rack as the bread might spring up and touch it.
Right before baking, slash three 3 inch cuts, about ¼ inch deep, in the top of loaves. Bake for 40 minutes, checking at 30 minutes for how brown the tops are. If they are browning too fast, tent them with tin foil.
Check doneness by thumping the bottom of one of the loaves with a finger. If it is hard and sounds hollow the bread is done. If not bake for up to five more minutes. Remove the bread from the oven and cool on a wire rack. This bread needs to cool completely before you cut it, so just leave it alone for at least two hours.
Cut and enjoy! You now can make a really impressive loaf of bread which folks will love at your next pot luck!
Next week we’ll be doing a request. One of the Bread Heads has asked for chocolate bread. Now I have a recipe for a chocolate quick bread, but I have been thinking about ways to make French bread with chocolate as an ingredient. I am going to give it a try and if it works out that will be the recipe. If not we’ll do the quick bread.
The flour is yours.
If you are looking for the previous installments in this epic series, you can find them at the links below:
Scottish Soda Bread
Jewish or New York Style Rye
Pecan Sticky Buns
Irish Freckle Bread
Onion Braid Bread
Croissants Plain, Almond and Chocolate
Dark Grains Bread
French Bread and French Toast
Hot Cross Buns
Water Bagels
Best Ever Biscuits
English Style Oat Bread
Potato Bread
Scones – Cinnamon and Chocolate Chip
Danish Walnut Braid
Fragels! (Deep Fried Cinnamon Raisin Bagels)
Scones Orange Cranberry and Lemon Cherry Cornmeal
Italian Batter Bread
English Muffins
Braided Lemon Bread
Deep Dish and Thin Crust Pizza Dough
Guinness Stout Soft Pretzels
Sunday Bread - Pesto Bread
Challa